I’m working with one of my favorite books (its actually the one I would grab if I had to evacuate my house), Disciplines for the Inner Life. It takes one through 52 weeks of different spiritual topics and disciplines, with elements of a mini worship service – there is an invocation, a Psalm, another Bible verse, a reading and a benediction. The Bible verses and readings are different every day.

This week I am studying and experiencing “Authentic Experiences,” which encourages the reader (I hate to use the word “reader,” because you don’t really “read” this book…you utilize it to facilitate your relationship with God and all that flows from it. I’ll use the word “disciple”)…anyway, it encourages the disciple to approach God. Two lines in today’s reading really hit me. In a passage from Man’s Quest for God, by Abraham Joshua Heschel, he writes that God “is not austere.” Austere means “severe or strict in manner, attitude, or appearance;” Heschel goes on to describe sharing “gentle joy” with God.

These phrases really resonate with me. They encourage me, reminding me of truths that I experience when I slow down and spend time with God – he welcomes me; he does not punish me or shame me for having been away. When I rest in his presence, simply because he is my creator and loves me, not for anything I need or can get from him today, there is joy. God is great. God is good. It is a pleasure and a gift to abide with him.