Dawn's Early Light

As I sit here, it is five something in the morning. It is Sunday, and in a few hours I will be busy doing whatever it is I do on Sundays. It is dark, and the house is quiet. I have the little portable heater pulled up close to my feet, trying to stay warm in the early morning chill.

As I reflect, I feel my aloneness. It feels good to be quiet and still, unhurried by the cares of what is to come this day. In my reflection, I am reminded that I am not really alone - I never am REALLY alone, because Papa sits with me. He loves me enough to sit quietly when I am too busy to talk, and He listens with heart engaged when I turn His way.

I guess that probably doesn't sound very profound - that God is always with me. But that is the very point; His presence isn't predetermined by my awareness. He IS always with me (even when I don't want Him to be). He will never leave me or forsake me. He and I are forever joined - Father and son, Friend to friend, Brother to brother. And knowing on any level, let alone the deeper ones, that I am never truly alone, feels really good. I am never alone.

And knowing that I am never alone, that in the middle of my confusion and lostness in life I sit with God Himself every moment, changes my reality, if I realize the truth. His presence changes my reality, my experience of life - He always does. But something even more profoundly shifts when I am aware of that presence. When I acknowledge what is true every second of my life - that He is with me - my life changes - because I am not alone. He doesn't have to part any seas or bring fire down from heaven. He doesn't need to make staffs bud or enemies defeat themselves. Because He IS - like He was at the burning bush, like He was at the cross. His presence is always enough.

Thank you Papa for the promise of the ages - for the promise that we are guaranteed You will always keep.