Unexpected Source of Blessing

The Scripture before me this morning during my sacred space ... the one literally sitting in my lap ... was this:

O God, You are my God;

Early will I seek You.

My soul thirsts for You

My flesh longs for You --

in a dry and thirsty land

where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1

I read it numerous times.  I meditated upon it. I even memorized it.  At least for the short term.

A number of things struck me.  For one, the word "are" in the opening line is not in the original rendering.  It actually should read, "O God.  You my God."  It sounds a little bit Tarzan-like, but it worked for me as I pointed to heaven and said, "You!"  And then toward myself: "My God!"  (Try it yourself.)

I also couldn't help but camp on those words that spoke so of yearning and personal suffrage: words like thirsts, longs, dry land, no water. Have you ever been there?  Me, too.  And so I began to contemplate the way God waters my soul; the way He brings refreshing to my spirit.  The way He rains down on me.  And I began putting Him and His ways in box... I began using well-worn formulas.  "I do this/He does that" kind of thing.  

Normally when I'm having my "quiet time," I don't keep my cell next to me.  And if it is close by, I most often refrain from answering any beeps or vibrations.  But today was different for some reason.  I heard an email come in so I reached over and hit the icon.  It was from a precious woman, Telina, who had been in a couple of Bible studies I had led some 3 years ago.  We hadn't talked in a long time, and this was just a quick note; but it ended with, "Groovy baby!"  Right then and there I burst into a hearty laugh.  "Groovy baby"???  When was the last time someone had said that to me?  

After a moment of letting the joy of it settle on me, I laid the phone back down and turned my attention back to the Scripture in my lap ... and then it hit me.  REFRESHING!  God had just used the gift of "happy" He has placed in Telina to water my own weary soul! That's how He so often does it:  through the faithfulness of others!  And through the faithfulness of you and me. So you can bet I picked up that phone and I hit her number.  When she answered, I said, "I just had to call and tell you how God used you in my life just now."

You see, God's blessings and times of refreshing often come in unexpected ways ... and that is why it is so important to be present to the moment.

Oh, to tap into the eternal.  It's a mighty good thing.

Just an ordinary moment...