Love Letter 3

Dear Daddy,

Thank you for causing Amy to say some things yesterday in the Areopagus Forum that opened my eyes to You. She was trying to persuade Paul that "being thankful" in itself is inadequate; thankfulness needs to be directed toward a person to be complete. This I knew, for I have used this line of reasoning before when trying to raise other's awareness of You. But then she listed examples of things for which we should be thankful to You: free oxygen; free sunlight; free use of my brain, body, etc.; and life itself. I was a little shocked. I had not thought to thank You for these things. In fact, inwardly I probably faulted You for giving me life since I do much like living. But seeing that You have given me these things, if I am unthankful to You for them, then I am remiss--regardless whether the reason is that I don't see them as good things or that I see them as good things but do not emotionally trace their origin back to You. I do believe that You are good (at a cognitive level), so I am willing to concede to You that the gift of life is good and that I am just blind to this fact right now. Please open my eyes to this. Please help me to see things from Your perspective, from the perspective of truth. Deliver me from the blindness of Gomer: "She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold" (Hosea 2:8)

Thank you that You have enabled me to see that You are actively at work to renew my mind on this point. You helped me to notice that that was the second time this week when someone's words about Your providence arrested me. The other time was after I had vented to Simon about how distant You were from me. He asked me, "If I squeeze your nose and cover your mouth, how long could you live?" When I said, "At most four minutes," he responded, "Then God is at least that close to you." The fact is that it is on a second-by-second basis that I rely upon Your providence. If You withdrew Your hand for a second, I could not continue to live, much less if You withdrew for four minutes. I am reminded of what Paul said, "Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for 'in him we live and move and have our being.'" (Acts 17:27-28)

I think You caused Amy to say something recently to me linking breathing and the practice or realization of Your presence. I already forgot the sentence, but thank You for providing breathing as a tangible evidence of Your presence. Please help me recall You with each breath I take today that I might walk more experientially in Your presence.

Love,
Philip