Joy!
December
20, 2014
Joy! By Marta McLaughlin
Scripture:
Psalm 139
“O
Lord, you have searched me and known me.”
Psalm 139:1
I am
often filled with joy for no apparent reason. The sky looks bluer and the
plants greener, I say just the right thing at the right time, walking feels
like dancing, and everything seems to flow. Of course, sometimes I’m
filled with joy because I’ve gotten good news or something that I have been
hoping and praying for is happening. But what is the key to this other
joy?
Psalm
139 eloquently describes how intimately God knows each one of us. God invests
time and energy in developing each one of us. God continues to form us
with unique skills, interests, gifts, and experiences. God affirms our
infinite value. God is with us wherever we go, embracing us, guiding
us. We are not alone. We are known. We are loved.
God actively seeks to develop a
relationship with us. God wants us to be a part of what God is doing in
the world. God gave us each other, community, to love and care for one
another. The details of how we do that are different for each one of
us. But I am reminded of the quote from Frederick Buechner — 'The place
God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep
hunger meet.' When I’m able to set aside self-doubt, stress, anxiety, and
regret; when I remember that God knows me and loves me just as I am; and when I
feel connected to God and my community, I feel that I am where God has called
me to be in that moment, and I’m overfilled with joy.
During
this week of advent, we remember the joy God brought into the world through
Jesus Christ and the joy that each of us has the opportunity to experience
through our relationship with God and our community.
Prayer: Nurturing
and affirming creator, you know us inside and out, from beginning to end.
You know our faults and our failures, and you love us just the
same. Help us to lay down the stress and anxiety of our own goals, help
us to turn our self-doubt over to you, help us tune into joy to recognize where
you are calling us to be. Amen.
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