Today we hear the prophet Isaiah tell us that when we walk in the way of the Lord, the way of self-giving love, and cry for God's help, the Beloved will answer, "Here I am." "Here I am, with you right here and right now, in your presence just as you are wherever you are, ready or not." Do you know, truly know deep inside, there is never a time or a place that God is not there with you? Are you aware this moment of the Holy Presence indwelling your very being and enfolding you in Love?

The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see and our ears to hear when we are ready to open our hearts to the Beloved, prepared to receive what God has prepared for us. God longs to hear our response to the Beloved's outstretched hand in invitation to our voice answering the Holy Presence, "Here I am." Do we have the courage today to reach out to that hand acknowledging, "Here I am," trusting in God's promise to "guide [us] continually, and satisfy [our] needs in parched places, and make [our] bones strong; and [we] shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail."

For me to muster a heartfelt "Here I am," it took letting go of my control over what I believed to be of utmost importance, an absolute surrender, to "let go and let God" as Alcoholics Anonymous puts it, but once I did, I found the promise was real. God's Presence does indeed well up in us day by day as a bubbling spring of water as Jesus promised the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn.4:7-15). What will it take for you to respond to God's invitation today?