Sharing thoughts ...

These past few days of school holidays have enabled me to get going on my spiritual exercises. And what a difference it has made! I find myself a lot more gracious, and calm. And so it should be as many advocates for spiritual exercises stress how these exercises are a "means of grace". Indeed, I have found my grace level to have increased considerably.

But even more than this, I have found new hope as I meditated upon Scriptures, which is GOD's mind and will. And as I have spend much more time meditating upon His Mind and Will, I have learned to let go of burdens and responsibilities which are not mine to bear, but His. God's promises are the basis of hope. With faith, I can believe that in spite of some very adverse circumstances at the work place, I can trust God to bring beauty out of chaos. This means that my eyes are fixed on Him. When I say that my eyes are fixed on God, it translates practically to me being conscious to keep His promises in my mouth through confession and proclamation of them, which I then hear, and find faith rising.

No wonder Jesus was always finding time to be with God in prayer, even after a full day of ministering to the masses.

Another wonderful re-discovery is the modus operandi of God as shared in Genesis chapter 1 in the creation account. I am slowly practicing "brooding"! It requires a slowing down of the mind, and its constituent thoughts, and bringing the lips to bear in fluttering and moving for a new creation out of nothing, or "ex-nihilo" ( literally, out of chaos ).

So we live by faith and not by sight. We ride upon the promises of God, or to use contemporary terms, we surf the promises of God, knowing that there will be higher crests of waves of ecstasy in His promises, as well as the crashing of the wave, as we learn in His school of discipleship.

I realize I need hours to think, pray, and jot down my thoughts and intentions. And as I do these, I find my soul being calmed, and brought to a place or repose. How precious these moments, and worth getting up early to enjoy.

The Lord has truly blessed me, in spite of my perceived short-comings and weaknesses. I am truly a recipient of His grace.