Today’s scripture: Isaiah 40:9-11 (NRSV) (The Message)

As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.

My thoughts (Tammy Mills):

Our image of God has power in our lives.

How we see God impacts how we live and how we grow in relation to God.

Growing up, I imaged God as a big Bully. From what I heard and saw I pictured God as an old man just waiting for me to mess up so “He” could “get” me — punish me, smack me back in line.

As I grew up I intellectually began to acknowledge that God wasn’t a bully. I was even able to stand up and preach about a loving and forgiving God, but internally, my image of God as “Bully” was still there and still had a huge impact on how I grew my soul. Who wants to grow closer to a bully!

I could tell others about God’s grace and love, but those were just words — in my heart I carried around my image of “Bully God”. It’s an image I really should have outgrown, but it continued to remain a powerful influence in my life, way too long, into adulthood!

The reading from Isaiah is a real reminder to me that there are many images of God. The first image of God you see is a powerful ruler. The second image you see is of God as a gentle shepherd. Today, I am going to try to picture God as both and remind my spirit that God is like both of these — and like so many other images we see in scripture.

Thought for the day: What are your childhood images of God? Are you still carrying them around? Are they helping you, or hurting you spiritually?

Today, let’s join together in prayer for: Those who are dealing with “transitions” in their lives — loss of a job, loss of a relationship, death or displacement of a dear one.

We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. Use the item above as a starting point, or consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.