After a weekend away for Mother’s Day, I find myself longing for extended time with Jesus. When I fall out of my devotional habits of prayer, silence, journaling, Bible reading, and worship, I discover I’m so filled up inside with worry, confusion, and scattered thinking. I’m also filled with the good things of anticipation for new projects, friendships, or opportunities. Besides all this, the prayer concerns have accumulated to the point of overflowing. I think of my children, my extended family, hurting friends, our government. The list goes on. I just have so much going on inside my heart.
So it feels like a day of pouring it all before the Lord. The good, the bad, the ugly, the happy, the hopeful. All of it. How does one pour out the heart? I think of it just like you might picture. I tip towards the Lord; I let all my thoughts gush out to Him both through my mouth and through my pen in my journal. I tell Him everything. It might take an hour. It might take two.
This isn’t a strange feeling I’m having; the Biblical writers felt the same way. In fact, consider Psalm 62:8: Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
It’s as if I’ve been away from my best friend for too long. There’s lots to share. There’s lots to pour out. And this isn’t one-sided. As I read and pray, I listen to God who does His own form of pouring out. I smile when I read Romans 5:5: “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
So I pour out my heart today. I pour out my love, and God pours out His to me.
Psalm 62:8: Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.