Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Wednesday, November 22, 2023:
Pause. Pray. Read. Be still. Write. Pray. Go about your day or turn in for the night.
Read: Revelation 22:16-17
Be Still: When I was younger, I liked finding a spot to lie down on the beautifully manicured, cool grass in our backyard. I loved to gaze up in wonder into the night sky. While I did not have a complete awareness of God in my life or understand the concept of prayer as a way of communicating. I recited a familiar nursery rhyme as I peered upward searching for the first star that caught my eye:
“Star light, star bright
first star I see tonight,
wish I may, wish I might,
have the wish I wish tonight.”
Upon reflection, I now see how I used this poem to express thoughts for how I was feeling. The poem was an avenue for petitioning requests from the heart. I was communicating with God without knowing what I was doing. I was communicating my thanks, my hopes, and my desires, to something greater than myself.
I began by giving thanks for the beauty I was seeing in the night landscape. The twinkling lights that seemed to dance in the sky and the large silhouette of the mountains off in the distance. For the sounds, the chirping crickets, the summer breeze speaking softly through the trees, and at times, for the peace of the silence that seemed to permeate the night’s air. I recall a tremendous sense of awe and wonder in these moments.
Today, I find my current communication with God seems to ebb and flow depending on the busyness of the week. I don’t know about you, but there are days and weeks when time seems to move so quickly that my line of communication with God is shortened. While I’d love to take the time to go outside to gaze into the night sky, to recreate the experience I had as a child, this won’t happen because of the sheer volume of noise of living in the suburbs.
However, what I do know, is to be in relationship with God, I must be willing to set aside time each day to not only share my thoughts and feelings, but to listen to what I am hearing. When we take time each day to keep the line of communication open with our creator, we begin to see more vividly how God is moving and working in our lives. If a simple thank you is all we can offer, let that be enough.
I encourage you to take little moments to pause throughout your day. Each word of gratitude you offer in turn opens avenues to not only grow in your relationship with God, but to grow in relationship with the many people you interact with each day.
Pray: Let us give thanks to God for one another, continually mentioning one another in prayer.