Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.**
Bigger than me, over my life, You shepherd me.
I wasn’t sure that I was a sheep – hungry, lost, desperate – until I saw You as my shepherd. And then there was safety to acknowledge what I already was.
As big as You are, I am small, but Your shepherding makes me great.
I adore You, Shepherd. You gently move alongside me and prod me into beauty. You take my nothing and make it something. You are a safe guide, a holy guide, a not-going-to-let-me-stay-in-one pasture guide.
When I look at You as shepherd, something changes in me. I have no more need to fend for myself or carve my own way. Your role offers me reprieve from being for myself what I was never intended to be. Your shepherding takes weight off my shoulders and lets me be child, trusting sheep.
And when I bury myself deep within You, because You are a safe shepherd — when your safety invites all of me in — I see that there is nothing I lack.
You hold in your hand everything I could possibly need. I adore You, oh fulfillment of me, fulfillment of life. And when I see You as Shepherd, I see that every single want inside of me can be asked for from You.
You offer it to me. You invite me to ask. You shepherd me into total dependence. And You make me want to ask for everything You hold in Your hand.
When I get lost in Your guidance I am found in Your safe-keeping and the want that grows inside of me is for all of You.
I love Your all of You, what little I know of it. I thank you for endless, unsearchable wealth found in You.
Simple shepherd, come to make Yourself personal to me. Holy shepherd, meeting needs I don’t even know I have yet and making me want only You.
I love You.
**So what do I do with these posts, you ask, other than just read them? First, if you haven’t yet, read: Why I Adore to give you a context for this little space on my blog. (This post also gives context.)
If you are compelled, I invite you to participate. Set up a space and time in your own life to begin adoring. Over laundry or dinner dishes, on your commute to work, or in the wee morning hours — ten minutes is a great start. You can use the verse I list here every day or two as a launch pad for your own adoration.
Then practice praise.
Add to my adoration here, by posting a comment with your own words back to God about God …or hide it in your heart.
I promise your weary soul won’t regret it.
***You can easily subscribe to these devotional meditations as they are delivered, by using this feed: http://www.EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai/feed or by entering your email address in the second box on the right-hand side… (scroll up a bit)
Additionally, all of the Morning Chai Posts can be seen, in the order of posting, by clicking here or adding this address to your reader: EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai
