Baby Step 18: Silence

Some days, no matter how bright the sun, or cheerful the breeze, I feel weighed down by a darkness within. There is no escape, no place of refuge, only a deep, hopeless chasm in which I cannot even rest. The pain seems more than I can bear. The joy stripped from within. Paralyzed, I cannot move. Blind, I cannot see. Deaf, I cannot hear. I find only the silence.

Domine Jesu Christe, you knew the darkness, the chaos before there was time. You breathed a Word, and there was light and calm. You move gently into my emptiness and lift me above the pain. In you, I live and move and have my being. You find me in the silence. You give voice to my grief. In the depths of despair, you breathe hope.

“But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

Baby Step 17 - Watch for the heroes

Psalm 56:3 Whenever I am afraid I will put my trust in thee.

Mister Rogers’ mother told him: "Whenever you see something bad is happening watch for the helpers."

On March 30, 2002, a firefighter searching for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, discovered a burnt Bible fused to a piece of steel. The barely legible top page is open to the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5, where Jesus speaks of “an eye for an eye” followed by “resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other."

http://www.history.com/topics/9-11-attacks/videos/remembering-911-the-ground-zero-bible

In your life make this your goal: focus on the donut and not the hole. 

God doesn't walk away. We often do in our helplessness and hopelessness not realizing famine will pass - feasting will follow.

Hope is embedded in our laments.

- Rev. Susan Landry