Is it not in

    Your going with us,

so that we are distinct,

I and Your people,

from every other people

    on the face of the earth?

            Exodus 33. 16

(Do others see

    any difference at all in us?

God's Presence,

    His abiding in our hearts,

changes everything

            in what we see,

            do,

            respond,

and how others see us.

How do I approach

       this difficulty,

       this impossible task,

       this hard relationship,

                   differently

   because I follow Christ?

Our relationship with Him

      alters our hearts,

      our choices,

      even our vocabulary,

not just on clear blue days

   but in the hard stuff,

especially in the hard stuff.)

O LORD,

You don't just go before us.

You walk with us,

aligning our hearts with Yours

    through everything

    we are experiencing.

Draw us nearer, Almighty One.

Your ways

             always reveal

a different kind of walking,

a new response,

a radically different outcome

  that is not even

               on our radar.

May we be distinctive today,

           known as Yours,

walking in Your name,

for Your Kingdom,

for Your glory.