Text and image: Daniel Häsler, social deacon, parish of Thomas, Basel (CH)
This verse speaks to my heart, and not just since the year's slogan was on the table. No, it has accompanied me through the silence for many years. Without words I let it have a meditative and pictorial effect on me. I make myself aware: GOD IS THERE, he surrounds me from all sides and holds his hand over me. I make myself aware: HE IS THERE and looks at me lovingly, appreciatively, without expectation, just because he likes me. Why am I doing this and not getting tired...?
Well, the main reason is that it's simply "good for me". Being there is good for me. I can calm down, I can bring my restless heart, my racing thoughts, into His presence. I can place the worries of everyday life in his hands and I can experience how fears lose their power. For a moment I don't have to achieve anything, do nothing, show or prove anything, but can be how I feel, how I am and how I feel.
Sometimes it's 5 minutes, sometimes 10 or 15 minutes, just a short moment, but it's enough. My heart has expanded and I am ready to talk to him about the world, life and my normal everyday life. He's there, listening to me, unreservedly and unreservedly. It helps me to think that he sees me, sees everything, or rather "knows" about everything. There's nothing to hide, to hide. God sees into my deepest abysses and that comforts me. I know - he lived through all the darkness. He understands me and accompanies me in all the ups and downs.
Personally, I believe this verse speaks deeply to my (and your) basic need: to be loved unconditionally, to be loved. Without love we starve, without love we are lonely and lost in life. So how valuable is God's loving gaze.
There is "someone" who sees me, who "perceives" me, who cares about me, but who loves me unreservedly and gets involved with me unreservedly. He endures me even when I am impossible. He stands by me when others no longer see anything good in me. He stays with me when I want to leave myself.
In short, it can tumble and storm within me, nothing and nobody can destroy the foundation on which I stand. God is with me no matter what.
At the beginning of the year I wrote a prayer that I occasionally pray in silence. They are words that go to my heart. That's why I pray it slowly and let each sentence work on me individually. Maybe that would be an option for you too. In any case, I am sure that God will mysteriously do his thing.
You are a god who sees me...
You see me as I am: you see your likeness in me...
You look into my heart, what occupies and moves me...
You look at me with loving, shining eyes...
You look at me with joy...
Lord, thank you for your loving, kind look. Amen
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