Day 54 - Issue 22
Psalm 119:114 NLT
You are my refuge and my shield; your word is my source of hope.
Men, so common wisdom suggests, need sheds. It’s something about a private space and the need to be tinkering or making something. Women can sit down and talk with each other, while men like personal space to process while doing. How true this is I don’t know. I, however, have always enjoyed my own company. While growing up, my bike was my sanity, riding off into the countryside to think, read and birdwatch. As I’ve grown up, I’ve continued to enjoy my own company. Indeed, one of the challenging learning cycles on getting married was to concede so much personal space.
My journeys to my prayer ‘shed’, a space where I chat with God, are frequent and essential. Never excelling at DIY, I remain comfortable in my own company. In fact, rather than accumulating a lengthy to-do list, intercessions, thanksgiving, Bible reading and so on, I have a blank slate and simply wait upon God. My mind wanders every time, yet I have familiarised myself with my ‘shed’ and so breath prayer, being still and reflecting on recent reading is a discipline I easily return to each time. It’s the place I find solace and hope for the way ahead. I process disappointment and articulate my fears. Returning I am better able to talk about who and where I am at, not necessarily with my doctor, but most definitely with Jayne and friends.
Within each of us, God scattered a seed. The degree to which this germinates and grows is reliant upon our desire to find and propagate it. For years I simply reacted to life as I encountered it. Once I was caught up in the battle with Katey’s MS, I found I had to determine who I really was, or this fight would make of me what it wanted, rather than me mastering that fight. For this I needed to retreat and find God and me and how we might walk in close communication. I discovered my need to build my prayer ‘shed’.
QUESTION: How and where do you process the things that cause you the greatest anxiety in life?
PRAYER: Lord, thank you for speaking through your word. Help me to discover you there.
