PHOTO: Mary van Balen In the morning let me know your love, O Lord.
Lord, listen to my prayer:
in your faithfulness turn your ear to my pleading;
in your justice, hear me…
The enemy has hounded my spirit…
So my spirit trembles within me,
my heart turns to stone.
I remind myself of the days of old,
I reflect on all your works,
I meditate once more on the work of your hands…
Show me your mercy at daybreak,
because of my trust in you.
In the morning let me know your love…
Psalm 142 (143) from Morning Prayer
I am not a morning person. Ask anyone who has lived with me or even spent a few days in my house. I meet the morning with glazed eyes and when possible, a long time laying in bed working up to engaging in the day.
One of the problems I encounter in the early morning hours is battling worries and thoughts that come whooshing in, unbidden, filling an empty mind like air rushing into an open vacuum.
Rather than energizing me to rise and meet the challenges head-on, those thoughts make laying in bed all the more attractive…except when I do, everything seems worse. Impossible. Overwhelming.
Perhaps that is why this morning’s Psalm spoke to me. With the possible exception of sleepless late nights, early morning is the time I can most use the recognition of God’s love.
Embedded in the psalm is also helpful adivice: remember God’s Presence in days past; remember how God has been with me, helping me through other rough days. Remember, God is God. Always has been. Always will be. I am not alone.
Reflecting on this truth can help us during Lent as we enter honestly into the quiet room of our hearts. Being alone with one’s self is risky. We have to own the darkness we find there as well as the light.
For some reason, when I begin my days, I am tempted to act on the illusion that all is up to me. Remembering the Holy Presence in my history, in the history of the world, is more that entertaining pleasant thoughts or empty hope.
Remembering has power. It makes present again what has been present before. This will be my morning prayer for the next thirty-eight days: In the morning, let me know your love.
© 2011 Mary van Balen
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