I was so very grateful, Lord, yesterday,
« All things are trending in the right direction… »
So, no, my problem isn’t life-threatening
(deserving of a hospital stay, yes)
but otherwise explicable, addressable,
manageable and treatable,
not limiting or ultimate – it’s livable!
I’m grateful, Lord, and at the same time
I’m so very-keenly-much-aware
the day will come
when the news won’t be as promising…
I’m remembering, Lord, what I posted on FaceBook
– a week before this week’s adventure:
Yes, I think differently, and pray differently,
and, it’s to be hoped,
I live differently, knowing,
that in this great adventure called my life,
I’m closer not to its end
than I am to its beginning…
And there’s the key word, Lord: closer…
I’m closer to what I’ve been approaching
since the moment I was conceived…
I’m closer to what I’ve been living for
and moving towards, every day of my life…
I’m closer, in time, to meeting you, O Lord,
you who’ve known me since before I came to be;
you who’ve been with me every step along the way;
you who’ve lived within
my every waking, sleeping moment;
you who’ve been drawing me always
closer and closer
to your waiting, outstretched, loving arms…
But this week, Lord, reminded me
that as I’m growing closer to you
I’ll also be leaving more and more behind me:
joys and blessings, gifts and graces,
pain and sorrow, loss and grief,
ups and downs, ins and outs,
and stories upon stories upon stories
of all the ways you love me, heal me,
hold me in your loving arms,
preserve and keep and save me
for the day you’ll draw me oh-so-close
that you and I will be as one…
So, yes, Lord:
I’m thinking differently,
praying differently,
and, I hope, I’m living differently
this awesome gift,
this great adventure called my life…
Remind me, Lord,
that being closer to life’s beginning
than I am to its end
is no cause for worry, for anxiety or fear…
But a cause for curiosity?
Yes, I’ll admit to that..
For concern?
Well, at least a little is in order…
For wonderment?
Oh, of that my heart is full…
For anticipation?
The unknown is enticing!
For trust?
What other path might lead to you?
How else might I put trust in you?
For faith?
the realization of things hoped for
and evidence of things not seen…
And cause for love, Lord:
the love from which my life was made,
the love which gives my soul its breath
and shaped my whole existence,
the love in which I found myself
in finally finding you,
the love you are, the love that draws me
closer, ever closer
to the love for which I’m made…
So, no cause, Lord,
for worrying, for fear or for anxiety
but only cause to reach my arms to yours
in faith and hope and love
drawing closer, ever closer
to the promise you have made me,
to the promise that you are,
to the promise you will keep:
the gift of life forever…
You are my inheritance, O Lord!
Faithful God, I look to you,
you alone, my life and fortune,
never shall I look to other gods,
you shall be my one hope.
From of old you are my heritage,
you, my wisdom and my safety,
through the night you speak within my heart,
silently you teach me.
So my heart shall sing for joy,
in your arms I rest securely,
you will not abandon me to death,
you shall not desert me.
