Good morning…
“It’s like a ton of confetti has been unleashed from above,” I told a friend yesterday. “This week I feel like I am frozen in one of those celebratory photographs, looking up, wondering how all of these pieces of possibility will fall into place.”
I texted another friend: “Overwhelmed and excited describes how I feel as I drive down for our first gathering of the year at PAWkids.” To share my feelings with our therapeutic community group, I chose the blob figure above, explaining, “I feel up-in-the-air, kinda hanging on for dear life. The winds of the fall season are picking up steam and too many great options are swirling my way.”
One kind man responded, “At least your blob is smiling!”
Can you relate to these emotions or am I the only one caught in the whirlwind of a new school year?
Grounding myself now, I lean into one sentence from yesterday’s blog post.
“The open acceptance of prayer in the face of an ever-new God makes us free.”
The Almighty God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is constantly, constantly revealing to us new facets of God’s self. “Praying means, above all, to be accepting of God who is always new, always different,” writes Henri Nouwen.
Now I look back on the words scribbled yesterday in my journal. “Open acceptance of whatever God allows, the God who is making all things new. This open acceptance is at the heart of my pilgrimage of prayer every day. Open acceptance says, “Whatever God allows is a gift.”
“This confusion, this overwhelm, this up-in-the-air-ness is a gift?” I wrestle with God on the blank page. “How is this unsettled emotion a gift?”
“My messy jumble makes it clear – God is God and I am not. That truth is freeing!” I conclude. “Peering into the cloudy unknown at hand, I must trust God to guide my every step. God will fill me with discerning wisdom, inspiring my ‘yes’ or my ‘no’ in response to each individual opportunity that blows my way. Right now, I don’t need to know a five year plan, a firm fall schedule, or even what this day will hold. I just need to sit still on my great pilgrimage of prayer, seeking God’s presence first above all else. In oneness with God, I will watch every important piece fall peacefully into place.”
Listen carefully, those of you who make your plans and say, “We are traveling to this city in the next few days. We’ll stay there for one year while our business explodes and revenue is up.” The reality is you have no idea where your life will take you tomorrow. You are like a mist that appears one moment and then vanishes another. It would be best to say, “If it is the Lord’s will and we live long enough, we hope to do this project or pursue that dream” (James 4:13-15, VOICE).
Pursuing daily my pilgrimage of prayer, God’s dreams for this school year will softly fall into place.
…Sue…
