May 7th - Reflection

Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 (NRSV)
I will call upon God
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
"O Lord, I pray, save my life!" ...

What shall I return to the Lord
for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful ones.
O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
Reflection
We form a relationship with God through prayer and devotion. These are only a couple of ways that we interact with God but these are also a couple of the most important ways we come to be in relationship with God. We also come to God repenting of our sin and seek God's presence. We offer thanksgiving and we offer our lives to God in an outpouring of love and joy for what God first did for us.

In the relationship with God we find that God comes to us and is with us. As we thankfully recall the grace of God we find a Father that draws us in and near. What a wonderful loving Father we find as our bonds to sin are loosed and we learn to love openly and freely in joy. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, you have opened up my life to live in joy to you and to all you give to me day by day. You have shown to me a love so deep and so wide that my life overflows in anticipation for the giving of that same love to all you give to me day by day. --- Amen