2025! A new year – and if the adverts and media posts are to be believed, a new me!
Only, I have to be honest, that the last 3 years have been fairly tough, especially the last 2 with managing some intense pain issues and unexpected elbow surgery. And so, I realised at the end of last year I was approaching the start of this year with some trepidation!
In fact, as I related to my Spiritual Director, I felt a little like the cat we had when we lived in Central Asia, who used to go right down on his belly and shuffle away quickly under the bath at the first sign of danger – usually either fireworks or little children visiting!!
I realised that, actually, I was the one with my tin hat on, crawling under my ‘bath’ – into my safe hole, feeling very wary about venturing out of it, for fear of what could be heading my way this year!
And, let’s be honest, that is not a good way to live! Or to approach a new year!
And so, responding to the invitation I sensed in my heart – I spent time with my loving God, who has faithfully walked every step of every year with me, and knows me far more than I know myself! And I listened to His gentle invitation to come out of my safe hole – to take His hand and trust Him with the year to come.
And as I listened, I sensed Him inviting me to read and ponder on Psalm 139 – a Psalm I know well. But, with everything that has gone wrong physically the last few years, I have to admit I was struggling a little to see where I was “Fearfully and Wonderfully made”!!
But as I read, I remembered a retreat that I led a couple of years ago – on being known, seen and loved – based on this very psalm. Those words spoke into my heart again as I re-read what I had written for the retreat – words of promise, hope and life.
Words that reassure that, yes, this physical body may fail and get rather creaky and weary, but that in no way diminishes who I am in the eyes of the One who made me and loves me and has always loved me!
So I offer these words to you – and pray that you too will sense the absolute truth, right where you need to know it today – that you are known, seen and loved by your, everlastingly faithful, Creator God.
Psalm 139: You have searched me, Lord, and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue, you Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand – when I awake, I am still with you.
If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name.
Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Known, Seen and Loved: Lord, You know me, yet You still love me!
You search my heart and know all there is to know – and still you call to me to come and walk with you and be with you. You know everything about me, and your heart sings for joy when I accept your invitation to come and sit in your presence.
You created me out of nothing and have given me everything. Your love is unfathomable, unchanging, never ending; it is higher, deeper and wider than I can ever even begin to understand.
I am known, seen and loved by you.
There is nowhere I can go where your love will not reach me. Even in the depths of the deepest, darkest pit of despair and shame, you reach down, hold out your hand and show me the way out.
Your love and grace are beyond comprehension; and yet, they are so much woven into the fabric of my being that I can never – and never want to – go from your presence or leave you.
I am known, seen and loved by you.
But when I do wander off your path and fall – which I do, all too often – you always stoop down, pick me up, dust me down and wash my wounds with your living water and grace. Then you gently place my feet back on your path of life – on the Rock that is higher than high.
I am known, seen and loved by you.
Thank you, Lord! Your love, that is vaster than the oceans. It encompasses and surrounds me all around, each day and every night.
Your love silences the enemies of my soul. Silences the voices that whisper doubt, fear and unworthiness into my mind; that mock me, saying I’m unknown, unseen and unloved. Voices of condemnation and shame that seek to kill your Spirit of Life and to block out your Voice of Hope.
Lord, thank you that you are the Voice of Hope, the Anchor of my soul. In Your Name are the Words of Life; Words which will continue to silence the voices of the enemy within, tuning my spirit and heart to hear and to listen to your voice that whispers life, wholeness and grace-filled love into my inner being.
I am known, seen and loved by you.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb – and you continue to knit together the frayed edges, loose threads and holes in this, somewhat weary looking and very frayed garment, that is your precious, treasured child. You knit me together with your expert craftsmanship, gently forming me, day by day into something very beautiful for you – beautiful and useful, a reflection of the Son within and without.
You search me and know me deep within. And day by day you call to me to walk where you walk, hand in hand with you, on your right and good paths of life.
Lord, I am known, seen and loved by you. I am your child, for eternity and now, I am yours.
Why not make a cup of your favorite brew, and ponder on the fact that you too are known, seen and loved – beautifully made and continually remade day by day by our grace-filled loving Father and Creator. And as you ponder, let Him whisper words of life into your weary places and listen to His invitation to see yourself as He does – a beautiful, loved child of God in whom He delights.
Have a Cup of Tea with God 