“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 2:1)

“Strengthened” by your grace is a wonderful place to start the morning.

Your father’s heart sees me precisely where I am. With you, I am not a problem to be solved or a situation in need of a solution. I am not a nuisance you deal with or a task you check off like a stack of work orders designated to some completed file.

Rather, in some inexplicable way, I am your child with needs you ultimately care about, a daughter struggling with a load you are willing and completely able to cart. Your Father’s arms reach for me to shoulder the crush I cannot carry alone.

Rather, in some inexplicable way, I am your child with needs you ultimately care about, a daughter struggling with a load you are willing and completely able to cart. Your Father’s arms reach for me to shoulder the crush I cannot carry alone.

Thank you for sleep that brought rest, a new day ahead to serve you, and limitless possibilities to bless your name. You promise to walk with me; I get to hear your voice calling me to love, encourage, listen, learn. You desire that I devote myself to you and to the people you have in my life; you will supply the grace necessary for both.

I am here to meet with you. I wait with your Word in my hands to hear the richness of your voice, to feel your presence close, to be washed and refilled by you. Your grace arrives in measureless and sufficient quantities

This is the day you have made and I am to rejoice in it. Through this ordinary day, if I am aware, I will taste and see your goodness everywhere. I long to find joy in all that you are doing, even in the places that make little sense to me.

Forgive me, dear Lord, for getting in the way at times; for being consumed with my concerns and not your desires; for being too quick to speak and far too slow to listen; for failing to believe your promises; for being faint-hearted; for recognizing other’s faults long before my own.

In spite of my shortcomings, you love me with tenderness devoted to the grand purpose of shepherding my heart to yours, of using the heavy weights in my life in some sacred fashion so I become more like your Son. You are all about making Jesus seen and heard through me.

 Even on a routine, run-of-the-mill, barely newsworthy day like today.

“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul” (Psalm 143:8).

Elizabeth Ann Mitchell

Photo CreditL Denise Johnson on Unsplash