Windows Into Our Soul
FOURTH WEEK IN LENT
Commit your life to God
and justice will dawn for you.
Your integrity will shine
like the noonday sun.
Psalm 37: 5-6
About a dozen of us are preparing to attend a retreat at the House of Prayer. The focus of the weekend will be learning about the Psalms. We’ve titled it: “Psalms: The Songs of our Lives”. Many of the psalms were written — intended to be sung. Another good title would have been: ‘Psalms: Windows into our Soul’
Some people have difficulty reading some of the psalms because the language in them can sound pretty violent at times. Those are often termed ‘lament’ psalms — or psalms of ‘disorientation’. An important thing to remember is that they were just that — words meant to express feelings the psalmist had. They were not words that described something the psalmist was ‘doing’. If we’re honest, we too have feelings and thoughts that can be pretty strong. Do we stuff them - or express them in an appropriate way — like the Psalm writers do? What some of these psalms express way deep down — is that God does not cringe and turn God’s back on us when we have strong feelings.
Here is a story:
“When I was ten. I worried about what my parents would think about me.
When I was twenty, I worried about what my friends would think about me.
When I was thirty, I worried about what my bosses would think about me.
When I was forty, I worried about what my neighbors would think about me.
It wasn’t until I got to be fifty that I realized that no one thought about me at all.”
I wonder if much of what the psalms offer us is a map, or guideline, to growing up - becoming mature. Growing up is not hard. Maturing is, however. Growth is biological - and pretty much happens in time. Maturity, on the other hand, is emotional and spiritual and takes effort - and personal commitment.
Maturity implies that something has come to wholeness within us. Something is ready. Something is finished developing. Deep down, in the quiet space inside ourselves, we know that when we’re mature, we are not at the mercy of our environment. We can respond to life - not react to it.
The psalmist who wrote Psalm 37 names the qualities that constitute maturity: commitment, justice, integrity and spirituality. The mature person lives grounded in God, meets responsibilities, and knows that we continue to grow and mature to the day we die. (and many of the other psalms say this too).
Go ahead. Take some time to read the whole psalm. Let it sit in your heart. What will it cost you? Some time?
Open up before God, keep nothing back;
he’ll do whatever needs to be done.
God will validate your life in the clear light of day
and stamp you with approval at high noon.
(Psalm 37: 5-6) The Message
Blessings on your Lenten Journey. Cindy
