Held by God

As I try to live with a knowledge of God’s presence with me an image that helps me is being held in God’s hands.  In prayer we give ourselves afresh to God and place ourselves in his hands: our hopes and fears, responsibilities and needs, our hearts and emotions, everything.  I love the sense of peace and joy that comes as I thank God that I am held by him and he is with me in all that I am facing.  As always better pray-ers and wiser people have explained this much better than I can -



Holding a tiny acorn in her hand one day, Julian of Norwich (an ancient mystic) thought:

"In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God preserves it.  But what did I see in it? It is that God is the Creator and the Protector and the Lover. For until I am substantially united to God, I can never have perfect rest or true happiness, until, that is, I am so attached to God that there can be no created thing between my God and Me."

This week as I have walked my dog each day I’ve been holding a tiny fir cone in my hand and meditating on Psalm 139 where David writes:

Where can I go from your Spirit? where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

It’s great to know that wherever we are God holds on to us, protects us, and loves us.

John McGinley