The coffee pot is sputtering. The scent fills the air. I sit in our family room and pray. I am doing next to nothing, but trying to be present to the one who made all things. He cares about who and what I do today. He has given gifts of new life and a new heart. I want to understand what they are, what they mean for me, and what use they might have in the world today.
God is my Father. He has orchestrated all things - sent his Son to become human, sent his Spirit to bind me to him, and acts mightily in and through every moment of my life to bind me closer in relationship to his fullness.
Jesus is my brother, my friend, my God. He is the one who meets me in the pit of my own sin when I confess to him. He is there everytime - at the cross. When I can't even remember all that I might possibly have to leave at the cross, I am still comforted, because he has already removed all of it. Through baptism, I am buried with him. I have died in him. Everything I fear the most has already been faced by Jesus on my behalf - death, yes, but also sin-death - the one that comes as payment for sin, for Paul writes, "the wages of sin is death." This, too, has come to pass.
The sun hasn't even risen yet today. But my Lord has. Jesus rose from the grave. Through faith, I rise with him to a new day, a new life, that I can't even begin to comprehend. The new life I imagine in heaven - this is real right now.
I can't quite believe it! Its too wonderful. In a few hours, the world will be so normal, so ordinary. Could it really be true? Only in him. Only in Christ. I have to figure out a way to keep my eyes on him today, not out of fear. I am convinced at least of this - that God is merciful beyond what I can imagine. But I have to figure out a way because I love him, because I want to be with him.
Do you ever wonder why it is that your brain is so powerful, so amazing in all that it does - and yet it doesn't seem to understand itself? Or that your heart, which sends vital, nutrient-rich blood all over your body, doesn't send a message to your brain each day of how important its work is? These are hidden miracles within us. So it is, I think, with the new heart and the new mind through the Holy Spirit's presence in us. Hidden, alive, working - God lives within you. Where will we be led today?
Too much for us to handle on a Wednesday morning in January? Perhaps! But it is still early. The day has not quite begun yet. I have a fighting chance of being like King David - "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1)
God, it is written in 1 Peter 1:12 that angels long to understand what it is you have done in crucifying us in the death of your Son and raising us to life in him. Angels long to know and feel what it is that is taking place in our lives. Give us eyes to see each other today as children of the Father, dearly loved and treasured - to live a peaceful but busy day, content with you.
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