Outside of Myself

 

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me. (Psalm 86:5-7 ESV).

 

I often find it relaxing as I sit at the computer to begin writing. Perhaps it is simply because of the way it takes me outside of myself and the hills I have yet to climb in my journey. Writing demands that I become very present tense; however, it also insists that I think in terms beyond myself. I like that. Today is no different. As is typically my custom, I write ahead so that these short encouraging briefs might be posted at a time that can be convenient for others. The date of this writing is actually the morning of New Year’s Eve. In our part of the world the weather is pleasant. The sun is shining and the temperature has warmed to a comfortable degree. I have Anthem Lights playing in the background with some of the “old hymns” and I find my mind wandering.

 

The questions I’m pondering are very task oriented: What should I write about? What might be helpful in the days ahead to my readers? Is there something that is essential to the lives of others that I may have inadvertently left unwritten? Some might simply shrug and say this is the picture of writer’s block; however, my problem is not what to write, but what to say. There is a difference. I recall a wonderful scene from the movie “I Walk the Line.” Johnny Cash makes his way into the studio for the first time to sing in his effort to get a recording contract. He and his small band play an old hymn, which is good, but completely rejected as “the same old tired sound that no one wants to listen to.” He is then challenged to sing something that if he were lying in the street about to die would be the last thing he’s want people to hear. Johnny Cash has one song he wrote years before and they sing it. It was “Cry, Cry, Cry.” It’s a song about rejection and hope for the future. I wonder what might have been had he not felt that way and written that song?

 

Most of the time our lives are like that. We don’t fully understand all the experiences in our lives until later when just at the right time past pain and triumph, success and failure, difficulty and ease all come into clear relief and we see the purpose of God and it’s immeasurable good. To do that we must get outside of ourselves. I mean that we must see the world from God’s perspective. We must trust His absolutely proven consistent work of grace in our lives. That is our beginning point for 2023. I pray you will enjoy the ride with me.