Awaken My Heart

For God says,

“At just the right time, I heard you.
    On the day of salvation, I helped you.”

Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

{2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT}

Yeah, I know, it has been that kind of year....The kind where each day can feel like 86,400 breaths that you're barely catching. And don't blink because when you look up it's onto the next thing. The next sound bite. The next snap. The next 140 characters. The next missed call. The next moment reverberates reckless in your already shattered ears. But who can hear it? When the call resounds within your heart to go, to love, to hold, to serve, to be present now...who can hardly even hear it?

It's been the kind of year when unprecedented things happened in the celestial heavens, and earth shattering events shook our souls; when the headlines appeared in your backyard and you knew the names of the victims; and you wept, because who can stand to bare much more of this? We all teetered on the fence between sleeping standing up and awakening to our current reality. This is where we must take pause. We get this one wild moment when our two hands swing straight upward and our souls crash together in one solid stroke. When in our darkest hour, we have a chance at awakening to a brand new thing. Will we not perceive it?

I'm often standing at the kitchen sink in the still of the afternoon. Sun streaks through the tree outside the window. Red headed finches flutter about the branches gathering winter berries, and I pause. In the distance, a disturbance breaks the silence as sound waves ripple through the atmosphere. A jet cuts through the stratosphere, leaving a stream across the sky. Intrigued, with neck craning I try to catch a glimpse of the aircraft. By the time I look, the plane has already passed, yet the sound still resonates.

I think about what this means for the reliability of our senses--how we perceive time and space--and how this relates to our faith.

I remember what a pastor once said, “The gospel is only good news if it gets there on time.” The apostle Paul understood this. Paul wrote that now is the time to look up. "Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation."

What is crying out in your soul that desperately looks for an answer? Or have you stopped crying because it just hurts too much? Are you still searching and wondering if the answer will be around the next corner?

Let me encourage you that you are not too late and the answer is right on time. "For God says, 'At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you'." God hears you. Those dried up tears and shouts at the ceiling, they don't echo back unheard. At just the right time, God brings salvation, and that time is now. Today is the moment when you get to say I am ready. I'm ready to invite God in. I'm ready to participate in the story. I'm awake, but I want to be fully alive.

“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

{Eph 5:13-14 NASB}