This morning I arose early with a feeling of excitement.  Not quite the excitement as when I was little and I knew something special was going to happen that day, e.g. Christmas or traveling on vacation, but still that rumble of expectation in one's belly.

Today is the posting of my meditation "The Path of Mercy" online and the opportunity to see and respond to comments from the Upper Room readers.   I was surprised to see that there were comments at such an early time of morning but then I remembered that this is a world wide publication and the day starts earlier for different parts of the world!

What really struck me was how similar our needs and thoughts are.  I felt such a connectedness. Here are people around the world, living in homes different from mine, speaking different languages, eating different foods, looking different from me and yet we share the same love of God.  We all are striving to be better Christ followers and many of our concerns are the same. 

It makes me feel humble and proud at the same time,  

Humble that the things that concern me and weigh on my heart are not nearly as heavy as what some people bear. My heart goes out to each one as I think about their situations.

Pride in that I am part of this great big beautiful world.  How did we, mere humans, get to be so privileged that we can have a relationship with the Creator of this world and be entrusted to be its stewardship?  Why are we so fortunate that we can have the choice if we want to serve God or not? God doesn't push us, coerce us or force us.  He invites us.  How amazing that we can join God by just responding to an invitation. In my smallness I recognize that I am part of the bigger picture.

How wonderful to know that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are seeing the same moon that I saw this morning.  

How cool is that?   

What about you?  Do you ever think about your place in this world?  Do you feel connected to others?  To God?