The gravitational pull of earthly things is strong in my spirit. I know our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), but worldly, fleshly life exerts a pull from which I find it hard to escape.
Material possessions, judgmentalism (aka dualistic thinking), bodily hungers, anxiety, anger, impatience, and more. The list can be long, as many of us know.
It’s easy to keep a list of wrongs about others….and about myself. I’m so darn self-conscious of my own faults, regrets, and the feelings of others. The gravitational pull of earth’s (dare I say Satan’s) accusations is stronger than the love of God, who has embraced me, redeemed me, and loves me with an everlasting love.
I try to yield to the influence of his life in me. Try, too often unsuccessfully.
It’s like this: Christ dies for me and unlocks the cell door of the prison in which I find myself as a consequence of life’s miseries and my own sin. But he has forgiven that sin. His love is the key. The door is open. He bids me to come out to him, to live in his love. That little door is the narrow way of love.
But I respond that I’ve grown so comfortable with my life in the 6×9 confined kingdom of my own making that the new life seems scary and, dare I say, dangerous. It’s more mysterious than my safe self-imposed haven.
Help me, Lord, to know and feel your love and life in me. Help me to slip the surly bonds of earthly life to soar to heights of love, living with and for you, right here, right now. Let me have the desire to desire your love more than this confined life I feel right now. Amen.
Grace Matters 
What a candid shot of so many, George. Recently, my counselor advised me to recall a relative in whose lap I felt completely safe. That was easy for me. Then she entreated me to put my head on their chest (in my imagination). I felt completely safe and rested. Then she told me that Father God’s lap is that lap in which us kids can feel safe and protected. I have slept better ever since.
The kicker was, the next session, she stated that every day and every situation should find me in that lap. Resting in God, feeling that peace as the situation unfolds, Trusting God for direction and resting in that constant heartbeat. THAT has changed my life.