May 19, 2016

God is Love (20)
1 John 4:8

Love always protects (1)
1 Corinthians 13

We are told that God is our shield and our protector. Yet calamities pile upon us: health issues, death of a loved one, loss of work, sometimes the pain of children who wonder off; countless things that seem to pile upon us and weaken our resolve until we cry out to God “Enough!” How do we see the power of God in our midst when everything around us is screaming at us? How can we say the “God always protects?” How can we always trust God to protect us when our world is disintegrating around us?
Pain, especially the type of pain that is most difficult to deal with, not physical pain (usually) but the pain of separation from love: family problems, security problems, mental problems that beset all of us from time to time. However, these are the types of problems (and their pain) that we have control over at all times. By themselves, they are just events in our lives. Anything can be an event, from getting up in the morning to losing a dear one to transitioning in life.
Our life is filled with events, big ones and small ones. No matter what they are, they are events, that once they have unfolded out of the mist of the future, cannot be changed no matter what we do or say or wish – the past is simply the past, and what we do with the past lies in our decision process. We can live and dwell in that moment of pain, or we can move on – that is the process that our God has instilled in us, and the choice is ours, only ours. No one can make it for you, at any time. We choose our response to the events in our life, for good or not.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but we get to choose our response to all events in life. If you lose your job, one can see this event as a catastrophe or as an opportunity. Do you look ahead and get excited, or do you look ahead and become fearful? Can you take an event and see this as a new path to achieve the next grandest version of the grandest vision you ever had about yourself? Do you see life as an adventure to be grabbed, or a fearful wall always clutching at you to hold you back and defeat you, so that you have to be dragged into the future?
Life can be the grandest adventure of all; to tell the truth, it is the only adventure we have. Everything else is subordinate to the adventure of life; and the best way to view it is that everything else is the adventure of life, for all is life. When we look at all of life as an adventure, always offering us glimpses of the Love of God if we only look, it is an amazing thing, and life can become meaningful in all we do. There is no part of life that is not part of the adventure of life, even as we transition from this life into the life beyond. The brass ring is always there, right at out fingertips, always within grasp. And when we grasp the ring, it turns to gold, always, even when life seems the most difficult, that golden ring is always ready to lead us to the next greatest venture.

Whoever goes to the Lord for safety,
Whoever remains under the protection
Of the Almighty
Can say to God,
“You are my defender and protector.
You are my God, in You I trust.”
                            Psalm 91:1-2 (GNT)

Meditation

My God, my Wisdom, my Shield, I give myself to You. I place myself under your protection. I know that my trust in Your goodness in my life is justified, as You have always protected me in my life, even when outward events seemed to say otherwise. Your Love has shielded me throughout my life, keeping me from lasting harm, filling my being with Your Joy and Happiness even when I could only see dark.
Today Lord, just today, continue to fill my soul with Your Music, the Joy that gives me light to share with the world, the Light that will never diminish. I will ask again tomorrow, but just having Your peace and joy today is sufficient for the day. Today is a glorious day, filled to the brim with Your Love in all that is. Keep my heart open to this love and let me be a generous and giving conduit of Your Love into our world, that world that You give to me each moment.
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