A psalm of thanksgiving

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me to lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul.”

I lie in the cool green grass and rest.  It gives me time to quench my thirst and to pause and to rest.  The demanding voices which are my constant companions are silenced.  I can close my eyes to the temptations of flashing lights and images filled with false promises.  I can close my ears to the lies that rage all around me.

Until, in this quiet space, I am finally able to quiet my breath and face my truth: the broken place from which I have have been the dangerous one and  launched a barrage of damaging words at friends and neighbor alike.

I can face my deep desire that God arrange all things to my liking, and that my cry to Jesus is not repentance but is rooted in my expectation that Jesus will make my road smooth and fill me with all good things.

In the silence I come face to face with the fact that  I prefer my sin to the healing God offers and have brushed aside the rod and staff of your love, wandering far from the safety and guidance that they offer to me.  I am more exhausted by 1000 haunting fears, than I am by the work of each day.

You have given me this moment.  Now I can realize that there is nothing more I could want than to be in your presence, to be known by you.  There is nothing more, nothing greater, than to lie at your feet, to be filled by your Spirit….touched by the cool breeze, cushioned in the green grass.

Yet, this is but a moment on the journey, a morsel of the meal you have prepared by your own hand and with your own body.  You have given me this moment to rest in you so I might have the strength to finish the tasks ahead

            To live as one of your sheep

            To love as you have loved

            To walk alongside you, and alongside others so 

                                           they might hear your voice and follow.
            To trust that you will always be there even as I enter the abyss.

For this time part I give thanks, even in the busy-ness and chatter and challenges of these days ahead, that this might be a time of renewal, re-discovery of your presence all around me, and reminder of the sound of your voice calling and leading.

For all the gifts you grant me O Lord, I give thanks.