Before breakfast
I play and read with Susie.
Mostly it’s dinosaurs and construction sites,
friendly manatees and moody fairies.
When we get to the Bible Stories,
she only wants lions and whales.
“GO TO NINEVEH,” I command.
NO! STARFISH!” says Susie.
“Tarshish?”
“Yet [Yes]. Starfish.”
“GO TO NINEVEH,” I repeat.
“O-kay, O-kay,” she blithely complies.

Dear God,
Thank you for lions and whales
and for Nineveh.
I want to go to Nineveh too!
Yet I am so often
deaf to your directions,
straining to hear
your whispers in my pleasure.
Will you teach me the way?
Will it hurt to hear?
Grant me courage to bear it
so I may go and pay forward
the blessings of obedience.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. – Psalm 25:4-5

image: http://www.amandahall-illustration.com/work/the-hard-to-swallow-tale-of-jonah-and-the-whale/