today...

"O, LORD, in the morning, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation."  ~Psalm 5:3

I think I tend to go about it wrong a lot of the time.  I should pray in the morning.  Every morning.  Intentionally.  And, as I do, I need to remember the way Jesus taught us to pray: "Give us this day our daily bread."  Too often, I make my prayers too broad, encompassing days or weeks or years.  And, I don't wait... expectantly... for God to act on them.  In a way, I do.  But, how much more effective would my waiting be if I laid before Him specific needs for...

just...

this...

day...

each morning?

If I could see, in each day, some sort of response (positive or negative) to my morning prayer?

Wouldn't that be something?

Wouldn't that add fuel to the hope for those bigger, time-evolving prayers on the agenda?

Today is a brand-new day.

a prayer

to look lovingly

to wait hopefully

to speak wisely

to hear earnestly

to respond carefully

to love sincerely

to trust unwaveringly


to rest completely

and to NOT beat myself up.

may I be I

may I be I is the only prayer -

not may I be great or good

or beautiful or wise or strong

~E.E. Cummings

Lord, make me who You've intended me to be.

I am clay in Your hands.

I surrender.

Amen.

How come?

How can someone who has seen the God who sees her (He sees you...), and has heard the God who hears her (He hears you...), turn and go back to a life of bondage?

That's what happened to a woman named Hagar, Sarah's servant, way back in the Bible.

Why wasn't she redeemed and transformed? Why was her son destined to become "a donkey of a man"? Why was she forever regarded as the "slave woman," while Sarah (though, herself, thoughtless and mean) was a "free woman"? (Gal. 4:22)

Hagar's son was born according to the flesh. Sarah's son was born through the promise (according to the Spirit). It's a lesson to us: That which comes from the flesh is destined to fail. To experience hardship. To find angst in the world. When we let the Spirit rule, there is hope. A future. A promise of peace... somewhere down the line.

When all is said and done, the Lord has granted us "free will," and Hagar exercised the will to go back to what was familiar to her. What was comfortable to her. She went back to Egypt, and all that went with it. When she left Sarah for the last time, she also left the God of heaven and earth.

It would seem that she let Sarah and Abraham dictate the character of God, as she would understand it.  Their living example wasn't enough to sustain her faith in the One True and Living God. The awful taste in her mouth, from two of God's finest examples of grace, overpowered her own personal experience of His presence.

We're human, aren't we? Prone to fail. Prone to let people down. That's why God's grace is so precious to those of us who have been saved. We know the ugly truth. We also know the One who knows us - sees us - hears us. It seems like a crazy triangular irony. We get saved, we share God's love, we screw up.

Is God strong enough to save those who are perishing? I believe His is. In spite of my feeble efforts.

Lord, bring freedom. Bring truth. Bring life. I praise You. Amen.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

Voices

A flock of sheep are on a hill near Jerusalem. The sun has set, and there is a bright star on the horizon. As the constellation continues to rise, a breeze blows across the field. The wind seems to whisper, and a little lamb hears its voice...

"Do you see what I see?

Way up in the sky, little lamb,

Do you see what I see?

A star, a star, dancing in the night

With a tail as big as a kite..."

The little lamb is so excited, "Yes! I see it!"

The lamb speaks to the shepherd keeping watch over the flock. He wonders if the boy has heard the same voice...

"Do you hear what I hear?

Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,

Do you hear what I hear?

A song, a song high above the trees

With a voice as big as the the sea..."

Amazed, the boy cries out, "Yes, I do!... I've got to go tell the King! Surely he'll want to know!" He runs as quickly as he can to the outer court of the great palace. The King is on the terrace, and hears the small voice...

"Do you know what I know?

In your palace warm, mighty king,

Do you know what I know?

A Child, a Child shivers in the cold--

Let us bring him silver and gold..."

Humbled by the remarkable news, and quickened deep within his soul, the King sets forth a decree for all the people. He proclaims in a loud voice...

"Listen to what I say!

Pray for peace, people, everywhere,

Listen to what I say!

The Child, the Child sleeping in the night

He will bring us goodness and light..."

written by Tami Rosin (based on the carol Do You Hear What I Hear? by Noel Rigney and Gloria Shayne Baker, 1962)

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."

~Isaiah 9:6

"...if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him..." ~Revelation 3:20

May you have a very merry Christmas!