A Nature to Nurture

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, December 31st, 2023:
The Feast of the Holy Family

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Psalm 105

R. The Lord is our God, mindful of his covenant forever.

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works.

R. The Lord is our God, mindful of his covenant forever.

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. 

R. The Lord is our God, mindful of his covenant forever.

Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

R. The Lord is our God, mindful of his covenant forever.

He is mindful of his covenant forever, of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
The covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac.

R. The Lord is our God, mindful of his covenant forever.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

As I write, a lightly scented candle burns before me and the first snowfall of the year tucks in the Christmas lights we strung outside last night. My dog is curled up on a blanket, and my children sleep soundly in their beds. My surroundings whisper the calm of peace, but my interior squirms and shifts. 

The Psalm for the last day of 2023 calls me to “Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered.” It seems my body is aware in this moment, that to remember the miracles He has performed in this last year, is to also call to mind the struggles I endured that required His rescue. And so, I sit in this tension, and let the emotion come. 

Our God has spent this year teaching me this gentle way throughout all the difficult moments that came before me. And now, when I notice this interior unrest, I need not run, or distract myself from it because I have learned who He is—He who is in this with me. For years, I have known His name, I have heard His promises, but I have not believed in His nature. 

God is not only true to the tangible promises He has offered to Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac—He is true to the nature of His very existence. He is Love: the kind of love which is described in 1Corinthians 13:4-8: patient, kind, persevering, protective, trustworthy. This is not always how I have experienced love in this world, or what others have described as love, but this is who He is. His nature is gentle and He cannot but remain true to it. He is the God whose nature is to nurture.

So to understand His nature in the context of my struggles as I look over the past year is to trust in His essence—breathe Him in and notice Him softening all the hard places in me. As I do this, the hard becomes beautiful, because in seeing the truth of who He is, I also notice Him noticing me. Here comes the truly healing bit, because, “It is one thing to be able to see; it is an entirely different thing to be seen” (Jackie Hill-Perry). To learn about the truth of the nature of God—Yahweh—is to believe what He has promised is also true. He has promised to come to me, in the person of Jesus who lived on this same Earth, and in the person of the Holy Spirit, who lives in my same body.

​And sees me.

So today, I rest in the gift of this uncommon quiet, given to me at the end of a noise-filled year, and I call on His name: Jesus, my Lord, Holy Spirit, Creator, Comforter, Holy Redeemer, God of Love, Consolation of Israel, Seer of All, Protector of my heart, Prince of Peace, Bread of Life, Deliverer, Chief Shepherd, Counsellor, Healer, Gentle One, Faithful One, Yahweh.




Lori MacDonald

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