Swimming in Mercy

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bless, Divine Presence, encounters, grace, mercy, moment, Psalm 103, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, today, willingness

Today is a day that calls for living in the moment…but is also prompting me to remember the consistent goodness of God: past, present and future. The grass couldn’t be greener, the sun is full up and drying the dew, the promise of the meteorologists is for a perfect late spring day. The psalmist sings: Each day I bless you, God of all; never will I forget the good that you have meant to me. (PS 103:2) I think of the graced conversations of yesterday – each one giving me something to think about or thank God for, so that the feelings and sensations of such a blessed day remain. While holding it all lightly, willing for the encounters to be like deposits in my spiritual bank account, I look toward today with a willingness to accept whatever befalls me. It is my hope to remember all day long that wonderful reality – also called to mind by Psalm 103 – that we swim in mercy as in an endless sea.

May all of us be awake to the divine presence in every moment of today!

 

 

 

 

 

This Day

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Bible, God's dwelling, holy cards, human race, John, love one anpther, Revelation, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, today

When I was young my Bible was a home for a collection of “holy cards” – some commemorating events or people who had died but others sporting prayers or poetry like “I am the mother of a priest…” (my grandmother) or “a prayer for religious vocations.” This morning as I read the text from the Book of Revelation in today’s lectionary, the beginning of one of those prayers popped into my mind. It said: “Today is mine to mar or make; O keep me strong and true…” I wondered where it came from but then looked again at REV 21:1-5 and really heard the visionary’s words proclaiming that God’s dwelling is with the human race…God will dwell with them and they will be his people…Behold, I make all things new. Following this covenantal statement was Jesus saying: I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (JN 13:34-35)

I realize more and more lately that living each day “like the first or the last one” (as John Denver once sang in his song about Alaska) is the only sane way to proceed. Doing our best is all God asks, I think, and all we should be asking of ourselves and others. Recognition that perfection is likely still out of our reach and making peace with that seems enough to go on as the sun comes back for another round, another chance at loving. So good luck to us today, I say, as we keep in mind whatever prayer of intention will “keep us strong and true.”