"a God who lingers"

It was just a descriptive phrase offered up in a morning prayer.

But, like so many other "break through moments" in my own understanding of authentic spirituality, it hit me somewhere deep and with power.

A "neon" moment in a typical church service.

The minister prayed, describing the object of her devotion as "a God who lingers."

What insight!

My faith and my experience line up on that one. The God I seek to know and experience is surely "a God who lingers."

Not a God who comes and goes. Nor one who grows weary and gives up. Certainly not a spiritual power or force who flits willy-nilly about my life or the lives of others.

"A God who lingers"--now there is a model for my life.

I have found that the secret to effectiveness in just about every dimension of life is almost always discovered in the staying.