What the World Needs Now
AM: Psalm 119:41-64 • Isaiah 8:11-20 • Romans 10:1-15
PM: Psalm 19, 112 • Job 28:12-28 • Matthew 13:44-52
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
I love how this simple prayer expresses such a great desire: to want my words and my thoughts, even those thoughts which lie deep within my heart, to be acceptable to God. To ask for and work towards God’s approval is a great way to start a day. I like the image of the Lord as my rock. I have found that a good metaphor is very useful when attempting to verbalize numinous ideas and concepts. The Lord as my rock is tangible; God is foundational and a constant strength.
Throughout my life, my relationship with and my experience of God has changed. Think of awe-inspiring canyons, and beautifully eroded plateaus! Wind and water, over time, have transformed and molded those rocks dramatically. The rock takes on a new character and yet fundamentally remains the same, much like my relationship with God. The winds and waters of time and age and sorrows and joys have transformed God within my heart and within my thoughts.
As Franciscan Mysticism holds, the essence or “DNA” of the Divine is carried within every one and every thing. That God is my foundational rock does not mean that God is a static entity. I have come to see that God is both a constant and an ever-changing force of Love. God’s Love transforms lives. Divine essence lives and moves within all of creation and links us all together. As our Redeemer, He fills the deepest reaches of our hearts with that Love. As our Rock, God provides the strength to live out that Love in our world. Thanks be to God.
Written by Deborah Griffin
...who knows that gratitude and optimism are good medicine.
* “What the World Needs Now” is a song written in 1965 by Burt Bacharach and Hal David