Sandy, your insight is inspiring. I thought I'd key off today's reading for an additional thought.

The reading is from Luke 6:17-23
At that time, Jesus stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven."

Isn't it interesting that at the time when we need Him most, Jesus stands "on a level place"? When we actually come to hear Him, and to be healed, there He is, "standing on a level place"---not balancing precariously, as our emotions are; not surrounded by brambles, as our prickly situations make us feel; not hidden from sight and difficult to find, as our fear and emotional isolation tempt us to think; not at the top of a mountain, unattainable except for extraordinary exertion. No, He is standing in a broad and open plain, on ground that is secure under our feet. His power comes forth from Him, and we are healed. We come with our insufficiency and need, and we are blessed. We come in our poverty, and our reward is great in heaven. All that is needed is that we come, with a heart that is eager to touch Him, and the emptiness is filled with the fullness of God.