November 2010
Dear Friends,
“When my heart whispered, “Seek God,” my whole being replied, “I’m seeking him!”
- Psalm 27: 8
Last year during the month of November, I took time each day to write something that I was grateful for. I never repeated the same thing twice and I worked hard to really think about what I was grateful for that day. Sometimes, I wrote things like, “I’m grateful for the little sighs Sam makes when he sleeps” or “I’m grateful that I have a roof over my head” or “I’m grateful for rain that soaks the earth and helps generate new life.” Though gratitude is part of my daily prayers throughout the year, it became a special part of my day to really focus on the positive, life-giving aspects of life, and not simply the daily grind.
Seek God, the Psalmist says. When the daily activities of life begin to take over your life… Seek God. When the soccer practices, conferences, cleaning, and yard work begin to be chores to accomplish and tasks to complete… Seek God. When you find yourself in a place where routine feels more like a hamster wheel than the gift of reliability… Seek God. But don’t just seek God elsewhere… seek God amidst the very activities that make life the chaotic mess that it is. Seek God, take notice of God, in the places where you are so embedded in routine that you might miss the very presence of the Holy.
In that soccer carpool… seek God in the time you have with your children or grand-children and witnessing their joy and reckless laughter with other kids. In the garden… seek God in the digging up of weeds and the turning of soil, seek God in connecting with the earth. In the grocery store… seek God in the encounter you have with the cashier.
Seek God in all places and all times… so that when your heart whispers, “Seek God”… your whole being can reply, “I’m seeking him!”
I pray that this November, and every day, we can all take time for gratitude, and take time to Seek God.
Blessings,
Pastor Danielle