Today was the first day that I felt "normal" in a long season of struggling with pneumonia. Looking back on the past few weeks, I realize how rich and deep my life is--how evidence of God's grace shows up in even the most commonplace events. I take for granted how deeply blessed I am. The ability to go to worship and be with people who love God and love you...there is no greater joy in life. The ability to get out of bed, to breathe, to work and contribute something useful and meaningful to the world...who knew how much you could miss those things when they are taken away? I think of how many times I would be-moan my alarm going off, resenting some place I needed to be...what a gift it is to have somewhere to be!
Overall, I am beginning to see that God is at work ALL THE TIME...that nothing is lost, even during those seasons or times that seem, to us, pointless or wasted. My view of God and of life has enlarged lately. I wonder how much is happening all around me, really right before my eyes, that I take no notice of...because I am too busy trying to make things happen the way (and in the timeframe) I think they should be. I came across a prayer that really sums this up for me--a prayer about letting God truly be God and allowing God to challenge and change the status quo within us. I want to share this prayer with you, in the hopes that God will "disturb you" until you are exactly where and who God calls you to be.
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new Earth, we have allowed our vision of the New Heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show Your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love."
Overall, I am beginning to see that God is at work ALL THE TIME...that nothing is lost, even during those seasons or times that seem, to us, pointless or wasted. My view of God and of life has enlarged lately. I wonder how much is happening all around me, really right before my eyes, that I take no notice of...because I am too busy trying to make things happen the way (and in the timeframe) I think they should be. I came across a prayer that really sums this up for me--a prayer about letting God truly be God and allowing God to challenge and change the status quo within us. I want to share this prayer with you, in the hopes that God will "disturb you" until you are exactly where and who God calls you to be.
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new Earth, we have allowed our vision of the New Heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show Your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love."
~Sir Francis Drake, explorer and naval pioneer during the Elizabethan era
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