dear God

thank you for getting me up this morning after a deep, restful sleep.  it was dark when i got up–and you know how much i love it when i’m able to get up this early, for no other reason than to be up during the momentary stillness just after the birds begin to chirp but before the rest of creation stirs to life.

what a beautiful sunrise you created for me this morning.  i loved the shade of purple you used on the clouds and the bright red highlights cast on them by the sun’s rays.  you made this morning even more perfect by that cool, crisp breeze that gently blew over me.  took me back to our running days back home, when we would get up early on race mornings with excitement and anticipation.  do you think back to those days, too?  i remember how much joy you would give me as i ran through your beautiful creation.  you felt really close to me in those moments and i’m so thankful for them.

and, i almost forgot–thank you for sending freddy to our window this morning!  funny how much joy a daily visit from a little red-headed bird to our window can bring.  whenever you bring him by, you remind me of how you send new encouragements and joys to me each day.  they are new every morning….

it’s already august.  i can’t believe we’ve come this far.  the road behind me is a bit blurry and the road ahead isn’t visible at all from where i stand…but how i praise you that you know every curve, ditch and turn.  you have created this road, and you will enable me to travel along it as you have up to this point….

this point. 

God, it is really hard these days for me to focus on this point.  this moment.  i want to be fully present in this moment, this day that you have created for me, and you know how hard it has been for me to do this simple thing.  i need more of your peace, strength and wisdom to be faithful to the purpose you have designed for my life.  you have shown me that purpose is not some shapeless thing that lies somewhere in my distant future.  purpose is here, purpose is now, because “this is the day that the Lord has made”….

you do not create without purpose.

and, you do not create without love.

i, on the other hand, create lots of things without purpose.  worries and anxieties, obsessions, habits, grudges.  and they are most certainly created without a drop of love.  how different you are from me, Lord.  how i marvel at your perfection.

i guess i never really thanked you for this, but…thank you for creating me.    thank you for breathing life into my body and life into my spirit.  thank you for this life you’ve given me.  because i know you did it with purpose and and in love.  this morning, i am so thankful that i have been created with purpose and intention, and that i am loved by my creator.   i am sorry for all the times i complained about my life and failed to realize it as the precious gift it is.

last night, you reminded me of something very important.  even the “bad guys,” you created with love.  you created them with intention and for a purpose.  i remember, a year ago, feeling like i could never have compassion for these men who are used as instruments of the enemy to do such evil things to children.  and i remember thinking that you probably felt the same, that you were on “my side.”  how wrong i was!  last night may have been the first time i truly realized that there is nothing that separates me from these “bad guys” other than my Jesus to whom i have surrendered my life.   i am no better than the worst sinner on this earth, and whatever “good” there is in me is only through your grace, the grace of God.  craziness.  sweet, precious craziness.

well. 

i just wanted to spend some time this morning to say, thank you. 
thank you for your creation.
thank you for creating everyone and everything with purpose and love.
thank you for this life.
thank you that it was designed to reflect your love and magnify your glory.

may it be so.  today, tomorrow, always.

with love that grows deeper with each new day,
-d.