| Allow yourself time for this moment with God |
Make it special. Will you make a cup of tea? Do you want to sit in a special place? Will you light a candle? Take five deep breaths. Check-in with how you are feeling – in body, in mind, in spirit. Take five more deep breaths and ask God to abide with you in this moment.
| Bible reading for today |
Isaiah 49:12-17
Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones. But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Your builders outdo your destroyers, and those who laid you waste go away from you.
See, I have
inscribed you
on the palms
of my hands
| Imagine this |
We all experience being forsaken, abandoned, side-lined, ignored or forgotten. When this happens, it is a great comfort to know that God is for us, isn’t it? But what happens when we feel that God himself has withdrawn?
Picture on your name etched into the God’s own palms.
We have all washed our hands times without number this year.
Visualise yourself doing this once again (or go and do it for real), relishing that nothing can ever remove your name from his hands.
| Do the Bible reading again |
Take some time to read the Bible passage again, slowly (and out loud if you can). What word or phrase stands out as important? You might like to say it gently in your heart a few times to allow it to sink in even deeper.
| Enjoy a chat with God |
Talk with God about the word or phrase that stood out for you as you looked again at the Bible reading, and about the questions you have. Tell him about your day. Take time to savour the Lord’s Prayer with him.
Have you seen the video that accompanies this reflection?