Psalm 34:8

O taste and see that the Lord is good.

Lord, I walk into Your morning,

sometimes sprinting,

sometimes stumbling

into Your day, but always

moving Lord, leaving the sunrise

behind me and setting sights

on the sunset down the road.

I live for Your world, Lord.

I live for all the ways

it embraces me, holds me.

I live for rainy days.

I live for the smell of rain,

I live for the air so thick

and rich with the promise

of rain that the birds above

cease to fly and begin to swim.

I live for sound, Lord,

for the laughter of the roofers,

for the language they speak

that sings, for the music, for the pop

of the nail gun and whine of the drill.

I live for the smell

of freshly cut lumber,

of the wood that takes me

back to my childhood

and puts me in the craft

room with my mother

as she takes out a piece

of raw pine, still sticky and yellow

with sap in parts and begins

to paint her scenes,

to paint life and freeze moments

to paint movement and freeze it still.

I live for the seconds, Lord,

not the minutes, not the hours,

but the seconds, the flashes

of life, the flashes of You,

the flashes of light, gone

in an instant but remaining,

lingering for seconds after,

as an afterimage,

the shadow of Your presence.

Oh Lord, even Your shadow

holds life and meaning

and purpose and all the secrets

and answers to the ponderings

of the child’s heart within me.

Oh Lord, I live for this.

Amen.