4:45 a.m.

 Photo by Greg Rosenke, unsplash.com

“For we are the temple of the living God! As God himself has said, ‘I will make my home with my people and live among them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.’…So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God.”—2 Corinthians 6:16; 7:1, Good News Translation

A barely-awake prayer, if not in word, at least in thought...

Good morning, Lord. This is Your temple mumbling

But somehow, awakened on the inside by this amazing reset button:

"I will dwell in you, and walk among and with you every day. I will be your God, and you will be My son, My child, My beloved"

Seriously?

Well then, even while inhaling the aroma of fresh-brewed Italian Roast

Help me again to breathe deeply this incredible, abundant gift of grace

Before I take one more step

These silently outstretched stiff limbs, first to the heavens and then to the earth

Ready to run

Consider it sign language for a desire to let go again in trusting delight

While simultaneously living with a sense of awe and reverence

Reverence, after all, was never meant to be stiff and joyless…

We interrupt this program….

Great. One sip, and the internal daytimer is setting off “to-do” alarms

The world is already suited up and applying a full-court press

So help me, God

To continually rid myself of not only obvious dirt

But also to fling off the hard-to-see cobwebs in actions, attitudes, and careless words

And I really need Your help on this one:

To walk that entirely radical path known as taking every thought captive

And to repent quickly if (and probably when) I meander off that path

And then to persevere

Leaning hard on Your grace and love in the pursuit of reflecting You

You know, kind of like John’s ear leaning on Your chest and hearing Your heart pound

That sort of leaning hard

To experientially know more and more what it means to be joyfully "set apart"

Talk about radical

Each moment—boring, or exhilarating—and every day that follows

Until You return

(And the way things in this world are going, that could be….)

OK, so You’re making me smile just now because

I hear that Christy Lane tune You’ve cued up:

“One day at a time, sweet Jesus...”

“…however, when the Son of Man comes,

will he find faith on the earth?”—Luke 18:8

(Updated from original, July 2014)