Before our well-being, there was your graciousness, Reflection on Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9

"Then God spoke, 'I am the Lord your God....You shall have no other gods before me.'" begins the passage we call the Ten Commandments. In his book of prayers, Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, Walter Brueggememann helps us to articulate our recognition of who God is and who we are.

Look particularly at We are second and you are first that begins:

Before our well-being, there was your graciousness,
before our delight, there was your generosity,
before our joy, there was your good will.

Lectio Divina: Exodus 20:3