Grounded in Love

Kathy is a senior member of our congregation.

If you are reading this, and you are older, or alone or lonely, let me encourage you by sharing what a day “grounded in God's love” means to me. I rise early each morning. As I lay in bed waking up, I listen to the Psalm 23 being sung on my cell-phone. Some of the words stand out to me:

The Lord is my Shepherd...His goodness restores my soul…. I will trust in You alone… He guides my way in righteousness….

These help to turn my mind and heart to God. How? Let me share with you later. But now, I have my cup of hot coffee to carry out from the kitchen to the living room where I gaze out the large window onto the horizon, where the sun is shining it's rays on the golden meadow…..I look out in awe and remember the words by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

When I first open my eyes upon the morning meadow and see the beautiful world, I thank God that I am alive.

I THANK GOD THAT I AM ALIVE. Wow! Beautiful words for one who wanted to go back to sleep!! I AM ALIVE & I'M “GROUNDED!” With the epidemic affecting even little Livonia and the facility where I live, no visitors are allowed in and I'm “grounded” meaning I'm not allowed to go out. When I was a child or a teenager, I knew what it meant to be “grounded” but this is different. I realized to me it also means I'm “grounded in God' love.”

“God's goodness restores my soul,” as it says in Psalm 23. If I'm sitting alone in my apartment, day after day, I have so many 'gems.' I open my super-large-print Bible to Psalm 91. I love the way it begins, “I dwell in the safety and security of the most High.” SAFETY and SECURITY takes away any fear or anxiety that might grip me when I think of this coronavirus.

Then it goes on to say, “Surely my Lord will deliver me from this pestilence.” I wonder if that means that I won't be touched or if I am, I will get well. But, as Martin Luther said, “If God shall wish to take me…..” I feel the same way. I am content.

Going back to the 23rd Psalm, one of the verses I shared above, “I will trust Him alone.” That is a part of being “Grounded in Him,” being able to trust in him—when I'm alone, or lonely, or fearful. I love the last verse in Psalm 91, where the Lord says, “With a long life will I satisfy her and will show her my salvation..” Amen and amen