Speak Tenderly in Prayer

Saint Augustine wrote: “To fall in love with God is the greatest romance. To seek God is the greatest adventure, and to find God is the greatest human achievement.”

I suspect most of us don’t think of God in tender terms, seeing Him as the ultimate version of romance, the greatest opportunity for adventure, and the fulfillment of all human achievement. After all, we don’t think at such lofty levels. We’re earthlings and we’re not always sure we want to embrace a supernatural being. Even if we’re glad God is somewhere near, we don’t want things to be too intimate. We don’t want to imagine that God knows everything about us. That would surely make us blush.

God has always known we couldn’t handle having Him be too close. Even when He met with Moses, He shielded Moses with His hand as He walked by. His power is simply too much for our finite selves. Yet, He does romance us. He answers our heartfelt prayers, comforts our washed-out spirits, and soothes the wounds the world inflicts upon us. He sees those things that vex our spirits and cause us to behave in ways that only make us uncomfortable to think about. The thing with romantics though is that they don’t give up. They keep finding little ways to bring unexpected gifts to lighten the load. They keep showing up when we are no longer sure they will. 

When we pray to the One who sees us heart-first, loves us unconditionally, and opens doors for us to discover more of His great love, we can hardly believe it. We surrender our heartaches and our mistakes and our reluctant spirits into His divine hands. We do it because we know we can trust Him to continue with us through all things. Sure, we have moments when we question His love. We don’t always understand or recognize divine romance. We are not always willing to see God’s hand at work in our lives, but a romantic never quits, and so God keeps wooing us.

Talk to the One who knows your heart better than even you do and reach out to Him in assurance that He will hold you up and bless you in every way possible. Does it mean you’ll never have setbacks or hard times in this life? What kind of adventure story would you have to tell if everything simply happened as you supposed it should? No, God speaks tenderly to you, offering you hope and possibility with your every breath, because His love is for now and for always. 

Don’t look out at the world to try to find hope. Don’t look inside yourself to try to find unconditional love. Look to the great Romantic and speak to Him tenderly in prayer.