Whether we are stirred by an alarm, a child playing, a baby wanting to nurse, or that golden light, all are calling us into a reality that is filled with gift.
Jesus told the Samaritan woman so very long ago, “If you knew the gift of God..." (John 4:10). I've always been struck by those words. It's a brief part of scripture that pierces my heart. It makes me feel as if I've locked eyes with my lover in a way that makes me want to read right past it because there is so much weight and love and goodness in those seven little words I can hardly bear it.
Christ's words are beautiful and filled with love and tenderness! If I knew the gift of God? Can you imagine if we truly knew the gift He has for us in our present? Hearts, eyes, souls, minds, and all that we are to be truly open to what He wants to share with us because He is a God of Love. And, if I know anything, where there is love there is gift, always.
But how often do I respond just as the Samaritan woman did; talking past His words, continuing on as if I heard nothing, saw nothing, knew nothing of whom was right in front of me the entire time! Rambling on my way through all of His Teachings, through all of his Goodness and Beauty, is probably where you'd find my mind. I would be talking pragmatics when He would be trying to give me Living Water. He would be trying to nourish my soul while I would be walking away, fighting a love that I was designed to behold.
And yet, in His abounding kindness, He let her ramble. He did not just leave her in her logic, rather, He revealed Himself to her and shared an incredible gift, the gift of Himself.
But how often do I respond just as the Samaritan woman did; talking past His words, continuing on as if I heard nothing, saw nothing, knew nothing of whom was right in front of me the entire time! Rambling on my way through all of His Teachings, through all of his Goodness and Beauty, is probably where you'd find my mind. I would be talking pragmatics when He would be trying to give me Living Water. He would be trying to nourish my soul while I would be walking away, fighting a love that I was designed to behold.
And yet, in His abounding kindness, He let her ramble. He did not just leave her in her logic, rather, He revealed Himself to her and shared an incredible gift, the gift of Himself.
"The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things." Jesus said to her,
"I who speak to you am he."
-John 4:25-26
In the mornings, through my fogginess and exhaustion, I think ahead to my day or I get onto my children for doing x, y, or z things they aren't supposed to be doing so early in the morn and I get lost. All that the day holds for me bombards my senses leaving me frantic rather than filled with excitement and peace. These ambitious efforts of wanting to always have this idealistic experience of love and order for myself and all around me weigh my heart down. Within moments, I've lost sight of that golden light that quietly called me to be still. That sweet, gentle glow filled with warmth and purpose that beckoned my soul to start anew in the warmth and order of the beginning of a new day.
That light calls me each day to begin anew. It reminds me that today truly is new but that doesn't change the fact that I need to still choose to rise and respond to His Presence and how He tries to reach me.
"He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means,
“Little girl, I say to you, arise!”
-Mark 5: 41
So then what should I do? Knowing all of these things, I need to let my soul whisper the fiat she so much wants to shout, take His Hand, and arise again and again, knowing that He is holding me all the while through the gift of my beating heart.
