Morning prayer · 10 September

You called after me

A homing pigeon circles far above a rooftop while a hand on the ground below has been patiently scattering seed and calling all along, the bird finally turning to come down.

I call on you, my God, my mercy. You made me, and you didn’t forget me when I forgot you. I call you into my soul, which you’re getting ready for yourself by the longing you’ve put in it. Don’t leave me now that I’m calling on you. You came to me before I ever called, and you kept calling me in so many ways, again and again, so that I would hear you from far away, and turn around, and call on you, the one who was calling after me. Amen.

We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:19 (BSB)

Adapted from St Augustine, Confessions (tr. E. B. Pusey, 1838), in plain words. The verse is from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Drawing: Mutter.