Daily Meditation: "Discovery"
Thursday, August 20, 2020
SCRIPTURE
"You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways." - Psalm 139:3
REFLECTION
"All alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something you'll be quite a lot.
And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
You'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on."
When the boys were little I used to read them Dr. Suess’ “Oh The Places You’ll Go!” before bed almost every night. I think I enjoyed it more than they did, some nights. I love that book because, like so many stories written for children, it spoke profoundly to me of some very adult truths.
One of them is that there will be many moments when I’m by myself and have nothing to do but hear the voices within my own head speaking to me about my life. Some of those voices will be singing celebration songs, and others will say things that might frighten me; whether about mistakes I’ve made in the past or unknowns that are yet ahead of me. Regrets and unknowns can indeed scare us so much we don’t want to go on.
Whether thoughts of joy or challenge, the places we’ll all go throughout our lives, might we be world travelers or never venture more than an hour from where we live until our last breath, are places within ourselves. We are, all of us, on voyages of self-discovery. As Dr. Fred Craddock, Bandy Distinguished Professor of Preaching and New Testament Emeritus in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University once said, the greatest distances in life are actually the distances between head and heart.
My inward travels have been far-and-wide, and God-willing I’ve got lots more journeying yet in store. If I’m wise about it, those travels will ultimately have me arrive at a place of peace within myself that I lived and learned well, gave my family the best I could, and in some small way made the world a better place for a time.
As the wise Doctor says, "You're off to great places, today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So . . . get on your way!"
PRAYER
God of The Journey, be with me on my way to find the mountains waiting for me.
Amen.
Peace,
Shawn