Hosanna Restoration Church

“Just be present.” As I was spending time with the Lord and trying to think of words to say and pray, I heard these words from Him. “JUST BE PRESENT WITH ME.”

We desire His presence, and He wants us to be present. We do not necessarily need to be presenting something. We do not have to talk at all. Unfortunately, trying not to think or say anything is more difficult than we realize; or at least it is for me.

I honestly don’t think I ever thought much about it, if at all. Now that has changed. This is not about never saying anything, it is simply about being present. Do you ever find yourself with the Lord, but not really present? You know, when your mind wanders to your to-do list or looking at the time and thinking you need to get on to those important things!  This is of course followed by a bit of condemnation for your lack of concentration and even thinking such things.

“Be still and know that I am God!” That is a great line. God has a multitude of great lines! The name of the Lord is an infinite list. He has a name for every situation. As I thought about that, I imagined confetti with every piece having a name. I then felt like jumping into a bin of confetti and just reading the names. The more I thought about it, I was reminded of those bins of balls that kids used to play in. Our Michael would jump in and disappear. We would call him to eat, and he would just hide there. As my memory serves me, never once did he just come out on his own. We always had to send in the search team. He thought it was funny. It was!

This memory made me think of the joy of just burrowing into the presence of God and staying there. Someday, we will. Until then, we will do our best to live aware of His continual presence with us.

So, as you can imagine, I had to work past my desire to imagine a way to convey this to others. I realize it is not a new concept; it might help someone. No Roger. Just be present. Right, we can work on the other part another time. First, I need to be present. I remember when teachers took roll. There would be a variety of responses, anything from yep, to present, to here. We all know that our attention could be in lots of places. The same is true in our faith walk and our time with the Lord.

I love the Lord’s presence. He is always present. We are not always aware, because we are not always there. Circumstances normally cause us to think of or turn to Him. We may think He waits to jump in when we look, but this is not the case. He is always with us.

So, my goal is to be present. I can talk to Him all day every day all the time. In our quiet time, I am working on being present. I am even having moments of success! How about you?