For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!
Psalm 95:7
It is has not yet begun to snow, but I keep looking out the window anticipating the first flecks. If it were not for the date on the calendar, I could easily imaging that this was a day headed into winter rather than spring. My mind does a bit of a time warp, and I have an impulse to hunker down and prepare for dark and cold rather than to open myself in expectation light and warmth.
As I have shed layers of scarves and heavy sweaters and boots and winter coats, I have also set aside some spiritual burdens as I have traveled during Lent. I do not want to go back and pick them up again, but the temptation is there. To fall back into old patterns, to decide I can live with less than healthy practices, to plead that the effort of creating new habits is just not in me.
But the voice of the Holy One is never silent. God does not wait for me to show up at a particular time of a particular day of a particular season. Or in a particular place. Rather the invitation to hear and respond to God’s love for me is newly offered this day. The call for amendment of life and renewal of spirit sounds now.
There is no better time than the present. There is no better time than God’s.
