I Love You too Much

One of my Facebook friends posted a prayer her four-year-old said this evening:

Dear God, thank you for being so nice to us. 

I love you. Too much. More than anyone. Amen." 

I feel like praying that prayer too this evening. Some days you just are more aware of how full the cup of life is...the good hand of God present in some unexpected ways and places. If entering the kingdom of God requires becoming like a child, this young child's prayer is a good, sincere prayer to prod my own praying. It's not just words for me to read with a warm fuzzy feeling and say, "Ah, how cute." 

So thank you little one for praying with such a tender, sincere heart. Thank you Mom for sharing something helpful and lovely on your Facebook page.

A dear friend came by this afternoon and packed our library of books for me. With energy and love she filled boxes as we chatted and listened to some music that had brought us together. I had made a little playlist to accompany our worktime and celebrate our friendship. Music and worship had been the seed for our friendship when I served at Edenton Street UMC as their Interim Music Director.

My friend Kat, far left, during warm-up for a service.

Listening to those songs this evening, this song text was playing -- Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life -- as I came across the above prayer. 

Thank you for being so nice to us. So nice to us ... a child-like way to say, My cup runneth over. Surely. Surely. Love that prompts a child to say, I love You. Too much. Yes, surely. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me. Yes, here in a home being pulled apart for a move (always a somewhat traumatic experience), in our new home (we're moving to a new city), and all the little nooks and crannies along the way. 

All the days. Not just some of them. Not just the ones where everything is in place and there are no daunting tasks, wrinkly circumstances, or even monsters under the bed of life.

I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Yes, someday in heaven, but today in a very real sense, I am dwelling in the Lord's house surrounded by his care. My head is covered with the finest oil. My cup runneth over.

Lord, may I always pray "thank you for being so nice to us." And even on those rare occasions when life's worst is hurled at me or those I love. Help me at all times to see your hand leading, the table you are preparing, your love every day. You guide me. You comfort me. 

The angelic voices ring out, Lauda! Lauda! Lauda! (I will praise the Lord). Or in the words of a four-year-old, "Dear God, I love you. Too much. More than anyone."

~~~~~

MUSIC LINKS

Here is a link to the playlist mentioned above.

Here is the choral anthem "Psalm 23" by Randall Stroope that blessed me so this evening. 

If you are not familiar with the text of the beautiful Psalm 23, here it is in several translations.

Bookends to My Day

What is the first thing you do when you awake each morning? 

Composer Eric Whitacre said in a conversation on reddit (Jan. 11, 2013) that he begins each day by reciting e.e. cummings poem, "i thank you god for most this amazing day." Before he even opens his eyes. 

I always pray or say a verse or two of scripture before I sit up in bed, but I didn’t have one particular plan for the first two minutes or so of the day. Whitacre’s comment rattled around in my mind for a couple days, partly because I admired his discipline (as one who says he is not a Christian), and partly because I, who claim to be a Christian, wasn’t making use of those first golden moments of the day like I  could or should. After a quick, “Thank you Lord for a new day,” or saying the Lord’s prayer, or praying an extemporaneous prayer, my mind and body were often off and running on what do I need to do today. 

I decided for 2013 I would start and end everyday by saying a psalm that I would memorize. It’s been great mental and spiritual exercise to put these words to memory. That admonition to “hide God’s word in my heart,” isn’t just an exercise in discipline. It will change your life to carry God’s word around like a precious, always available treasure.   

I chose Psalm 139, a psalm that speaks to God’s intimacy with us, and involvement in our lives every moment of every day. It is a great psalm to mull over anytime, but especially at the beginning of the day. I also find when my mind becomes cluttered or overwhelmed during the day, shifting it towards this psalm has been a source for refreshment, even if I just think through the psalm’s bookends:

¹O Lord, you have searched me
    and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you know it completely, O Lord.

      ^{. . . .}

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

  ²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

The parallel of the bookends is deeply meaningful. It occurred to me just this week that the Psalm begins by affirming that God has searched me and He knows me. The middle sections describe just how well he knows me and how close He is all the time. The Psalm ends by asking God, “Yes! I acknowledge that You are amazingly present in my life and I want you to search me and know me and lead me!” Bookends like these elephants below--similar, yet a little different.

Those two closing bits in verses 23 & 24 about “anxious thoughts” and “offensive way” really are a summary of all that is amiss. We worry, or we sin. Two things God wants to help us confess and run from. Lead me in the way everlasting. What a beautiful bookend for either end of the day.

In 2007, I purchased these elephant bookends for my husband’s birthday. They are from India, purchased at a fair trade store in Harrisonburg VA. With this blog post, I will always think of Psalm 139 when I dust them.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here’s a piece by Eric Whitacre, “hope, faith, life, love”

This work has resonated with many people in their 20’s and 30’s. The very straightforward text reflects, in my opinion, a new creed for many young people:

hope faith life love dream joy truth soul

For comparison, here’s a link to the Nicene Creed the church has embraced for hundreds of years, since its formulary roots in 325 A.D. 

Shopping for a unique gift? Consider a gift of bookends. Get started here.  

 

p.s.  I should add that I also was inspired by my niece Annie who is intent on memorizing the gospel of John in 2013. What a noble goal for a 20-something. She posts the verses she's memorized each day on Facebook and ends with "Memorize it. Love it." Indeed.