awake

"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." Matthew 24:42

Stay awake, I think, means to be alert to God's presence and walk with him rather than dozing off into living life as if there were no God at all.

To not be awake would be like the man in the story Jesus told who spent his life growing abundant crops and then building bigger barns so he could eat, drink and be merry. He was building up his treasures here on earth and living as if there was nothing else - he was asleep to God's presence in his life and failed to recognize what is truly important. He didn't know that the Lord was coming for him that night.

Or it's like David Niven in The Bishop's Wife who thought he was supposed to build a bigger cathedral - thought he was doing what God wanted him to do. But in the process he was sleeping through the very things that were the most important; his wife and family and friends. It took an angel to wake him up to the fact that God cares more about his relationships than he does about cathedrals. Much, much more!

Lord, help me today to wake up and to be alert to your presence moment by moment. Fill me with your spiritual caffeine. Help me to recognize you in everything I do and to remember what is really important - my relationship with you and with those you love. I want to give my life for you every moment of every day, in everything I do, and in doing so to give my life to those I love...and those I ought to love. I want to be constantly and intimately aware of you and your inexplicable, overwhelming love for me and to allow that love to overflow and to consume my entire life. I want to worship you with everything I do, every thought I have, every breath I take. I am yours. Help me to wake up. I love you, Lord.