Tuesday in the First Week of Lent
We have waited in silence on your loving-kindness, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
Psalm 48:8
I awake in the early morning from a dream of busyness. It takes me some moments to set aside the impossible tasks I was trying to complete in my sleep and become present to this new day.
A fretful dream is hardly surprising as I spent the hour before sleep last night in work, responding to email, pulling together administrative details, planning ahead. I should know better.
Now it takes a conscious effort to set aside the various details of my life and work vying for my attention, so that I can turn my mind and soul to God. I am reminded that to repent means to turn, and that even in these first moments of waking, I need to practice repenting. I reach for the discipline of my morning prayer routine so that I can place myself intentionally in the presence of God.
This is what disciplines are for, I remind myself. To give us familiar patterns and to build stamina on which we can rely when the cares of the world would lead us astray.
The frenetic pace of the dream slips away as I am wrapped in the joy of my love for Jesus. And my lips open to speak words of gratitude and adoration.
