My recent thoughts have continually revolved upon my realizations of how I fail to truly love God and others in all aspects. Even in my deliberate attempts to express this kind of love, I find that it falls short and is tainted by selfish motive. At the same time, I have been reminded during recent messages that when we come to worship God, we do not come to Him as those that bring any merit of our own, but we come to Him as deeply flawed, needy creatures who stand in awe of His mercy, justice, and perfect love. We also experience His love and presence by worshipping together in communion with others. Worship in this sense has been especially meaningful for me over the past several weeks. I came across a description of the worship experience from a surprising source that rang true for me:
"This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played to me,"
whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. "Here, in this holy place, here if
anywhere, surely we shall find Him!"
Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe that turned
his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his feet to the ground.
It was no panic terror - indeed he felt wonderfully at peace and happy - but it
was an awe that smote and held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only
mean that some august Presence was very, very near.
--from
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
No comments:
Post a Comment