I miss the awe of watching the changing eastern sky in the early morning when morning whispers and night tiptoes into obscurity. For many months now, when I wake shortly after 4 a.m., I’ve chosen to spend the first silent hours under a Sherpa blanket in the den, with a basket of supplies (Bible, notebook,
Tag: faith
Inconsolable Longing. Joy.
Joy is distinct not only from pleasure in general but even from aesthetic pleasure. It must have the stab, the pang the inconsolable longing. C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy For days I chew on the concept of joy and, as often happens when something tumbles around in my mind, I see it everywhere. Not that
Still Waiting
One week from today, in seven short days, we’ll wake on Christmas morning and the waiting will be over. Nope. We’ll continue to wait because that’s how we’re built. There remains on the distant horizon a treasure of something we anticipate touching one day. Waiting is part of life. We might as well get comfortable
The Middle Place
I feel myself to be in a middle place, a place of waiting. It’s uncomfortable, like there’s the tiniest pebble in the bottom of my shoe and I can’t quite shake it out. There is both restlessness and stirring. We are, of course, in the season of advent in which we wait and prepare our
Be Still and Know
Today is the last Sunday in Ordinary Time. I’ve felt a tug toward Advent for weeks and yet there is wisdom in remaining in this season we call ordinary. This morning I read familiar words in the psalms: Be still and know. We quiet ourselves and rest in assurance. We remember seasons in which we
Night Presence
Night is heavy. Somehow my body knows it’s too early, in the same way it knows I’m not going to fall easily back to sleep. My mind meanders and, as much as I’d prefer not to think about that thing, it lingers there. A tear forms. I cover it in prayer and lift those others
Wrestling
I read about a man of questionable character who wrestles with God. There’s trouble behind, and trouble ahead, and Jacob is caught in one of those back-against-the-wall places where there’s nowhere left to turn. He spends a long, dark, and sleepless night at the end of himself. Dawn breaks on a day he’s been dreading, and