Daily Word of Grace # 128 (September 10, 2020)
One of my favorite Motown songs is the 1966 gem by the Four Tops, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There.” It is an incredibly catchy song of hope: “Now if you feel that you can’t go on because all of your hope is gone. And your life is filled with much confusion until happiness is just an illusion, and your world around is crumbling down…Darling, reach out, reach out for me. I’ll be there, with a love that will shelter you. I’ll be there, with a love that will see you through.” As a priest I have had countless conversations with people who feel just like that (maybe that includes you right now), who feel like they can’t go on, who feel like their hope is gone—people who are confused because the happiness they were convinced they would find in something, or someone, has indeed turned out to be an illusion—people whose world is crumbling down. And trust me, priests themselves are not immune to this. And yet, God promises that when you reach out—and even if you do not reach out—God will be with you, as spoken through the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, “When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes…and I will bring you back” (Jeremiah 29:13-14). In the end God’s love will always shelter you, God’s love will always see you through. And when you reach out to God, not only will you realize God is there, but also that God has already been reaching out…to you.
Love and Prayers,
Dave