God is a safe place in life’s storms.

My daughter and I were arranging to attend an extended family gathering. Because she was nervous about the trip, I offered to drive. “Okay. But I feel safer in my car. Can you drive it?” she asked. I assumed she preferred her more spacious vehicle to my compact one so I responded, “Is my car too cramped?” “No, it’s just that my car is my safe place. Somehow I feel protected there.”

 Her comment challenged me to consider my own personal “safe place.” Immediately I thought of Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” In Old Testament times, the walls and watchtower of a city provided warning of danger from without and shielding for its citizens within. The writer’s point is that God’s name, which stands for His character, person, and everything that He is, provides true protection for His people.

Certain physical places promise longed-for safety in moments that seem dangerous. A sturdy roof overhead in the midst of a storm. A hospital offering medical care. The embrace of a loved one.

What is your “safe place”? Wherever we seek safety, it is God’s presence with us in that place that provides the strength and protection we really need. —Elisa Morg

 Dear God, thank You that no matter what worries and concerns we have today, when we think about You, we find safety in Your presence.

Meditation Message

OUR QUEST TO UNDERSTAND God’s greatness can consume us to the point that we forget God’s nearness. We ask the wise ones in our midst, “Where is God?” When they answer, “God is present in the ordinary events of our everyday lives,” we are tempted to swim away disappointed.
“But this is just me and my humdrum life,” we respond, perplexed. “I am seeking something much greater than this!” We turn away and search elsewhere for that which is before our very eyes — that is, if only we had the eyes to see. God’s loving presence is the sacred water in which we swim.
Without the eyes to see, we continue searching for a spectacular moment of divine revelation. We busy ourselves looking for God on the mountaintop, and we fail to see God right beside us — at work, in traffic, at the grocery store, in the school pickup line, or at our own kitchen table. We long for the indisputable affirmation of God’s presence in a “burning bush” moment. We want the heavens to open, the angels to sing, and God’s voice to offer comfort, clarity, and wisdom. We forget that the ordinary stuff of daily life is extraordinarily sacred. God is in all things — if only we would open our eyes to see.

– Sharon Seyfarth Garner
Praying with Mandalas 

The Spirit of Holy Love

http://biblehub.com/galatians/5-22.htm

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Gentleness is a character trait that is of great value in God's sight. We read about this in 1 Peter 3:4 when Peter writes... but in the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God very precious. (WEB)

In one of the few places in the New Testament where Jesus describes Himself, He refers to Himself as being gentle... Matthew 11:29 - Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. (WEB) Gentleness is also listed as being part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.

King David declared to God the following words in 2 Samuel 22:36... You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great. (WEB) I am so glad that God deals with us in His gentleness. If He treated us like we deserved, we would definitely be in trouble... But He doesn't.

I believe that 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 describes the gentleness of the Lord and how He treats us when Paul writes... 4 Love is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (WEB)

My prayer today is that we would radiate the same gentleness to those around us, that God shows to us. May we be known as a gentle people who are patient and kind and tender-hearted so we will be just like our big brother!

Food for Thought

EVERY TIME YOU BREATHE you express the name of God. [“I Am,” which is written with four Hebrew consonants, AHYH. When you pronounce the name God gave to Moses, you make the sound of breathing, You draw in a breath, EH, and you exhale YH, which sounds like yuh.]
The first sound a newborn makes is the name of God. The obstetrician listens for it. It comes first as a cry. Everyone thrills with the first sign that the baby can breathe. The last sound a dying person makes before leaving this earth is the name of God.
I find it profoundly meaningful that every mammal on earth begins and ends life pronouncing the name of God. It does not matter what theology I hold, I automatically, many times every day, say the name of God. Even if I am unconscious, I am constantly giving expression to the name of my Creator. There is never really any doubt about whose I am. I am because I belong to I AM. My existence is a gift from the One who is the source of all.

– J. David Muyskens
Sacred Breath 

Serenity

MANY DEMANDS UPON OUR TIME and many opportunities waiting to be explored often fill our lives too full with activities and distractions. When this happens it is not surprising that we grow anxious and lose our sense of peace and tranquility.
Today remember that God and God alone is able to care for all that exists; we can trust our smallest and largest concern to the wisdom and love of God. Peace, hope, calm, and joy are the fruits of placing our confidence in God. May these gifts be yours in abundance.

~ Rueben P. Job
A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God 

Reflections

I REMEMBER A TIME of horrible confusion when I did not know whom or what I could trust. In a moment of despair, I confided in my mother that I no longer knew what the truth was. She replied without skipping a breath, “The only truth there is, is God’s love.”
An illuminative experience opens us to God’s truth. We know in those few minutes of transcending grace more than we knew only moments before. More than just head knowledge, it is knowing with the heart and with every cell of the body. We never forget this kind of knowledge because the memory attaches into our DNA. With the power of a religious conversion, an illuminative experience changes the way we perceive life. Nothing will ever be the same; nor do we want it to be.

– Karla M. Kincannon
Creativity and Divine Surprise