Grace3-2-99

When You Feel Lonely
"Though the mountains be shaken and the
hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for
you will not be shaken nor my covenant of
peace be removed," says the Lord, who has
compassion on you.
(Isa. 54:10, NIV)

You see yourself as a small sparrow alone on a housetop.

Your heart quakes. I hear your groaning in the late hours. Your eyes dull; your soul despairs.

But I am with you.

If you are lauded as the star of a million parades,

or if you are alone as a frightened bird on a rooftop, I am there.

If your name commands the reverence of nations and your laurels march before you

or if you huddle chilled, friendless and poor against a wall,

I am there.

If you sleep in the beds of kings and ride the wings of skillful wisdom in all things,

or if you shiver alone with pain and muddled thoughts, I am there.

If joyful laughter floods your house and the smells of bubbling pots of food

and bulging ovens pour happily from your windows or if you sit hunched,

cross-legged and alone spooning dinner from a can, I am there.

If you leap like a deer across gymnasium floors, muscles taut and body lithe-

or if you amble slowly, heavily from sitting place to sitting place I am there.

If you love to conquer impossible worlds, wielding the powerful sword of the Spirit
and the mighty banner of faith that I give to you, or if you cower in fear of failure
or rebuke, I am there.
If you awaken each day robust with health or if pain envelops every pore
I am there.
If your friends and loved ones press in against you, their affection never waning,
and if your years are laced in gold with precious human love, or if you feel abandoned
by every soul you ever trusted, I am there.
If you fly the heights and scour the depths; If you freely move through clouds
soaring over the earth with arms outspread, or if you fall with clipped wings,
confined within the prison of a carnal mind, I am there.
If you celebrate the rising of the sun and the going down of the same
and if you greet the dawn with trembling expectation, I am there.
If your eyes grow dull and your soul despairs and your voice is without a song,
I am there.
I am there in sunlight and in shadows. I am there in hunger and in fatness,
in your youth and in old age. I am there so you may turn to me.
I stick to you, like your own skin. The mountains of the earth will shake and crumble,
Yet My tender love for you is never shaken- not a shiver, not a breath,
not the barest vibration or change. Because I am there with you.

Psalm 139:9, 10; Proverbs 18:24

Reprinted from "His Thoughts Toward Me", Daily Meditations for friends of God, by Marie Chapian

Selah
\O/
Alex

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