Good morning…
As a wide variety of passionate people share with me very personal perspectives, God is building through us an honest online community. Yesterday’s post, The Fierce Urgency Of Now, unleashed an avalanche of raw responses, covering most every inch of our fertile common ground. I will gradually unpack our various perspectives on the unrest across our nation over the days ahead, listening and learning whatever God yearns to teach us together.
But for now, I must say, I am thankful our website is set up with no ability to publicly reply to our posts, so every return email comes to me privately. Before responding to each individual when the moment is right, I feel privileged to pray over the insights shared with me by articulate subscribers from different cities, different states, different countries. In this dawning day and this anxious age, I am grateful to not be a democrat or a republican, since learning from both sides of the political aisle helps me balance the tight rope of walking by faith. I am thankful to remain connected to my midwestern roots up north while currently growing fresh fruits down south in Atlanta, Georgia. I am relieved to remain unplugged from social media, no Facebook page, no twittering or tweeting, no tick-tock or snap-chat filling my time and my mind. I figure any new information coming my way is filtered through the fingers of God before landing on my lap to teach me exactly what the LORD wants me to learn, exactly when God needs me to know, before I share thoughts with you daily.
During this divisive time, sharing a morning morsel has become a risky challenge for me. It would certainly easier for me to say nothing of substance as we tip toe through landmines of violence, injustice, loss of life and waning security. But deepening down into prayer, I trust the promise of God passed down through Moses. “Now go! When you speak, I will be with you and give you the words to say” (Exodus 4:12, CEV).
Like drinking from a fire hydrant, so much transformative potential is rapidly coming at us. Our old normal is no longer, God’s new graces are not yet fully formed. Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless—cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God’s words; if help, let it be God’s hearty help. That way, God’s bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and he’ll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything—encores to the end of time (1 Peter 4:7-11, MSG).
As I wake when God wakes me, writing morning by morning, I rest in the wisdom of King Solomon. Guard your steps and focus on what you are doing as you go to the house of God (as I enter the tiny chapel of my heart) and draw near to listen… Do not be hasty with your mouth [speaking careless words or vows] or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter before God. For God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2, AMP). Silent solitude with God is the baseline from which I am privileged to I write our blog posts each day.
Being guided by an intimate, ongoing conversation, I seek to follow the advice Jesus gives in Matthew 6:9-11 (NLT). Pray like this: “Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need…” (and the footnote for verse eleven adds, “Or ‘Give us today our food for the day’ or ‘Give us today our food for tomorrow'”). Needing daily nuggets of nourishment, today and tomorrow, collectively our online community stays wide-awake in prayer. Together we witness God’s kingdom expanding right before our eyes as God’s will takes form on earth as it is in heaven.
…Sue…
P.S. This morning’s photo brought to us courtesy of unsplash.com.
