It’s launch day for The Promised Land and what a day to launch a novel about loss of control! Don’t we all feel like life is out of control? How I’ve needed to take deep breaths and concentrate on today’s Camino Walk theme: Presence. Again the reflection questions, Bible verses, and poetry are in bold with my responses after.
The place where God meets us is the present. Wherever we are and however we are in the present is where God longs to dwell with us. What keeps you from being fully present to God?
For sure it is the constant chatter in my mind that I have to forcibly turn off.
How does it feel to know that God longs to be with you right now, no matter how messy your life or your world are?
It feels like a warm hug and a worn, comfy fleece blanket wrapped around me. I know this truth. I love settling into it, but again, getting rid of the chatter and relaxing into God’s presence has been a challenge this past week.
Psalm 84: 1-7
“1 How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! 2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. 3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. 5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.“
What do you feel like your heart has been “set on” in this season?
Oh, Lord, my heart has been set on several very disparate things. First, the launch of The Promised Land. I believe it’s for such a time as this. Which brings me to the second thing my heart is set on: how to shine for Jesus in America during this very complicated and tumultuous time. I have been praying that The Promised Land will offer hope and redemption for such a time as this.
And thirdly, my heart is set on loving my family well with my presence since I am here in the States. That is bliss! Lastly, my heart is broken for my adopted country of France and the horror that has taken place there in the past weeks combined with the fact that they have just gone back on a very severe lockdown because of escalating Covid cases.
My heart and mind seem to be living in multiple universes that for this time are intersecting: my writing, my pastoral care profession, my spiritual journey, my family, my two countries as today I toss out into this world a book about pilgrimage.
What might it look like to set your heart on pilgrimage?
It will look like now, because my heart IS set on this journey with You and trusting You to hold me for each step no matter what is right around the bend. I long for all of us who are struggling along in 2020 to find the joy and peace of Your presence. For today.
THE SUMMER DAY
BY MARY OLIVER
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean the
one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down who
is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
In the poem, the narrator says, “I don’t know what a prayer is”… how might what she is doing—paying attention, noticing, being, and enjoying the day—be connected to prayer?
“What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Love this poem and yes, I believe being present and noticing life and enjoying are all a part of prayer. I have loved that about these Camino walks, allowing me to rejoice in all the beauty around me. And Lord, You know what I plan to do with my one wild and precious life. It is what I’ve always longed to do, what I’ve been doing for these sixty years. Follow You.
MATTHEW 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
What may God want to teach you today through paying attention to creation?
Not to worry! He provides. Trust. These basic themes of life that are easy to say and read and hard to live. Do not worry! Do what is before me today with joy because I am trusting that the Lord is in control. Pay attention to what is happening in my midst, to me, and those with whom the Lord brings me in contact. Do not compare with anyone else.
Oh, Lord, as I live in the wonder of You and Your creation today, delighting in the part You let me play in creativity, how much more peaceful life is. Yes, sometimes, that peace inundates me, Lord, as I pay attention to You.
How have you experienced God with you as you journey? How has he been giving you courage and nourishment, and welcoming you to rest?
The little things, Lord. It was such a glorious fall day and I soaked in the beauty of Your creation. I miss the wilder beauty of my walks in France, Lord, but I rejoice in the American beauty of well-kept yards and bright orange pumpkins and mums. And the birds, flying by. The tall trees, the splendid mountains all around. Delight.
What have you been learning about presence today that you want to remember? Is there a next step you feel led to take in light of this walk’s theme?
It’s again what You showed me in France about Your presence—giving, You, Jesus, all the extra weight I am carrying in my backpack. Keep giving it to You, sweet Lord, and enjoy my time with You! In spite of the heaviness of this season in our world, when I give my burdens to You, I can soak in the beauty of the now and my heart is filled with praise.
I invite you, dear reader, to take time to consider some of these questions, too. I’m praying for all of us today, and in the days to come, to seek first God’s Kingdom and trust in Him.
ELIZABETH MUSSER writes ‘entertainment with a soul’ from her writing chalet—tool shed—outside Lyon, France. Find more about Elizabeth’s novels at www.elizabethmusser.com and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and her blog.
Elizabeth Musser 
Ma journée sera plus belle et riche parce que j’ai pris le temps de te lire, de rentrer dans tes réflexions, actions de grâce et prière pour ce monde tout en étant consciente que je suis dans les bras aimants et tout puissant de notre Seigneur et Sauveur. Merci pour le magnifique poème qui nous aide à célébrer l’essentiel. Sois bénie ma chère amie.
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