Reflection for Today ▶️ ⏩ ⏹️
'This Land', by Tobias Mayer (pastel on black paper) 2022
And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. / Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
— Genesis 13:14-15/17
The gifts we receive are vast in spirit and in number, but we must lift up our eyes to see. And when we see, we might enter into the gift, embrace it, walk its length and breadth, be in the gift. Sometimes this comes naturally, other times we need to draw on faith.
There are times when we feel poor, deprived, denied, forlorn, neglected, dejected, bereft and broken-hearted. In such times we feel giftless. In such times our eyes are unlifted, downcast, inward-focused: we are imprisoned in the bondage of self, and our world becomes small, mean, hopeless. It is at these times, perhaps the hardest times to do so, when we need to place ourselves in God's hands and open ourselves to the gift of not-knowing.
Not-knowing is that vast, unexplored space beyond self-will and determination. It is the gift available to all of us, at any time, and for all time. It is the land of freedom, the land of possibility. It is God's country.
music Opening bars from The Pastoral Symphony (6th) by Ludwig van Beethoven, 1808