Saturday, June 20

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
—Colossians 3:3

Everything is tucked up under the wings of heaven. There’s a certain safety and mystery in that truth. It means that when it feels like the trash in our life has been piled up at the side of the road in full view God will gather it up and dispose of it.

It means that when our soul is empty from inattention God will fill it full again. It means that when life itself has become as overwhelming as thunderstorms in summer;we will be secreted away by the Holy One to the place where peace and order reign.

When we are hidden in God, we have not escaped the grit of daily existence, but we have been taken to a place of eternal security. There in that hiding place, the cell of heaven, we are able to gaze out at our life with the eyes of grace guiding us. We are able to stare at the contents of our soul and find there the nuggets that otherwise might have been missed. We are able to risk being bold.

We can aright injustice, pray like one who knows they are being heard, choose solitude and stillness over the constant din of noise. We can tend our life and soul with the tenderness that keeps us whole, even while stress and trouble swirl like pesky gnats around us

From the place of our hidden-ness, we can safely display ourselves for the good of the world.

Gracious God, let my courage for life be formed in the hidden place of your heart.