I’m learning to fall in love with the Psalms. It seems as if I find myself in nearly every word of this beautiful text: in the praise and adoration that drips from each page (Your love is better than life!); in the honest moments of questioning (How long, O Lord, how long? Why have you forsaken me?); in the cries for justice and righteousness (Awake and rise to my defense! Vindicate me in your righteousness!). These ancient hymns run the full gamut of faith; expressions of humanity directed toward the Divine.

My favorite Psalm is usually the one I read last, but for now, I’m smitten with Psalm 27. David begins by exalting the Lord as both his light and his salvation. “Whom shall I fear?” he announces — if God is for us, who can be against us? David is supremely confident that His Lord and God is greater than any other. And in verse 4, he pens some truly inspired words:

One thing I ask of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.

These words could very well be my personal mission statement. What more should I desire than to be in the presence of God? I already long for that day when my faith becomes sight, when I close my eyes in this world to open them in the house of the Lord, to gaze upon the face of the one I’ve read about, spoke about, thought about, prayed to, cried to…what a moment of pure beauty when we can look upon Him as He truly is. This is worship: to see the Lord and to respond to Him. But such a promise is not limited to the afterlife. David knows full well the richness of life that comes from dwelling in the Lord’s house in the present. Truly there is no more beautiful life than a God-filled one. Lord, may we be continually enriched by your sweet abiding presence. Grant us this grace: that we might dwell in your house all the days of our lives.