God...is near.
How good is your eyesight? Is it twenty-twenty, or do you have to wear glasses?If you are wearing them now, take them off. Can you still read this? Whether you need glasses or not, borrow someone else’s. How do things look? Can you read? Can you walk straight?
If you can, borrow more than one pair of glasses to look through. How do they differ? Can you find two pairs the same? What does this tell you about the owners?
Read Matthew 6:22-23.
How good is your inner eyesight? How do you see the world? Do you look for good or evil?
Do you see black and white, shades of gray, or sixteen million colors? Think about where your soul gets its "glasses." Are they from God? If not where are they from? you friends? yourself? the world? Do they color what’s inside you?
Are there things that distort your vision? Ask God for healing or for help to leave those things behind. Are there things in your life that help you see true? Thank God for them, and wear those "glasses" as much as you can.
Pray.

God...is near.
Go and pick up your mail.
Before you open it, look at the different sizes, shapes, colors.
Which is the largest item? the smallest? Which looks most appealing? least appealing? Which envelopes tell you about their contents? Which give no clue?
Do you recognize anything? If so, are you pleased to see it or not? Why?
Now start opening. How do you decide what to open first? How easy are the envelopes to open? How different are the contents from the appearance of the envelope? Is it what you expected or are you surprised? Is the surprise good or bad?
Was there anything missing? mail you have been waiting for that didn't arrive? How long have you waited, and why? If it came today, how did you feel?
Read 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.
What kind of letter from God are you?
Are you a love letter or a demand for payment?
Does your envelope give a clue to the contents?
How easy is it to open? Who could be waiting for the message? Is there anything you need to do?
What about other people? Are they letters from God too?
How can you tell?
Has anyone been a letter from God to you? What kind of letter? Were you surprised? How ready are you to receive? How ready are you to give?
Pray.

God...is near.
Find an alarm clock, and set it to ring or buzz in the next five to ten minutes. Now lay down and wait for the alarm to go off. While you’re resting, think about what alarms remind you to do:
Wake up.
Get up.
Get out.
Start something.
Finish something.
Be somewhere.
Alarms remind us to do important things. When was the last time an alarm went off for you?
What did you do?
Did you shut off the alarm and go back to sleep, or did you do what the alarm reminded you to do?
Read Luke 17:11-19.
Only one out of ten remembered to thank Jesus. One out of ten... Are you like that one? Do you need a reminder to thank God?
For life...for friends...for family...for joys...for challenges...for his awesome love and amazing grace.
What are you truly thankful for today?
Before the alarm goes off, think of ten things that you are thankful for - tell God thanks.
What are some things in your life that can be "alarms" for you - to remind you to thank God?
Do you need reminders?
They’re all around you.
When the alarm sounds, turn it off...close your eyes...spend some time with God.
Pray.

God...is near.

Go to the highest place you can - to the roof of your house (this is best if you can do it safely), climb a tree, walk up a hill, sit high on a chair, stand on a strong table or desk. Take a few minutes to look around.

Take all of it in, a bird’s-eye view.

If you were a bird, how would your home look? your car? the people below?

How would you see things differently than you do?

Compare what you see from up high to how you normally see things on level ground.

God can see everything - the widest, most complete view...He sees it all...all at once...

Nothing escapes his warm smile...his loving gaze...his watchful care.

How does God see your life differently than how you see it?

What do you think he sees in your life right now that most brings him joy?

Dwell on all that comes to mind for several minutes...

How do you think God sees you differently than you even see yourself? (Think of his limitless love for you...how much he delights in you.)

Read Psalm 17:1-8 aloud.

You are the apple of God’s eye.

Pray.

God...is near.
Go to a place in your room you haven’t cleaned up for a while. Could be a closet, under the bed... the whole room! Take everything out, and sort it into some kind of order - things of the same kind, things that aren’t the same but go together, things to throw away, things you’re not sure about.
Read Luke 15:8-10.
Have you found anything you loved but thought you’d lost? How long was it missing? Did you ever notice it was missing and search for it?
As you put the things that are important in safe places, think about God. Do you ever lose touch with him? How hard do you search? Are you delighted when you find him?
Look at the stuff that hid the things you value. What are the things in your life that hide God? What buries the kingdom and makes you forget? Some of those things you can keep, but they will need to be put where they aren’t in the way of what really matters.
Maybe some stuff has to go. Some of those decisions are easy, some hard. When you’ve finished cleaning up, ask God what needs cleaning up inside you. God may see value in things you thought were worthless, or he may want you to get rid of something you wanted to hoard.
Pray.

God...is near.
Stand outside your home holding a stiff piece of paper or cardboard. Place a compass on it. Let the needle stabilize, then draw an arrow pointing in the same direction. If you can’t find a compass, you can use the sun by holding the pen upright on the page to make a shadow. 
Read Psalm 25:4-10.
Go for a walk. Every time you take a turn, hold the paper the same way and draw an arrow pointing in the direction of the compass needle or shadow of the sun. For a moment, turn to face in the direction the needle is pointing. How does it relate to the way you’re heading now? Are the directions ever the same?
The path of following God is as consistent as the compass needle. It always goes the same way, whatever direction that might look like in comparison to our lives.
How often have you been heading in the direction that God points?
Are you heading that way now? If not, why? Talk to God about it, and ask him to teach you his paths.
When you get home, look at the arrows you’ve drawn. Do any of them point the same way?
Who changed direction: you or the compass needle?
Do you find God’s path easy to walk in ? Is it easy to find? If you feel you have lost direction, ask God to guide you.
Pray.

God...is near.
If you can, run a sprinkler outside. Stand under it and run through it. If you can't set up a sprinkler, simply go take a shower, but run the water a little cool ( to get the "sprinkler in the yard" effect). Enjoy the water for a while. Let if flow and fall all over you.
What is your favorite childhood memory of water or playing in a sprinkler? swimming??In what ways do you still feel like a child?
Do you laugh easily? play and goof around? Is everything serious, or do you still cut loose? When were you silly most recently? Think of the last time your curiosity overcame you... Do you wonder about things? experience awe? think new ideas? wish for simple, happy endings?
Read Luke 18:15-17.
You are God's precious child, deeply loved and uniquely created by him - inside and out. In certain ways he designed you to grow and in other ways to stay forever young.
How does he want you to grow?
How does he want you to stay forever young?
How would your life be different if you were more childlike?
Pray.

God...is near.
Find a pebble, small enough to close your hand around. Put it in your pocket and turn it in your hand. Explore its surface with your fingers. What shape is it? Is it rough or smooth? Or both in different places?
Read Psalm 139:1-5, 23-24.
Like the pebble, you are unique. God holds you in the warmth of his hand, turning you gently, searching your surface for flaws and rough places. Where do you think those flaws might be? Ask God to show you and to help you offer them to him. Where are the smooth places, the parts that are pleasing to God's touch? Ask God to show you and to help you offer them to him.
Still ponds don't make pebbles - it takes moving water, like a river of the sea. The water takes the rock on a journey and wears it smooth by rubbing it against other rocks. How far have you traveled in the water of the Spirit? Think about the people and situations God has used to smooth your sharp edges, and give thanks for them.
How willing are you to be made a different shape? Sometimes we fear that God will make us all into the same shape. Take the pebble out of your pocket and look at it. No two are the same.
Pray.