Life is not linear. As much as we order our days, plan our future, sleep soundly at night, because it all lines up. It all works out. But it does not.

Time fools us, sometimes. That our 30-minute blocks will sufficiently fill us with purpose, with meaning, with a victory over the tasks imprinted into our gut. The string of things to be done. Yet, they are never finished.

Yesterdays should have taught us better. That tomorrow will be just as messy. Just as surprising. Just as empty. Just as unpredictable. As it always has been.

In these moments, no matter where you’ve found yourself, this is your return. But not in the sense that you have been lost. That you have been forgotten. This is your return to remember where you have always been.

Life is not linear. But there is constant. Time is deceiving, but you are not her creature. Yesterday and tomorrow have taught you enough. That you have an Advocate. A Stalker. A relentless older Brother who won’t leave you alone.

So you return. I return. Together. At different times, maybe. In various intensity, often. In memory and hope, that is always stinging in the edge of your brain. We’ve tried to forget in our wandering and wonderings, but He won’t forget you. We’ve pushed our boundaries to the edge of hell, and He’s already been there. We’ve slaughtered our own sacrifice to every shadowed deity. And He still died for the ungodly.

So it happens.

We return to prayer.

God gives us words to pray. Yet in his infinite wisdom, He knows we will forget. He knows we will run away. He knows the limits of our devotion and resolve. God gives us words to pray, and Christ says them out loud. Christ prays the prayers while strengthening our lips to move like his.

So even though our lives are a spiral, a whirlwind, a flatline, an endless circle of ticking minutes, Christ is still speaking. O Lord open my lips, and we return again to prayer. 

The Psalms treats our words, God’s words, Christ words, as if they are the same word. As they are. Our groaning and victories, His death and resurrection, the intersection of eternal death resolved by bountiful life is spoken here.

Right now on SUBSTACK, Return with us to study the Psalms, the prayers, the words, of both our heart and our Lord. And here, we will remember that Christ’s life is ours.