Yep, God, I know. You orchestrated another new day. The sky proclaims a new warm shade of pink and in North Dakota it is too crazy cold to see it without a window in between us.
It is a new, freeze-your-nose-hairs cold day and I am not excited to venture out the door. It is cozy to stay in the proximity of a warm bed. Even to glance at it once in a while tricks me into believing it is possible to avoid the exposure of the cold.
If I do that, I would miss taking my kids to school and seeing them flow into the steady stream of classmates and school staff, including superhero crossing guards who chose to leave their cozy homes to keep my kiddo safe. I would miss working in an office with people I appreciate, doing work I do believe matters in the world. I would miss listening to stories of people who need to remember Christ meets them in the dark places of life. I would miss wondering whether I am ever doing another, forgiving myself for my failures, and learning how to be still in the presence of You.
Okay God, I’ll bundle up and venture out the door again. I’ll risk frozen nose hairs and I’ll risk entering into the steady stream of the cold day where I will get some things right and other things wrong. Being human is a constant exercise in the exposure of who we really are and what we truly can and cannot do. These bodies in all their limitations do not always feel so cozy.
So please, God, bundle me up in your mercy. May the frosty air I breathe give new life of a new day so that I might bundle up my neighbor with mercy, too.
Lisa Lewton 