Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near… [Isaiah 55:6a, NRSV]
Isaiah didn’t advise us to seek God only on Friday nights at sundown or Sunday mornings at 10am. We are to seek God while he may be found. That means now, and it will mean now tomorrow, next week, and ten years down the road. The Lord may be found at any time, but there’s no time like the present.
Isaiah didn’t ask us to seek God exclusively in a chapel, meditation garden, synagogue, or mosque. We are to seek God while he is near. That means right where we are standing at this very moment, where we will drive tomorrow, and wherever we happen to be after Valentine’s Day 2023. There’s no place better than this one to call on the Lord.
Every where and every when belongs to God; we can come to God any where and any when. We carve out special times and places not because God has limited availability, but because we require a time and place to be available to God.
But if we happen to be waiting in the drive-through for our morning coffee, why not seek the Lord? Why not call upon God while putting that fourth load of laundry in the washer? What are we waiting for?
Probably my most special place to call upon the Lord is in the kitchen at the sink when I am washing my dishes. My thoughts are with God and feel as though God is truly listening because new and different thoughts will calmly enter my mind that make perfect sense. It is best when I am alone at the sink, quietly organizing the dishes and making soapy suds. (I am okay never having a dishwasher except for my hands).
Thanks, Robin. You are the second person to tell me that doing dishes was a favorite time to seek the presence of God. What a wonderful, every day place to call upon the Lord. Peace, Johnna