I'm thinking about the paradox of living in two worlds - one of spiritual reality and the other of material reality. Knowing that Jesus is Lord, that He lives in me, that He rules and reigns, that the Kingdom of God is a present reality, and knowing that I still have to go to work every day and spend the majority of my waking hours worrying about bits and bytes, brings home the dichotomy of this Christian life.

How I'd like to be off somewhere in a monastery or some secluded spot in the woods engaged with my Beloved. Instead, I'm sitting here in my cubicle with a "to-do" list that's getting longer by the hour and a "done" list that's getting shorter.

But I have found that Jesus is present with me here in my cubicle, and that He is able to help and to cheer and to guide. I'm not free from the realities of life but I'm free in Him from the pressure, from the "terror that flieth by noonday," from worry and fear, from "what-if's" and "if only's," from office politics and the uncertainties of working for a company that's shutting down.

If Jesus isn't Lord in my cubicle then He's not Lord anywhere. If He doesn't know the answers to my problems then He couldn't create a universe. But He is here, He does know, and I'm asking for grace to continually turn my heart to Him, to focus my gaze on His wonderful face, and to open my ears to the sound of His voice. "The voice of my Beloved, lo, He comes."