Satisfy us in the morning with Your love,
so we may sing for joy
and be glad all our days. – Psalm 90:14 (TLV)
As I sit down to write this devotion, at my desk in the church office, the train whistle is blowing. This is far from unusual. The train goes through Moorestown every afternoon. Yet every time it happens, I have a moment of surprise. Because it is a daily feature of life, I never think about it. It simply fades into the background of existence. Yet when the time arrives in the afternoon, I hear the whistle and think to myself, “That’s right, the train comes through at this time. How could I forget that?” Then I move on with my day, quickly forgetting that any of that ever happened so that I am primed to be surprised again tomorrow.
How easily the everyday fades into the background. How easily we lose track of the uniqueness of where we are and the rhythms of the life that surrounds us. Even more, how easily we become numb to the greatest wonders of the world because they are so familiar. How incredible is it that we can have clean water any time we want it just by turning on a faucet? How hard have so many humans throughout history had to work to get something so precious, and we have it on demand! How beautiful are the songs of the birds we hear every day? How fantastic when we do not need to think about having the basic necessities of life! Yet even when we are present enough in a moment to notice these things, it is generally but a fleeting moment of appreciation before the thought fades into the background of our lives, waiting to surprise us again at some point. At our best, being thankful is managing to notice occasionally the blessings that continually sustain us.
If all of this is true about the physical wonders of the world that we can see, how much more of a challenge is it to be aware of the spiritual blessings that surround us? God’s grace comes to us continually; through the Holy Spirit we may occasionally recognize it. We are wrapped in God’s love like a blanket, but at best we have the occasional moment of surprise of recognizing it. This is wonder of God – that God is so consistent that God’s work fades into the background of our life. Yet it is also the challenge of faithful living: how do we still ourselves enough to recognize what is always there. How does our moment of surprise in recognizing God’s grace not fall into complacent indifference to the joy that God is forever reaching out to us? The goal behind all spiritual practices – devotional time, prayer, daily bible reading – is to help us still our minds to allow room for the spark of surprised joy at God’s presence. These times are reminder moments to help us notice what is already there, so that we do not take it for granted. May we be daily surprised with the joy of the Lord, that we be glad all our days for it.
heck back next week for a devotion.