Closer Than My Breath

Scripture  

Psalm 139:1–12 (NRSV)  

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;  

you discern my thoughts from far away.  

You search out my path and my lying down,  

and are acquainted with all my ways.  

Even before a word is on my tongue,  

O Lord, you know it completely.  

You hem me in, behind and before,  

and lay your hand upon me.  

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;  

it is so high that I cannot attain it.  

Where can I go from your spirit?  

Or where can I flee from your presence?  

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;  

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.  

If I take the wings of the morning  

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,  

even there your hand shall lead me,  

and your right hand shall hold me fast.  

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,  

and the light around me become night,”  

even the darkness is not dark to you;  

the night is as bright as the day,  

for darkness is as light to you.

Refrain  

You are closer than my breath, O God—  

I am never outside your presence.

Quote / Poem  

Mary Oliver, from Thirst

Hello, sun in my face.  

Hello, you who make the morning  

and spread it over the fields...  

Watch, now, how I start the day  

in happiness, in kindness.  

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