Thursday, November 20, 2025
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
 Give thanks
In the prime of her life, Emily Dickinson wrote a poem.
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Are you – Nobody – too?
Then there’s a pair of us!
Don’t tell! They’d advertise – you know!
Emily D did not need to be famous. Her marvelous poems were published in 1890, four years after she died at age 56. But she did seek a companion – surely she did – a “nobody” like her to share her thoughts with, share her poems, her hopes and dreams. Who does not seek such a companion, even if such a companion is often hard to find? Wait and see what happens next. Watch and listen. Take a chance and look into someone’s eyes.
As Jesus approached Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace, but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will smash you to the ground and your children within you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
At church I have met a few men who return the eye-to-eye contact that I appreciate so much. Our greetings are heartfelt, even if we don’t see each other during the week. Armando, Mike and Dave – Shannon, John, Charlie and George – these are men I could easily spend hours with. No hurry, willing to wait on each other.
All of us are nobodies.
The Lord spoke and summoned the earth, from the rising of the sun to its setting. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.
Traveling through Arkansas to Arkadelphia, I felt the sun pouring through the car’s window, full on my face. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Over the course of Wednesday night the earth revolved, and in the morning the sun rose on the just and the unjust. Again. Famous, infamous, and much less than famous, we rubbed our eyes and threw water on our faces. Like our brothers and sisters around the world, we will once again return to our lives. Who are we? Why are we here?
We are nobodies.
God’s patience with us unnerves me sometimes. He is willing to watch over us and accompany us without interfering, knowing always that his plan for us will be accomplished. He never needs to be reminded. Time is never God’s enemy. He created it, right?
Many who sought to live according to righteousness and religious custom went out into the desert to settle there.
My hope today is to open my eyes so God can look within me, know my anxious thoughts, see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
 (1 Maccabees 2, Psalm 50, Psalm 95, Luke 19)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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