I long for You, O Lord

---

Today’s reflection is less about the cities that we visited and more about a personal reflection on the opening verses of Psalm 63, which we read together for Morning Prayer. I have heard this psalm countless times, but these lines leapt off the page today,

O God, you are my God—
it is you I seek!
For you my body yearns;
for you my soul thirsts,
In a land parched, lifeless,
and without water.



The day before I was treated at a medical clinic for the effects of dehydration (I’m fully recovered, no worries) and thus I have a new awareness of the intense yearning for God being expressed by the psalmist. My own body was longing for water and nutrients with an intensity that helped me appreciate the yearning for God that this psalmist is attempting to convey.



Sometimes when we long for God the most, He seems to be furthest away. Yet, our faith and our lived experience remind us that, indeed these are the times that She holds us the closest.

---

Photos

Marble Floor (Temple in Pyrgamon)
As my shadow fell upon this floor, I thought of the countless shadows of women and men from previous centuries that fell upon this same spot.

Temple to Zeus
In this Temple stood a statue to Zeus that John of Patmos refers to as a "statue of satan" in his address to the community of Pyrgamon in the Book of Revelation.

Can you guess where we are now?
This is a replica of the Trojan horse used by the Greeks to enter into the fortified city of Troy that lead to the end of 10 year battle between the Greeks and Trojans.

3rd Millenia Wall in Troy
Troy was settled and resettled nine times between 3000 BC and 500 AD...