Just a few words

I would like to write just a few words, but it seems as if even when I don't know where to start, one word always leads to another, and the result is far from few.

I made a plan for Monday and lifted it up to God in prayer, and He laughed. I wasn't able to get the cat into the carrier for a trip to the vet, and news that my uncle died put the rest of the week's schedule in flux. I guess I did accomplish one thing on the list, taking some steps toward finding a new dentist and cancelling an appointment with the old.

Now I feel like I'm getting a cold or something. It's that sensation where I feel really, really tired and have tightness and some itchiness in my throat. But here goes my mind again: I think it could just be effects of tension and stress and lack of sleep, although it seems I'm getting adequate pillow time. I'm trying to relax, rest and drimk more water. So far I've been able to withstand most of what goes around physically, and I'm working toward that result again even as I pray!

Above all, I feel God's peace and presence and love, and for that I am so grateful. Words of Scripture referenced in daily devotionals and by friends and family members keep me focused. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want ... He restores my soul ... He leads me on paths of righteousness ... He comforts me..."   I had a day or two in which I sensed I had started just going through the motions with prayer, but I think I've moved beyond that.  Readings on successive days in A Praying Heart helped me focus on why I pray and why I don't think it is in vain; and then to see where prayer fits into my "calling." I guess it helped renew my sense of purpose in prayer, where I'd fallen into just recitations of gratitude and praise and daily concerns. Such recitations are important but are so much more meaningful and powerful when focused in faith.

And, yes, this started as -- and really still is -- what I call a placeholder blog post. Just a few words to meet a deadline. With that mission prayerfully accomplished, I can go on to the next thing and the next and the next and the next -- and maybe along the way it will bring me to the more insightful kinds of essays I prefer to write but that are few and far between! I thank God for the hope He gives in this and all areas.