Monday, August 31, 2015

And in the west, an almost full moon tosses on cloudy seas

Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart. Psalm 111:1

And I heard a few stories yesterday. From people like me. Who are wrestling with the “Yes, but, LORD, really?” question. “This is it, Your plan for my life?”

“Yep,” He says.

“Yep,” He says in love and power and knowingness.

And in response, I kneel down and give thanks. With a whole heart.

And then, (the hard part for me) I stand up and shout and sing, “Hallelujah.” With my whole heart.

I shall always wait in patience, and shall praise you more and more. Psalm 71:14

Prayer is far from being sweet and easy. Being the expression of our greatest love, it does not keep pain away from us. Instead, it makes us suffer more since our love for God is a love for a suffering God and our entering into God’s intimacy is an entering into the intimacy where all of human suffering is embraced in divine compassion. To the degree that our prayer has become the prayer of our heart we will love more and suffer more, we will see more light and more darkness, more grace and more sin, more of God and more of humanity. To the degree that we have descended into our heart and reached out to God from there, solitude can speak to solitude, deep to deep, and heart to heart. It is there where love and pain are found together. Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out

Jesus prayed, saying I have made your name known to them and will continue to make it known so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and so that I may be in them.’ John 17:26

May I know His love with my whole heart.

And I chose I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever, I will sing over and over as I watched the brilliant morning star fade slowly into the dawning east. And even if I can no longer see its pulsing glory, it is there. 

May I know His love with my whole heart.
He in me and I in Him.  



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