Blessings for the Lost and Found

It seems like a good week to embrace slowness when we can. So we’re going to continue to explore the themes of wandering and welcome in our own souls today as we read a portion of a beautiful and ancient song-prayer-poem in the book of Psalms over three times, slowly and prayerfully. Each time you read, let your heart meditate on a new set of questions.

Reading #1: What is your soul really yearning for today? How could your yearnings lead you closer to God?

Reading #2: What blessings of home, of feeling settled and established, have you experienced in your life? How have you sensed welcome and comfort from God and God’s people?

Reading #3: How have you experienced blessing in seasons of pilgrimage, of journey and discovery? What sources of help and strength have you been surprised to discover, in God, yourself or others?

Psalm 84

1 How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.

When you’ve finished your last reading, sit with Jesus for one more minute, sharing whatever is on your heart. Amen.