From
Psalm 30 comes the familiar verse:
“Weeping may endure for a night But Joy comes in the Morning.” (vs. 5).
Verse 7 goes on to say “You have turned form me my mourning into
dancing: You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. “ It’s amazing how God’s grace does this for us
and the Psalmist is quick to give God Praise.
I lost my job in 2011.
I thought it was the worst thing that could happen. I cried for days. Then God spoke to me one morning as I looked
in the bathroom mirror, brushing my teeth.
That conversation with God that morning led me to apply for admission to
Candler School of Theology. God used
this grief and mourning to remind me of the call he placed on my life so many
years ago and to spur me forward into that call. Today, 3 ½ years later I hold a master’s
degree from Candler School of Theology and am appointed as pastor of three
wonderful congregations. What felt like
the worst thing that could happen to me turned out to be the best.
This gives me hope in other moments that seem doomed for
destruction. The words of Psalm 30 serve
as a reminder of that hope. To live into
that hope though we must make room in our lives for conversation with God.
I read another passage from Brother Lawrence’s The Spiritual Maxims of Brother Lawrence this
morning. He says:
Life is full of perils and of hidden
reefs, on which we shall make shipwreck without the continual succor of the
grace of God. Yet how can we ask for it,
unless we are with God? How can we be
with God, unless our thoughts are ever of God?
How can God be in our thoughts, unless we form a holy habit of abiding
in God’s Presence, there asking for the grace we need each moment of our life?
Where
ae you making space for recognizing God’s presence in your life? In the Name of the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
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