Awake

Its a little past midnight, and I have to be at work tomorrow at 6:15am...When I can't sleep, my first thought is, "This sucks..." Not a real spiritual thought at all.

My second thought is, "Ok Lord, what's up?" Perhaps a little more productive than "This sucks." So as I lay in bed tonight, I wondered what was up and what He needed to say to me.
I'm sure He needs to say a lot, but He knows that I can only handle a little at a time, so this was the thought for tonight...

"Rest under my wings."

Having read Psalms over the past few days, the psalmists present this picture--being beneath God's wings--over and over. It's a picture of the Lord's gentleness and His desire for us to be near Him...and I kept thinking that beneath His wings means being near His heart.

It's a picture of safety, peace, rest, security, comfort, kindness, warmth, love...it's a place that I long to be always but cannot stay. Just as a mother hen must eventually push her chicks out of the nest, so I cannot remain beneath God's wings. It is not a place to live, but a place of refuge when the storms hit or when it's just too cold to be anywhere else. It's a place of rest and rejuvination in preparation to once again go out into life with purpose and with strength.

He does not have to let us in that close to Himself, but He does. He does because of His great love and mercy. He does because, I think, it brings Him great joy as well. He does because it is His very nature to draw us in. He is a God who keeps His children.

So Lord, keep us...keep me...close, especially when it's cold...