“I’m standing my ground, God, shouting for help, at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak.” Psalm 88.13
I am not sure about you, but I’m overwhelmed. As I look around me, it appears that everyone is on the verge of having their decks buried by life’s seas. For every day of peace and quiet, there are two or three days of chaos. Pick the wave; work demands, family traumas, health crisis, the list goes on forever. Life is overwhelming!
As I sit reflecting in the calm early morning, the contrast between the peace outside and the turmoil within is very striking. The air is cool and still, birds are chatting as their day gets busy, and there is the sound of the occasional car or training going by. Everything around me seems to be in peaceful equilibrium while my life, as I reflect, is still spinning. I apply my standard solution to this opportunity; I lift my prayers up to God, asking, requesting, and probably demanding that he take them away. Too often, I do not let them go freely, I know what God should do with these burdens and feel free to tell him so.
Life goes on. I shout and scream at God in the quiet of the morning and he appears silent. It is as if deaf ears ignore everything I do and every request I make. It would seem that either I am too small and insignificant or God is too big and busy! The Psalmist said that he is ‘camping on the edge of hell’. Well, it seems like I am too!
Every once in awhile I stop wallowing in my despair. I look around and listen for God voice. It is all around me; I wonder why I missed it before. Amazing acts of kindness come my way unexpectedly for no reason. Friends stay by my side far longer than one could every reasonably expect. Beauty and love are on all sides as nurturing balm. God is here every time I look and listen.
For you, too.
