presence

I Simply Come to be with You

God of earthquake, wind and fire,
and of the still small voice
and of the silence of the silence,
I bring my presence
to your presence
as a gift to you ~
the only gift that I in fact can give~
for all the other gifts
are gifts you have given
which I can but return to you.

I do not come to speak or hear,
I do not come to think or do,
But Lord of Lords, and very God,
I simply come to be with you.

~Anne Shotwell

Why is one of the simplest things God wants from me so hard to do? Give me a task, a job to do and I know how to do that. I know how to start and I know when it’s done. I can measure it. But just ‘being’ with God…how do I measure that? How do I know if it’s been long enough or been of sufficient quality?

When I start to ask questions like this, I know that I am totally missing the point. Once again, I fall back on how I measure His love for me, His approval of me. I forget, all too quickly, that He loves me…period. And that to have me just sit in His presence, no matter how long, no matter how it may feel to me, is, in itself, pleasing to Him. To go to Him and not ask for anything must be very refreshing to Him. Not that He doesn’t teach us to ask; He does want us to ask Him for what we need.

It reminds me of when my children were little. So many times they would come to me to ask me something…”Mom, can I have this…?” "Mom, can I do…?.”…”Mom….” I also remember very sweet times when they would come and sit next to me on the couch. I would get ready for the next question….and there wasn’t one. They just wanted to be next to me. I think that’s what it may be like for God when I just want to get close to him, sit near Him and be in His company….a very sweet time.

If you have never tried just ‘being’ with Him, crawl up in His lap tonight and just sit with Him. Create a sweet time.

Grace and peace,
Deb