Sunday Morning

My morning starts with a big surprise - daily savings time begins today we have sprung forward.  My phone dutifully does the work telling me the correct time and it isn't until I am up for an hour that I realize I have "lost " an hour of sleep. Oh well, the promise then, of an afternoon nap.  I hope that happens.

I begin this day with listening to a novel by John Grisham to prepare myself for his talk at the Virginia Festical of the Book that is later this month.  And finally after an hour or so, I sit in my chair and listen to the "pray as you go" app. It begins with music and this idea:

My Sweet Jesus   Look with mercy on my lost soul.

Is my soul lost and wandering?

Is it content and at peace?"

Then time with the words of Paul in Ephesian:

God, rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead....raised us up

Immeasurable riches of his grace

By grace you have been saved

Created for good works 

And the music, the words, the questions, the turning toward God shifts something within me.  It does feel like God makes us alive.  As I begin this day in which I will soon be driving to a church, the duty of church work transforms into the joy and promise of  being with God's people.  I am created for a good work - which is to love.  To love my family, my friends, my church, everyone.  It is as simple and as hard as that.  But to start with God in the morning anchors my wandering soul and reminds me of my worth and my purpose.

The devotional also speaks to me today.  These are words of reality about this journey of faith.

"For our journey on earth, we must not expect too much sweetness and light.  We travel in hope which inevitable is ambiguous.  hope holds before us the promise of God's riches, but it does not spare us experiences of pain, separation and uncertainty.  In the end, hope wins."

The day begins.  I will go dry my hair, grab a breakfast bar, and get on the road.  In hope, in love.

My soul feels content and at peace.