dust

Psalm 103 is one of my favorites and I read it often.

from verses 11-16:

For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.  As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.  For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.  As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.  For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

I’m sitting here at the kitchen table next to my bouquet of roses.  Roses – my husband gave them to me last week celebrating our 15th anniversary.  The thing is, my beautiful bouquet is wilting, the petals are beginning to brown at the edges. ( Do not misunderstand – my marriage is not wilting – it is thriving and well.  And I’m very grateful for that. )  I can’t read these words from Psalms without being real about my own life ; I’m reminded that life is disintegrating, right in front of me.  That’s right.

Just like every bouquet of flowers I’ve ever received, I’m falling apart.  Literally a failure at many of the things I set out to do.  And I know many friends who feel the same.   At home, at work, as a parent, as a housekeeper, in my walk with Christ – many aspects of life that are unseemly.

But, these words from Scripture -if I soak in them a while, I find them so refreshing right now. If I’m going to be honest with myself, I need to hear what His voice is saying!   In the midst of all the ways that my life is broken, I see His promise in these verses.  It says it: He Remembers.  He knows how he made me and knows my end.

And because of this He knows precisely what I need:  Mercy.

I need His Mercy.  for forgiveness.  for strength to move forward.  for loving others and myself.  for being what He’s called me to be.

And that’s what He lovingly, graciously offers.

verses 17-19

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them.  The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.

Mercy – that spans from east to west, and is everlasting to everlasting – His kingdom ruling over all.  There is a day coming when I won’t be broken anymore, I won’t be the picture of a flower returning to the dust.   But, until the day he chooses to return and make all things new again, His mercy, surely is enough.