30 More Days of Grace

Psalm 5 Song of the Clouded Dawn For the Pure and Shining One For her who receives the inheritance, by King David Morning Watch 1  Listen, Yahweh, to my passionate prayer!   Can’t you hear my groaning? 2  Don’t you hear how I’m crying out to you?   My King and my God, consider my every word,   for I am calling out to you. 3  At each and every sunrise you will hear my voice   as I prepare my sacrifice of prayer to you.   Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on the altar   and wait for your fire to fall upon my heart. Making It Right 4  I know that you, God, are never pleased with lawlessness,   and evil ones will never be invited as guests in your house. 5  Boasters collapse, unable to survive your scrutiny,   for your hatred of evildoers is clear. 6  You will make an end of all those who lie.   How you hate their hypocrisy and despise all who love violence!...

Psalm 3 Covered by the Glory King David’s song when he was forced to flee from Absalom, his own son The Humbling of a King 1 Lord, I have so many enemies, so many who are against me. 2 Listen to how they whisper their slander against me, saying:   “Look! He’s hopeless! Even God can’t save him from this!”   Pause in his presence The Help of God 3 But in the depths of my heart I truly know   that you, Yahweh, have become my Shield;   You take me and surround me with yourself.   Your glory covers me continually.   You lift high my head when I bow low in shame. 4 I have cried out to you, Yahweh, from your holy presence.   You send me a Father’s help.   Pause in his presence The Song of Safety 5 So now I’ll lie down and sleep like a baby—   then I’ll awake in safety, for you surround me with your glory. 6 Even though dark powers prowl around me,   I won’t be afraid. The Secret of Strength 7 I simply cr...

And, God said, “Mow Thy Grass” You know those people who just thrive on awkward situations?  The ones who find some sense of joy and weird adrenaline rushes from the strangest, most uncomfortable situations on the planet? Yeah, I’m not one of those people In fact, I hate awkward situations.  I suck at small talk; I laugh awkwardly at the most inopportune times, and I avoid confrontation like the plague.  So, you can imagine the absolute dread overwhelming me as I walked into a counseling session with my daughter knowing my ex-husband who isn’t exactly on the most stellar terms with me right now would be sitting in the waiting room with us.   The first few minutes of the afternoon went about as I had expected--a door slammed in my face, no words exchanged, etc, etc.  And, then, the dreaded point in the afternoon where our daughter went in with the counselor by herself, leaving the two of us seated together on a way too small couch in t...

Monday Morning Confessional: I have a confession: Sometimes I go to random churches by myself to worship anonymously. Hear me out here: I love my church (and, no, I don’t have that tshirt). My church is amazing. I’m not sure where else you could go and find such a grace-filled group of broken misfits who are allowing God to work through them in absolutely incredible ways. But sometimes, sometimes I just need to be in a place where I can worship alone and anonymously, where no one knows me, where no one is looking at me, and where I can just blend in. If you’ve ever worked or served front and center in a church, I think you know what I mean. Grandma’s Wisdom: I was fortunate enough to grow up right up the road from my grandparents. During the summer, my brother and I would ride our bikes down the road and sit on their porch with them, drinking coke out of glass bottles (no, I’m not throwing him under the bus today. You’re welcome, Jeremy). We spent our holidays there, mornings ...