Reflection: I don’t consider myself to be a courageous person. In fact, I can be a “shrinking violet” about a lot of things. I was fearful when a thunderstorm would hit while I was on a ridge (somewhat justified). I was fearful that I wouldn’t be able to complete the climb. I can be fearful about circumstances in my daily life. Fear, I am learning, is not something to avoid but to name and move through. And courage, I am finding, is not so much something to “stir up” but something to receive. “Let your heart take courage”—I appreciate that psalmist’s phrase. Take courage from whom? From the Lord we wait for! Whose courage is it? It is the Lord’s courage that I receive with an open heart. That’s the courage that gets me through many a storm and up many a mountain—on the trail and here at home.
Suggestions:
1. Take this verse with you and ponder its meaning for you throughout the day. What do you notice? What do you wonder? Where in your life do you need God’s courage?
2. Or read all of Psalm 27 to discover how this verse fits into the psalm or to discover a different verse.
3. Or comment with a photo of your own that illustrates this verse’s meaning for you.
Tomorrow’s verse: Psalm 28:9
Starting January 1, 2016, for 150 days I am posting a daily psalm verse with a photo that is a visual meditation on the text for me. Each day a verse from the next psalm is chosen until all 150 psalms have been featured. To participate you may subscribe to my blog at https://elainedent.net or “friend” me on Facebook and watch for the daily links to blog posts. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and most of the photos are from a cell phone or small camera while hiking the Appalachian Trail or the C&O Canal/Great Allegheny Passage Trail.
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