Friday, June 12
I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.
—Isaiah 44:22
We wander these “trackless wastes,” as the Psalmist called them, sometimes for months or even years. In this barren landscape we can forget who we are. We can forget that we are the redeemed.
The Holy One knows when we have wandered off track and will not rest until we once again recognize who we are. It may take us some time, but when we wake up to the mess we're in, and we start to take a step out of it, we hear the voice of heaven saying, "Return to me and I will give you life.”
The first step can seem impossible. But it requires only that we stop, stand still, breathe deeply, and allow ourselves to be engulfed in the silence and solitude of our own being. It is there, in that silent and still place, that the Holy One waits—waits to lead us from our wasteland into the open space of love.
Gracious God, help me stop, stand still, breathe deep, and be held in the silence where I can see your face and remember who I am.
