Posts Tagged: seeing what we expect to see
“Transformed by the Goodness of the Lord”
Today’s “3-Minute Retreat” from Loyola Publishing was wonderful. (You can access it for yourself at https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/enjoy-gods-goodness-start-retreat, accessed 03-04-2019). It was a meditation on Psalm 27:13.
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!” (English Standard Version)
The retreat master writes,
“What a wonderful mantra the psalmist offers! Try repeating this belief statement as you go through a typical day. We most often see what we expect to see. Do you expect to see the Lord’s goodness as you go through the day? It takes many forms: a surprise phone call, a random act of kindness, some unexpected good news, or the daisy growing through the concrete. We are invited to go one step further, however. After we see the Lord’s goodness, we are challenged to enjoy it. That means slowing down to take notice. In this way, we are changed by what we see. Give yourself the gift of being transformed by the goodness of the Lord.”
Indeed, Psalm 27 has many beautiful things in it, but it also acknowledges that the world is a dangerous, scary place. In fact, in the verse that immediately precedes the one about seeing the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living, the psalmist pleads, “Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.” (Psalm 27:12 English Standard Version) Affirming the LORD’s goodness does not mean that we are blind to the obvious badness in the world.
The sun is coming up just now, lighting up the snow-covered pines in my neighbor’s yard. There is incredible goodness and beauty in the world, even when a polar vortex invades the month of March. I’m not sure polar vortexes are actually evil, but they may seem so when we are all looking for spring and new life.
Nevertheless, we can see the goodness of God, if we choose to do so. And we are all capable “. . . of being transformed by the goodness of the Lord.” But such transformation is a gift you give yourself, a gift that I give myself. And if I give myself the gift, I can also be transformed to the point where I can give the gift of God’s transforming goodness to others that I meet along the way today.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
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- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
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- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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