Writer Kathleen Norris wisely observes: “We want life to have meaning, and want to be fulfilled, and it is hard to accept that we find these things by starting where we are, not where we would like to be. Our greatest spiritual blessings are likely to reveal themselves not in exotic settings but in everyday tasks and trials.”
In what follows, you’ll find three ways God blessed me in my everyday tasks and trials of the past week.
First, I liked playing James Quinn’s “Chasing Clouds,” while I read and wrote during my early morning quiet times.
Second, on Tuesday I finished reading Cyd and Geoff Holsclaw’s book Landscapes of the Soul: How the Science and Spirituality of Attachment Can Move You into Confident Faith, Courage, and Connection. In my view, everyone should read this book. Why, you ask?
Here’s the short answer: Everyone has an attachment style. And this attachment style is quietly shaping the way you relate to others . . . every day. This is what you default to, especially when you’re hurt, agitated, or navigating conflict in your closest relationships. And, dear Christians, it even influences how you see and relate to God. So, yeah, you might want to invest some time in this.
Third, Chad Bird’s devotional entry on Psalm 79:1–7 provided me with loads of comfort this morning. Before reading his comments below, I urge you to stop and read the passage first. Here’s part of what he wrote:
The verses of this psalm drip blood. Shrieks of horror reverberate from word to agonizing word. . . . What do you do when every direction you turn is mayhem, sacrilege, outrage, hell on earth? . . . . You go to the one, the only one, who is always and everywhere our hope. . . . You take the shards of your broken heart and cast them heavenward. You lift your red and swollen eyes to heaven and cry, “Look, God! Help, Lord! Do something!” You verbalize the unspeakable anguish within you. . . . That’s what you do. Because that is what our Lord, in the Psalms, teach us to do when death and despair haunt us. We cry. We lament. . . . Christ is there to see us through, no matter how long the healing takes.
Amen.
Recent Comments