By Deb Detwiler, professor of music
This week’s theme: Blessing and Restoration
As I read through the four scriptures for this coming week, I noticed the use of future tense verbs and past tense references, describing what God would do or had done. The most present tense verbs occurred in the Mary and Elizabeth story, where each woman recognized what God IS doing in her body at the present moment.
How much of our lives is spent somewhere else but where we are? Planning for the future, grieving decisions that we could have made differently, wishing we had had the strength to reach out in love instead of withdrawing in fear. Many wisdom teachings remind us that all we have is now – the ever-present NOW. How would our lives be different if we released our past, opened our future to the leading of God, and embraced the present – a true gift – that we are allowed to experience?
Blessing and restoration are based on choice and belief. I choose to be blessed in this current moment. I choose gratitude, despite the circumstances. I choose to slow down and contemplate this moment – this present – that has been gifted to me. I believe that God is acting on my behalf.
God’s activities function on a continuum, and we are tiny specks in that long and ancient line of activity. How can we practice fullness of time – its blessing of promise and restoration – right here and now? How might our lives be more able to soak up the love that is gifted to us every moment? I wish you a string of NOWs and the realization that God’s gifts are active in ways we cannot begin to imagine. Let us be open to it all.