Just home from our regular 2 mile jaunt around the neighborhood, my boys promptly went down for their lunchtime naps and I plopped myself down in the middle of the couch – Bible and Bible study journal in-hand.
image by elycefeliz
Not wanting to just dive in to my study without calming my mind and soul, I looked at our crucifix across the room and prayed, “Lord, come be with me. Please come be with me.” I’ve prayed this way a million times in vehement supplication in times of trial, out of anxiety before something big was about to happen (Wedding Day, births of my boys, etc.), and in milder tones as in today’s daily prayer.
Breathing my prayer, I stopped and furrowed my brow; upon grasping a timeless reality, my prayer changed: Lord, help me to be with You.
Christ is ever-present whether I sense Him or not (though often closest when we feel farthest from Him); He does not move away from me, but I from Him. God is constant – a still, strong oak deeply rooted and without change. Though it is always very good to invite Christ to be present with us, I appreciate the idea of Him inviting me to part from myself and my sinfulness by His abundant grace; that He would take me to be united with Him in my prayer.
Because, on a larger scale, I want to be in the world, but not of the world.
Prayer is, quite obviously, a holy thing and in it, I want to ascend to God’s will and mindfully leave the world and its needless cares. I want my will to be uniform with His, not His with mine. Of course, I’m not asserting that asking Christ to be with me is at all wrong. This is merely a shift in perspective and one that has further revealed to me God’s constancy and my own yearning to detach from worldly things to cling to Him.
exactly! This is my prayer, too!
I wish I knew your name – your blog is so beautifully written and your life is so hopefilled. God bless you and your example, dear friend!!