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fortress, kickstart, Lord, praise, prayer, refuge, rock, salvation, stength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
Some mornings there is no reason for the joy or distress we feel upon waking up to the day. Nothing on the calendar is more than a mild challenge, no ache is greater than the normal twinge of aging, no residuals of a delightful or disturbing dream can be named. Some of us do, however, act as the weather directs: sunny or gray depending…
It’s good to have a few “fall-back” kickstarts just in case we need something to get going. Prayer helps, and certain quick reminders from the psalms do just fine most days. Today provides one such example. I recommend saying it aloud and then keeping it written in a convenient place for any gloomy day.
I love you, O Lord, my strength, O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. My God, my rock of refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold! Praised be the Lord, I exclaim, and I am safe from my enemies.
On my bedroom windowsill I have a rock that I found on the shore of Skaneateles Lake during a retreat many years ago. It really looks like a miniature mountain and on an outcropping sits a tiny statue of an owl looking out. The composition is a sign to me of God’s strong, wise and ever-watchful presence, a metaphor like that of today’s psalm that sings: Blessed is the Lord, my rock, my fortress, my stronghold, my deliverer, my shield in whom I trust. (PS 144:1-2).
There are so many ways to say it – and so many reasons to consider it. The point to make every day really is that love is at the heart of every solution, every relationship…every success in life. It was what fueled Sts. Francis and Clare (see yesterday’s post) and today, the message in the readings couldn’t be clearer.
