Mercy & Grace – 40 Days with the Music of Amy Grant

Day 2 – Thursday after Ash Wednesday 

These Reflections which take the music of Amy Grant as their theme, were originally published in Lent 2015.  They are being republished during June and July 2020 as a way of deepening our faith during the Covid19 pandemic which is affecting the whole world

(Please pray for Amy as she in convalescence after open heart surgery over Easter.)

 

To Read:  

From the Scriptures:

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.   (2 Corinthians 3v18)

From Amy Grant:                               “In A Little While”

Got a ticket coming home
Wish the officer had known,
what a day today has been
Then I stumble through the door,
Dropping junk mail on the floor
When will this day end?
But then your letter caught my eye,
Brought the hope in me to life
Cause you know me very well,
And I bet you wrote me just to tell me

In a little while we’ll be with the Father
Can’t you see Him smile?
In a little while we’ll be home forever
In a while
We’re just here to learn to love Him
We’ll be home in just a little while

Boy, that letter hit the spot,
Made me think of all I’ve got
And all that waits for me
Guess I’ve known it all day long,
Wonder where my thoughts went wrong
When will my heart believe?

Wakin’ half-way through the night
Reachin’ toward the lamp for light
Pickin’ up the Word I find
Here’s another letter to remind me

In a little while we’ll be with the Father…

Days like these are just a test of our will
Will we walk or will we fall?
Well, I can almost see the top of the hill
And I believe it’s worth it all

In a little while we’ll be with the Father…

 

To Listen:

 

To Reflect:

Ever have one of those days?  A day like the one Amy describes?  Full of traffic fines and junk mail and just plain exhaustion?  It seems to be the lot of so many people in our over-busy world. Running everywhere at full speed and yet making no ground at all!  Poor us.  How do you cope with times like this?  If you have an answer please let me know soon!  I freely admit to being a workaholic and enjoy being kept busy but I know I need some help along the way.

When I have a ‘Junk mail dropping day’ I am too easily tempted to just collapse and mope.  On some days though I remember that this is not the end of the journey; it won’t always be like this.  There will come a day when we will be ‘home forever’ and if we but remember to lift our face towards the smile of the One who Loves us Best the load will be lightened, and the task ahead will be easier.

Lent, used properly, can become a daily letter from God helping us on the road home.  Divine cheerleading I call it.  Using this time to deliberately stop (instead of just collapsing) and look again at the most important things in life.  Oddly, for me, one of the antidotes for being over-busy and stressed-out is to do a little more.

Lent was originally a time of learning.  A time for reading the letters from God which make up the Scriptures.  A time of telling the Old Old Story of Jesus and His Love.  A time to remind ourselves that, because of the coming Easter, our final home is not this over-busy sin-sick despoiled world.

Which is why it is good that many of us will attend Bible Studies in Lent, read extra devotionals (such as this one) and try to spend more time meeting the needs of others instead of satisfying our own desires.  Make sure, however, that this is not just more busy-ness.  When I have ordered Lent in a helpful way it becomes for me not a discipline but instead a joy!  The chore which I thought it would be – not doing such and such, making certain that I attend the extra something else – become things to look forward to as I learn that each moment of these 40 days is time set aside to ‘see His face’ and, if we are to spend eternity in doing that I guess we had better practice gazing on the Beloved.

So, why not have another look at what you have promised for this Lent and decide to read the letters that are sent your way.  Be careful, some messages from God may come in the form of junk mail or spam in our inbox, and can be missed.  Take the time you need to fulfil the promises you have made.

After all Lent is not so much a devotion to be observed as the young bud of a flower turning towards the sunshine so that it may bloom in the Spring.

 

To Do:

I heard today that at the beginning of Lent a friend buys 40 ‘Thank You’ cards and then posts one a day to a different person.

Why not write at least one ‘Thank You’ card or letter of appreciation to someone who seems to be having a really tough time?

 

To Pray:

Almighty God,
We thank you for the gift of your holy word.
May it be a lantern to our feet,
a light to our path,
and a strength to our lives.
Take us and use us to love and serve all people
in the power of the Holy Spirit
and in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.                                                                                       from Pilgrim

 

Acknowledgements:

All of the music on the video clips from YouTube is © Amy Grant.  If you enjoy listening to her songs please consider buying her recordings.  A full discography and other information about Amy can be found on her website http://www.amygrant.com 
Scripture quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
Prayers from Pilgrim are copyright © 2015 Stephen Cottrell, Steven Croft, Robert Atwell and Paula Gooder.