Psalm 130:5-6 NLT 
'I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.'
During the coronavirus lockdown, for many of us, life changed radically. Living with our families, or alone, the rhythms that measured our day were gone, as we no longer had to travel to work. We now had to build a new daily routine. Positively, this offered many people a grace gift of freedom.  
God was as present in the stillness that fell across our cities and neighbourhoods as when they had been filled with the sounds of commuters and shoppers. In the Oratory we re-evaluated everything we were doing. Jayne was working from home. So we rejuvenated out rhythms of prayer. We considered how we related to God in the anxieties that surfaced within us. We took the opportunity to engage more frequently and intentionally with God. 
One family spoke powerfully of how they discovered something they had always longed for now became possible. At home together, they were able to establish morning family prayer. As parents, they were able to become invested in their children’s school work and experience. They took the freedom within the constraint and used it to begin building the life they desired in God.  
Freedom to choose ‘fullness’ for our heart and to be close to God is always ours to make. The challenge is that freedom is always with us, as is God’s presence. In the future can we, and will we, use our freedom to build the life we want, or simply surrender to the rhythms imposed through a life determined by external pressures? 
QUESTION: Have you been able to benefit in some way from the lockdown?  
PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, that you can bless us in every single circumstance.  

Released on 24 Sep 2020