Today’s prayer is taken from one of our new set of prayer cards. I have been using it each morning over the last week as my focus for meditation. On the back of this card is a short reflection:
An old story tells of a Godly monk who asked his student: How do you know when the darkness is dispelled and the dawn has come? Is it when we can tell the difference between a dog and a goat? the asked. No said the wise old man. We know the dawn has come when we can see the face of Jesus in the countenance of another. Where do you expect to see the dawn today in the faces of those you encounter?
As I have pondered this question this morning, I realized that the first person I need to see the face of Jesus in is myself. The words in days first like I look for you, really caught my attention. How often, I wonder, do I not look for Jesus because I am hiding? How often am I like Adam and Eve in the garden – hiding because I know I have done something wrong.
Jesus wants us to come out of hiding, to search for him with our whole hearts and our minds and our souls. He wants us to look ourselves in the face and see his nature reflected there. What difference would it make in who we are and what we do if we made that simple commitment?