Meditation for May, 2007

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. Psalm 84: 1 – 4

At this moment in time, there are two phoebes nesting on a light fixture that sits over an unused side door at our country home. I feel privileged to have them nest there and I watch with great interest, as day by day they work tirelessly building a safe place to raise their young. The phoebes have found a home, as if at God’s altars, where they may lay their eggs and fledge their young.

How lovely, says the psalmist, is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! God’s dwelling place is everywhere we are because God is the creator of all things and, when we desire to reside in the Divine dwelling, God must watch with great interest and happiness as we progress in building a safe secure spiritual home.

We experience a great longing to be in the courts of the Lord where we can sing for joy to the living God. We think of this as some special place, in some mountain-top far away from where we are. But, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder and can be seen all around us if we open our eyes and look, so are the courts of the Lord everywhere, surrounding us, if we open the eyes of our soul to see God’s altars in whatever place we find ourselves.

Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. When we are aware that God dwells wherever it is that we live, we cannot help but be happy. There will always be a praise song on our lips and in our hearts, and we will sing for the sheer joy of living in God’s dwelling.

We are at one with God and God is at one with us. Each one of us indwells God and is indwelled by God. This oneness with the Divine and mutual indwelling is cause for great singing and joyous praise all the day and night long.

 © Judith Lawrence, May 2007

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