Lent XXXXI

As Lent draws to a close, so does this weekly focus on "the Practice of His Presence."  On these Mondays of the Lenten season the emphasis on this day has been on spending more time in His Presence.  By increasing our time commitment by ten minutes a week, our goal was to be at a point where we could be spending an hour experiencing the presence of God.  Some of us have reached that goal.  Some of us have not quite been able to make our intentions reality.  Hopefully, all of us have come to a place of spending more time in His presence than we were at the beginning of the Lenten season.

 

In thinking about this focus for the last time, I found myself being drawn toward the 23rd Psalm.  It is such a familiar piece of Scripture.  It represents some of the first scripture memorization for many of us.  It speaks of the longing of our hearts as we move toward a life of more time in the presence of God.  We long to be cared for by our Shepherd.  We long to walk in rich lush green places where are souls can be abundantly nourished.  And we long for the safety of the still waters which provides for us a safe place to have our spiritual thirst not only quenched, but satisfied.  Our hearts long for this kind of intimate relationship of trust with this God we worship.  It is no wonder that we would launch out on an endeavor which offered a promise of bringing us into a more nurtured relationship with God.

 

Regardless of where we are on this journey of faith and intimacy with God, it a journey worthy of the best that we can do.  And when we have done the best we can do, we can pause with confidence in the knowledge that where we are unable to walk, He will take us.  He can be trusted to take us into that deeper relationship with Him that we each long to experience.  He will not turn away from the longing and seeking heart.  May that heart be in each of us as we continue a life of faith that speaks of practicing His presence until experiencing His presence becomes a reality.