God's Ancient Dream

At evening prayer on Saturday night, a line from Psalm 81 caught my attention: “Because of your cold hearts, you left me out of your plans.” Leaving God out of our plans doesn’t seem like a very good idea, because then we shut ourselves off from the possibility that God’s plans can improve on our own. Indeed, in the psalm, God goes on to say, “My people, if you would only listen! Israel, walk in my ways!”

I have always liked the following prayer from Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim by Edward Hays: “May we unfold according to your ancient dream.” We tend to become so wrapped up in our own dreams and desires that we forget that God has a dream for us beyond our own imaginings—a dream of participation in God’s life of love, wholeness, and creativity.

Indeed, in Psalm 81, God goes on to say that when we listen and walk in God’s ways, “Then I will strike at your enemy, and put them all to flight…. But you, O Israel, will feast on finest wheat, will savor pure wild honey.” This Advent, we are reminded to fire up our cold hearts and be alert to the unfolding of God’s ancient dream, whether it be an infant lying in a manger or a new, unimagined incarnation in our own lives.