This past weekend we had a local Youth Event where over 60 of our denomination's Youth gathered for a night filled with fun, spaghetti, duck tape, and a cool message on abiding with God. As I listened to the message I caught myself asking, "What does 'abide' mean anyway?"
The speaker explained that Jesus was saying he wanted to be by our side when he spoke of abiding. Hmm...I like that answer. I decided to let that one go and move on to other things. Of course, God being God, this morning I feel as though I won't be able to let the meaning of "abide" float past me that easily. I say this because the theme assigned by the United Church of Christ for this week's lectionary is "Abiding In Love".
Dictionary.com defines abide as "to remain; continue; stay." Let's see where this week's thoughts take us. Should be interesting.
We start the journey with Psalm 22:25-31. After reading the Psalm I must admit I feel pretty small. Not small as in insignificant, but small as in I'm one out of six-billion who depend on the earth to provide for my life's needs. I realize there are so many things which make up creation that every part of creation must somehow be dependent on another. Further meditation on the passage has me in awe of God as I acknowledge it's because of God everything exists in the way it does. It honestly made me want to tell everyone I meet today about my wonderful God and all the great things God is.
And I guess that's the hope of the Psalmist. The real question is, "Will I tell anyone, today or any day, of the amazing things God has done in my life?" I do know one thing, I'm certainly going to try, remembering that even the simplest act of kindness and compassion will be telling others about the amazing things God is about. I think I'll practice abiding with others today, maybe that'll give me a small (very small) idea on what the Psalmist hoped his words would lead to.
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