The Word comes to life in my hearing of it. Stand with me on this hillside, it invites. Shade your eyes from the harshness of the sun. Wipe the sweat from your brow and squint into the distance. Listen with your heart to hear the ancient words of Israel. I am there. In the desolation of the desert and its relentless withering of plant and shade, I hear him. Reuben's guttural cry resounds in the wilderness and my own heart understands his lament, "Where can I now turn?" I know the fear and anguish of the question as waves of long-past memories rush in.
I shift and I turn ever so slightly. I close my eyes. I remember. The psalmist stands next to me and I remember Your name. As he turned his face to Your promise, my heart too sees the hope that preserves life. It is quiet. We survey the horizons together and I see, as never before that the earth is indeed full of Your steadfast love.
I turn and face a new direction and suddenly it is noisy and loud and I am caught up in the pushing and pulsing of people trying to touch You. Arms reaching through the madness - voices crying for relief from the mindless suffering. Where are You? Everyone is searching for You!
You, Lord God, emerge from that solitary place and I know with a certainty unshaken, that it is within me. I am jolted into the present. The power You did not wish to be made known then has been unleashed and I am that prayer now. We are that prayer now. Can you hear His voice, "Do you choose? Do you choose to go on to your own neighboring places to proclaim my message?"
We are that love now and it will mean putting on our traveling shoes and risking being changed. Walking with the dying. Companioning someone on the long pathway from the depths of addiction. Playing board games with children whose choice is the court's roll of the dice.
Should you risk answering, "I do choose," God's response will amaze and astound you for, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him."
For Your Prayer: Enlighten the eyes of our hearts, O Lord, so we may not only see and receive Your mercy, but also notice the places in our world where You call us to extend mercy. Amen. -- From Common Prayer - A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals.
For Your Reflection: How might your choice for healing and wholeness change your life? What do you stand to lose if you choose? What do you stand to gain? How would that same choice affect the world?
Nancy Severin serves as the Colorado Assembly President for The Order of the Daughters of the King, and as senior warden, St. Charles Episcopal Church in Fort Morgan.
