Lord, I have loved the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells. Psalm 26:8**
There is one place, safe and holy, that is always available to me. Nothing I have done (or failed to do) keeps me from Your offering. I can climb up into it, into You, at a moment’s notice and drink beauty. I can get lost in perfection — Your holy perfection — when all around me feels broken.
You are my escape, God. Not a running-and-hiding-from-the-world escape, but a finding-all-that-is-You and thus finding me and finding my footing again, escape. I run to You and You send me back to my world, new.
You are always available, always accessible, always offering new against my often stale heart.
And You are teaching me to sit. But the waiting and the listening is not the purgatorial doom my mind wants to make it out to be; it is Love’s rainforest. My heart gets still and my vision is awakened. Your Word, my guide, this world becomes bigger. Black-and-white expectations of You get painted over with bright color. Delight, sheer delight, is what I receive when I enter Your house with expectation. You expand, oh my God.
The lies that lead me to believe that the hundreds of entertainment sources available at my fingertips will readily satisfy fall away, not because of discipline, but because of desire. I do not squelch them; You awaken desire and they fade. Your house, Your holy habitation makes everything else seem … lesser.
You are so great, God.
I adore You, oh God who offers transformation even just from minutes of sitting at Your feet. Jesus, who offers respite to the weary mom — not when I get away for the weekend, but now. I love You God who has no stipulations on who can enter Your courts.
I come, I adore — even if just for a minute — and I leave filled. This house of Yours leaves me deeply satisfied yet hungry to be filled again.
Your dwelling place has no limits.
**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: http://EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai
