Praying with the Psalms

Cindy's Paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm ...

O God you are the tender of my soul, 
I have everything I truly need.

You walk with me and 
invite me to lay down in the green green grass

You walk with me beside the cool calm streams of living water

You refresh me as I breathe all the way to my toes …

You walk with me 
even as the darkness stalks me in the depths of despair

And yet I have no fear with you by my side

Your Being envelopes my being 
and I am wrapped in your peace

You sustain me with a feast as those 
who do not see my value look upon our togetherness

You pour healing oil upon the wounds of my soul and 
the hands that serve others with your love

I am so filled with love that it flows out into the world

O my God, all of your blessings are mine as we walk together

I am eternally bound with you and will dwell in Your Presence, 
always and forever.  Amen.

Sometimes when we are very familiar with a piece of writing, like certain passages of Scripture, we read or recite them without really thinking about the words and what they mean for our lives today.  We know we love it but we no longer remember why.  One of the ways we can get past this tendency to familiarity is to write a paraphrase using words that mean something to us as we understand them in the text.  It can help us to wade deeper into the living water.