Signposts: Daily Devotions

Written by Renée Miller

Saturday, April 12

Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
—Matthew 24:42

We never know when goodness is about to slide across the stage of our life. We never know when the splendor of heaven will suddenly be revealed like a thick drape being pulled away from the clearest window. We never know when we will be catapulted out of our normal, usual, ordinary lives by what we could never have dared to believe. We never know when holiness will slip in unseen to touch us with grace. We never know when, through the densest fog, the Holy One will come to us on wings of fire.

The reason to stay awake through life is not merely for the purpose of tasting the daily-ness of life. If we are wakeful, we are perched and poised for the revelation of God that might come at any moment, in any form, in any intensity. Recognizing that we are in the presence of the Holy One is an event we do not want to miss, because there is nothing else in all of life that can leave us feeling more full, more complete, more whole.

The Holy One is always being revealed in our lives—in the whirlwind of wonder and in the subtlety of silence. It is a shame when we insist on sleeping right through it. Why should we be puzzled that our lives feel as uneven as rocky ground, when we need only understand that the wonder of balance and equanimity waits for us every time we meet God?

O God, give me a spirit of watchfulness so that when we meet, I know we are meeting.

The Signposts for April are written by Renée Miller and originally appeared on explorefaith.org in May 2004.