Day 32 Focus: We can trust our hearts to God.

(Thursday)

Level 1: (5 Minutes) As you breathe deeply today, rest assured that you can trust God to hear any prayer.

Level 2: (10 minutes) Do Level 1. After Reading the scripture adaptation, take 5 minutes to highlight passages or words you want to hold in your heart.

Adapted from Psalm 119:145-152. I cried with all my heart, answer me, Oh Lord. I will observe Your statutes. I cried to You, save me, and I will keep Your testimonies; I rise before dawn and cry for help. I wait for Your words. My eyes anticipate the night watches that I may meditate on Your promise. Hear my voice according to Your loving kindness. Revive me, O Lord, according to Your ordinances. Those who follow after wickedness draw near; they are far from Your law. But You are near, Oh Lord, and all Your commandments are truth. Of old I have known about Your truths, that You established forever. I put all of my trust in You and claim the power of Your salvation. Amen.

Level 3: (15 minutes) After pausing to breathe and reading the Scripture prayer, take 5 minutes to write about how you understand the word trust.

Level 4: (30-60 minutes) When I think about trust, I think of the father in Mark 9.24 saying: “I believe; help my unbelief!” When our daughter was about 4 years old, she would wait outside for her dad to come home from work. When his bus stopped, she would run down the driveway to jump into his arms. He would always drop anything he had in his arms to catch her. She knew nothing was more important to him than catching her. He knew she would be there everyday. They each were eager to approach the other.

God seeks us, and we in turn are free to stay close to God. Sometimes our understanding of God’s huge ability to work with us and in us is difficult without concrete examples. Often, I realize only in retrospect how God was “catching me” or “redirecting me” or “letting me learn on my own—only to restore me once I did learn.” God’s respect for our ability to choose right freely is a precious gift. We, on the other hand, can be wasteful and/or unappreciative of gifts we receive without needing to “earn them.”

In listening to books on tape this week about Thomas Merton, I was reminded that trusting in God and prayer does not remove us from daily responsibilities in society—rather it inspires us to respond with a deeper understanding. After praying we have things to do—hence our motto of praying, acting and praying again. Trusting in God requires us to accept the gift of faith. It requires something children know in their hearts and adults need to relearn every day. We can trust that God created the world and said it was good. We can trust that God created humanity and said we are very good. Through prayer and God-directed action we can be “on earth as in heaven.” God is always walking toward us ready to catch us. We need not run away.