I've had my daughter's dog, Cindy, for the past couple of weeks, and Cindy has "had" me. She greets me as soon as my feet hit the floor at 5:00 A.M, and she trembles with anticipation until I pour my first cup of coffee and head to the door. When I pick up her leash, she is beside herself with excitement, and once the door is open, she literally drags me into the yard . . . all 20 pounds of her. At this time of year when the early morning weather is perfect and the night sky is incredibly stunning, I love our early morning walk, and I am grateful to Cindy for making me go outside instead of sit in my "study" chair. And yes, there is a point to this mundane story. . .
As Cindy and I have walked in these past weeks, I have been repeatedly awed by the wonder of the night sky, and these walks have become more than Cindy's morning constitutional; they have become my time with God. I have greeted Him, talked with Him, and praised Him for everything imaginable . . . for the beauty of nature, for the constellations (I can only pick out three . . . remedial astronomy is needed), for answered prayers, and for His love. But this morning, the walk took on new life: it became worship. I have had worship on my mind a lot lately because I think too many people in the church have lost their sense of worship, and it is the very thing for which we are created! We come to church thinking someone is supposed to "feed" us or that we will be entertained, but this is the farthest from the right motive; we should enter God's house and God's world to worship Him. And this morning as I gazed at the sky, I worshiped God in beauty and holiness. It was quite a moment. But there's more.
Last night, two of my daughters and my precious granddaughter, Olivia, came home for dinner with the family. Olivia is three months old, and she is just starting to "talk." Now, we know not to talk baby talk to Olivia because we want her to learn language . . . after all, language is what I do as a teacher! But Meredith said something interesting: she read somewhere that we should ask Olivia questions and then wait on her to answer. Interesting process for a three-month old, but I've been doing it, and guess what . . . when I talk and then hush, she talks back! It's amazing! Of course, I'm sure it's because she's a genius . . . :) But I'm not exaggerating -- when we spoke to her and asked questions and then closed our mouths long enough for her to respond, she did . . . every single time! And that made me think this morning about God . . .
How many times do we go to God in prayer and then WE do all the talking? How many times do we ask Him for things and then never hush just to listen for His still, small voice? How many times do we miss His incredible nudging in our day because we never get still and quiet enough to feel Him and know His presence? This morning, I got that message loud and clear. I walked, and talked, and then? I just walked and listened. What an awesome way to start the day!
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