SEARCHING FOR ENCOURAGING WORDS

The moment we get tired
In the waiting
God's Spirit is right alongside 
Helping us along

If we don't know how 
Or what 
To pray
It doesn't matter

He does our praying in 
And for us
Making prayer 
Out of wordless sighs
Our aching groans

He knows us 
Far better
Than we 
Know ourselves

It isn't a poem, but this morning when I read it, this was the way I saw it. A strange comfort came to me in reading these words in The Message, Romans 8:26 and 27. 

I've "seen" prayer on our behalves in the oddest of places. In the partial afternoon moon. In the closed eyes of a zebra. Places where the earth seems to be crying out. It is crying out when I can't. 

©CherieElainePhotography2020

I was desperate to get out yesterday. I put on my face mask, started my car that hadn't been started in two weeks, and drove 2.1 miles west, then south, then home again. I am not sure what I was looking for. Fresh air? Freedom? Yes, freedom. 

The world is so altered since the last time I went out. There were cones and security officers blocking the entrances and exits to the outlet mall down the street. Traffic on the highway is minimal. The mall across the highway, that usually is bustling with shoppers, was silent with the exception of those who are picking up lunch orders curbside at restaurants that are struggling to stay afloat. Police officers are patrolling my neighborhood, looking for "violators" I suppose, of the face mask and six-foot rule. Smiling at those mingling about, taking a walk, was fruitless because they couldn't see it behind my mask. I hoped that my eyes smiled at them. 

Oh LORD GOD! Let it end quickly! I'm shouting with every fiber of my being. 

There are those who defy orders. Those who are relishing in their family and work from home time. Those who are complaining about it. And then those who are like me. Alone. Lonely. 

As I search for encouraging words, what I am able to find is this: Please check on your people. 

We are extreme creatures, none of us the same. The way we work, the way we work out; the way we nourish our bodies and the way that we don't; the way we worship; who we worship; the things we believe are right and the things we believe are wrong; those we accept as worthy and those we dismiss as not. 

Maybe, just maybe, this is removing the blinders. Who we cannot see, we cannot judge. Put down your stone. Sin is invisible in God's eyes to those who decide to follow Him. 

We can't SEE this invisible enemy that has so changed the world we live in. We can't control it any more than we could control smallpox, or measles or the plague in the 1800's. All we can do is trust those fighting for us, working so hard to end the spread and the devastation this is causing. 

It doesn't matter where, who or how it started. It IS what it IS. 

We have no choice but to do our best. 

Ah, the words are coming to me now. I feel like I can pray again. I am so thankful for a God who knows when I can't, and gave us a spiritual adviser who CAN and who DOES. 

I know we are all tired. I know that each of us has an element of fear residing within them.....even the angry ones who don't think this is as big as others think it is. 

We're in this together. From sea to shining sea. Even going the long way around. Love your neighbor. Love yourself. Check on your people. 

I love you.