Signposts: Daily Devotions

Written by Renée Miller

Sunday, April 27

Rise up, go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you.
—Ezekiel 3:22b

When our lives are over-full we can feel as though we have lost our taste for excitement and curiosity about life. We begin to feel like we're trying to climb a steep mountain without the benefit of being in shape. We breathe heavily, our legs ache, our muscles scream at each step. Our body is exhausted and our mind is as limp as half-jelled gelatin. All we want to do is find a place where we can flop our weary body down and rest. Often we're so close to the top that we're almost ready to descend into the valley, but we stop short, and allow sleep to overtake us.

In the movie The Matrix, Trinity says to herself at a particularly vulnerable moment, "Get up, Trinity, get up. Get up!" It's just what she needs to wake her from her paralysis and move her to safety. Like Trinity, when we feel disconnected with the pulse of life, two words can waken us from our lackluster stupor.

Those two words slide in through the tiny gaps of our consciousness, "Get up, get up." Then they come a little louder and a little stronger, "Get up! Get up!" We begin to pull ourselves up and climb once again. Off in the near distance, beyond the pale of our paltry lives, we glimpse a holy space—a space prepared for us by heaven, a space where the words of heaven will alter our lives forever.
 
It's motivation enough to get us moving steadily forward to reach that space that waits so longingly for us.

O God, strengthen me to rouse myself from weariness and come to meet you in the valley of delight.

The Signposts for April are written by Renée Miller and originally appeared on explorefaith.org in May 2004.