Sometimes Distant, Sometimes Close, Always A Mystery

Hey, Y'all,

Well, another week's sailed by...unbelievable...feels like the last time I looked up it was like February :-) So anyway, I was thinking it's been a while since we heard from Yancey on prayer, so here we go...

These things feed my faith:
epiphanies of beauty in nature;
sunbursts of grace and forgiveness;
the portrait of God I get in Jesus;
stirring encounters with people who really live their faith.

These feed my doubts:
God's baffling tolerance of history's atrocities;
sustained periods of God's seeming absence;
my unanswered prayers.

My meetings with God may include ecstasy and joy, or withdrawal and silence...but always they include mystery. To come to terms with this unpredictability I remind myself that every friendship has a misty side, that all relationships sometimes reveal and sometimes conceal.

When I wonder why God doesn't simply "show up" I recall that when God did, as in Old Testament days, this appearance hardly enhanced communication: usually the person fell to the ground, flattened by blinding light.

In any event, I console myself, all relationships go through hot and cold spells. Sometimes communication is verbal, sometimes silent, sometimes close, sometimes distant. Usually, of course, these lectures to myself fail to convince. I am left with the unsettling truth that God, not I, has ultimate control over our relationship.

You've been prayed for today...