Scripture: Genesis 21:17 (NRSV)

And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is."

Reflection:

"I share with you the agony of your grief,
The anguish of your heart finds echo in my own.
I know I cannot enter all you feel
Nor bear with you the burden of your pain;
I can but offer what my love does give:
The strength of caring,
The warmth of one who seeks to understand
The silent storm-swept barrenness of so great a loss.
This I do in quiet ways,
That on your lonely path
You may not walk alone."
-HOWARD THURMAN, Meditations of the Heart

Sometimes, the situation is just a mess! The circumstance is out of control. The issue has become a mountain when it started out as a mole hill. "Houston, we have a problem!" What could go wrong went way, way, way wrong! For sure, life happens. And in the living of life, there are times when it, the thing, just can't be fixed.

This is the place where we find our hero, Hagar. She has become the problem along with her son, Ishmael. What was a comfortable and safe place to live and thrive had transitioned to a hostile, unwelcoming habitat. She and her son had to leave.

And now, at her wits end, she cries out in exhaustion, surrendering to a certain end of life as she had known it. She and her child were going to die. It is at this point when she hears from heaven!

"Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace." -Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart

There are times when life goes south. When Marvin Gaye is correct in his lyric from Inner City Blues, "?.make me wanna holla and throw up both my hands!!!" But then the voice comes, the reminder is delivered, the "lurking," as Howard Thurman put it, is at hand, obvious...plain and clear. "Don't be afraid, God has heard?."

God does see?.God does hear?God will provide!

Prayer:

Thank you God for your reminders, your messages of your care and provision for us that come right in the nick of time! Amen.