The Daily Prayer
WEDNESDAY, May 20, 2020
In 1976, Indonesia annexed East Timor after the sudden withdrawal of the Portuguese. It is estimated that two hundred thousand Timorese died under the brutal and violent Indonesian rule. After years of violence between separatist guerillas and pro-Indonesian paramilitary forces, East Timor gained its independence on May 20, 2002. Today East Timor is one of the world’s poorest countries.
Twentieth-century Presbyterian theologian and writer Frederick Buechner has written, “Who knows how the awareness of God’s love first hits people? Every person has his own tale to tell, including the person who would not believe in God if you paid him. Some moment happens in your life that makes you say Yes right up to the roots of your hair, that makes it worth having been born just to have happened. Laughing with somebody till the tears run down your cheeks. Waking up to the first snow. Being in bed with somebody you love. Whether you thank God for such a moment or thank your lucky stars, it is a moment that is trying to open up your whole life. If you try to turn your back on such a moment and hurry along to Business as Usual, it may lose you the whole ball game. If you throw your arms around such a moment and hug it like crazy, it may save your soul. How about the person you know who as far as you can possibly tell has never had such a moment? Maybe for that person, the moment that has to happen is you.”
Give us grace to be present to those moments, Lord, when your love is real enough to taste. Amen.
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