Thoughts for the Day

Blessed be the Lord,
for he has heard the sound of my pleadings.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.

The Lord is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed
O save your people, and bless your heritage;
be their shepherd, and carry them for ever.

(New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Have you ever felt so weak that you needed to rely on someone else's strength to continue? A good relationship, and in particular perhaps, a good marriage can be like this. You lean on the other one when life is difficult, and they can do the same when things change for them. Losing a partner to lean on and becoming self-sufficient is one of the hardest things to bear.

A song which sums this theme up is Josh Groban's 'You raise me up'. It was originally written by the Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden, and was an instrumental song. It was given words by Irish singer, Brian Kennedy. The lyrics say it all:

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas
I am strong when I am on your shoulders
You raise me up to more than I can be.

As Christians we can celebrate these words. When we are weak, God is strong. As our reading from Psalm 28 says: 'The Lord is my strength', and even more than that we read: 'The Lord is the strength of his people'.

Monday 15th June, follow up thoughts

Lord God,
when I feel weak or stressed;
when I am depressed or tired;
when life seems too hard to continue,
and when loneliness is hard to bear,
lift me up, and be my strength
and the strength of all your people.
Amen.