Great Plains Daily Devotional for 7/6/2020

Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
    my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
    too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
    like a weaned child with its mother;
    my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
    from this time on and forevermore.

We’ve all gone through months now with upheaval of our “normal” and it has begun to weigh on us, we know. As different sectors of our society begin reengaging in activity, there seems to be a pull to get “back to normal”. I can feel it as I prepare each week for worship. There’s a sense that we must be up to “full speed” now, like nothing has happened or is happening around us. Whether it be the pandemic or ongoing racial tensions in our communities, our world is different in the ways we view it now. As I deal with the tug of going back to “normal”, I contemplate what it means to have a soul that is “calmed and quieted” like The Psalmist writes. How can I be like the “weaned child with its mother” when I’m tempted to speed up and go back to normal?
 
We have an opportunity to reset our lives. We can examine what is important and what was missing prior to the last few months. I hear this short psalm, and think about taking the time to be calmed and quieted to examine. How is my health? Mental, Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual? Is going back to things exactly the way they were going to be the best? Or is it chance to refocus and repurpose?
 
I hope each of you can take this time and see if your life aligns with the “hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.” When we are tired and weary, this hope sustains us. When life seems like too much is weighing on us, this hope lifts us up. When it seems like the world is fracturing around us, this hope gives us light to follow.
 
  

Prayer for Reflection

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Psalm 45:10-17 or Psalm 72
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30