the gap

Yesterday was a rough day. We've been pushing so hard for so long. To meet my thesis deadline will mean using every minute. (Um... that would be the revised deadline, since the first one has come and gone.)  But all three kids are home sick for the third day in a row, my library time has been very distracted, and I've simply come to the end of myself.

Once again the little devotional I'm using (Dare to Journey wtih Henri Nowen by Charles Ringma) knew just what I needed to hear. Yesterday's reflection talked about the gap between "what we hope for" and "what we acheive." Right. My gap is growing daily.  Here's what Ringma had to say about it:

"The gap reminds us that we alone cannot achieve our own dreams. [No kidding!] We need the miracle of God's participation.  We need the gift of patience.  We need the grace of perseverance.  We need to work hard to make things happen, but more urgently, we need God's guidance, sustenance, and help.  Thus our experience of the gap can drive us to prayer and humility as well as to persistence and faithfulness."

I've experienced the "miracle of God's participation" time and time again on this journey.  And, as the old song says, "He hasn't brought us this far to leave us..." So I'm praying that my heart - and yours -  would rest in that today.