For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you. (Psalm 71:5-6 nrsv)

In this portion of Psalm 71, a Psalm of lament where an elder Psalmist looks back on his life, we hear the proclamation that God is our hope and trust. God is responsible for all of life including our own. The response of the Psalmist is one of continual praise. Sometimes this is easier said than done. In times of impatience it is hard (impossible?) to praise.

I need to confess that there are times when I am impatient; waiting in line for tea at the local coffee shop, listening for someone to get to the point in a long story, wanting to do work in disaster response but needing to wait until infrastructure is in place. When I am impatient, then I’m anxious, unhappy at being dependent on other people, and more focused on what I want than the reality of human need in my surroundings.

Yet, the gift of the Psalms is that this Word of God brings us into communal song and prayer with all of the people who were before us and who will come after us. We are privileged and able to pray (by God’s grace) that in God (not in fast action) is our hope and that in God (not in our own skills) is our trust.

O Lord, let our impatience
be turned by you into praise. Amen.

Contributed by Pastor Becky
Monday February 11, 2013
Liturgical Year C: Week 11
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading:
Transfiguration of Our Lord