THIS ...
/I'm struggling
... to not be anxious about what is ahead ...
THIS new class with new students and, most anxiety producing of all,
THIS new content ... being written ... by me.
Hitting blankness in the midst of it all. Help!
O Lord, heal my THIS ... my writer's block with Your "daily bread," Your fullness for THIS day, then THIS ..., then THIS ..., for THIS day's content, then THIS ..., then THIS.
So I'm revisiting this meditation. I need it. Do you? for your "THIS"?
I love this picture. We received a framed copy for a wedding gift many years ago. It reminds me of the simplicity of daily provision by our loving Heavenly Father for today...every day.
We don't really need much...but we think we do, don't we? Just a simple prayer today...
THIS day, O Father! THIS bread, O Lord!
We need to learn to receive the grace of THIS day and THIS bread
...The only way we really break the cycle of being trapped in either the glory years or future anxiety is to allow the words of the Lord’s prayer to sink all the way in. When we pray “Give us this day our daily bread,"...the most important word might be THIS.
We are designed to be dependent creatures. Like the Israelites who received daily manna, God has designed us to be dependent on him in a day-by-day, moment-by-moment way. We don’t have leftover manna to live off of from the glory years. And we don’t get a detailed plan of where next year’s manna comes from. All God promises us is THIS day, and THIS bread.
What if we learned to receive that as a gift instead of a curse? What if each meal could be received with a grace for THIS moment’s provision. What if each good conversation could be received as a gift from God for THIS moment? On and on the list could go.
...I am asking God to reveal to me THIS — this moment, this grace, this provision, this gift, this opportunity. It really does change the way you look at each day … even each moment with God. Daniel Hill
And so we again pray:
I do not ask
for some future bread.
I do not ask
for some lofty thing.
I ask for nothing more
I ask for nothing less
than primal provision.
For this, and this—only this.
I do not ask for then.
I do not ask for there.
I do not ask for that.
only this meal—this moment.
for this day, only
for this, and this—only this.
