“O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” Psalm 63:1**
You are my drink.
My parched mouth holds itself open to receive mere drops — what the world can offer — and, when I’m honest before You, I know I’m staring at the cup of false fulfillment.
Lord, You are my only deep drink. You answer my thirst.
Early, when fears arise and the terrors of night surface in my morning thoughts, You are there for my seeking. You make Yourself always-available and promise that my search will end in a find.
You’ve made Yourself to be sought and it’s here that my heart gets quickened.
I avoid hunger and I squelch thirst, but You make those Your currency. The broken are the first at Your door and Your door is wide-open.
I adore You, drink that goes down sweetly. I consume You and there is no end. At Your feet I am no longer a consumer, but a partaker. You share Yourself with me.
When I walk away from this drink, the barrenness of all that I may have once called beauty reveals itself and I find myself wanting more. You make me crave You and You incite the kind of craving that stretches my heart’s capacity for You. The land does look bone-dry compared to what You offer.
Father, I praise You for providing a drink that changes me — a drink of You that gives me extravagant eyes for You. And You invite me to become a connoisseur of Your great vintage when I first admit my thirst.
I exchange my emptiness for a search that fulfills me while it defines me. I can be defined by my thirst when the answer to my thirst is You. Thirst is my bridge to the ocean and You are deep, all for my searching.
I love You, Deep Waters.
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**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 and Morning Chai, Explained to give you a context for this little space on my blog.
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 — five or 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. (Showing Up gives you some practicals.)
Then practice praise.
I promise your weary soul won’t regret it.
You can see all of the Morning Chai posts with this link: http://www.EveryBitterThingisSweet.com/posts/chai/ and 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.
And a note: Photos compliments of Mandie Joy. This girl has also set me up on instagram. Friends, it took several sittings for me to know exactly what that means and I still don’t quite get it …except, that you can now find updates and useful graphics on Instagram @everybitterthingissweet. Mandie keeps me in the 21st century.
