the end of our little journey through psalm 23

You drench my head with oil; my cup overflows the brim.

Surely goodness and kindness will accompany me all the days of my life

and I will dwell in the house of the Holy for the length of my days.

Three final lines of this beautiful Psalm,

one expressing abundance,

one accompaniment,

and one the sense of being at home.

Let's look at the first of the three:

To place oil on one's head, during the time of the Psalmist,

is a sign, a symbol of God's anointing, God's favor, God's presence and power.

King David says that God "drenches his head with oil."

This to me is a picture of abundance.

To add to this, David adds the image of having his cup overflow ...

Isn't that beautiful?

God is a God of much-ness. 

He is not stingy with his presence, his power, his favor.

He is a God who drenches with blessing.

A God who pours his goodness into the cup of our lives until it "overflows the brim."

Watch for this in your life today - where is your cup overflowing the brim?

Second line:

David is confident, even though he is walking through the valley, overshadowed by death,

that God's goodness and kindness have not left him.

These two things accompany him every single day he lives.

I picture my mom accompanying my son when he played his violin in his grade school talent show. Her strong, steady hands on the piano while he fiddled away on his pint-sized violin, her eyes never leaving his presence. When he slowed down, so did she. When he sped up, she did, too. When he got lost or confused, she led the way.

God's kindness and goodness accompany us through all the days of our life - the slow days, the days we trip over the notes, the days we speed through.

These two essential things - kindness and goodness - never leave us.

Watch for these two things in your life today. Where do you see kindness? Where do you experience goodness?

And the final line:

We can be "at home" with God for the length of our days.

All of creation is the house of God.

David is not talking about a church or a temple or a synagogue or some kind of set-apart location.

He is saying, no matter where we go, no matter where life plunks us, we can be "at home" with God.

And maybe, in the end, this is enough.

Acknowledge today that no matter where you are, you can be at home with God.