Psalm 39 - An Unfinished Labyrinth

(This was written on Wednesday night, but posted Thursday morning)…

So I didn’t get out to a labyrinth today. In fact, I think I moved less today than I have in a long time. I came down with something overnight last night and through the day today so most of my day was spent on the couch with Scout. The Psalm today had a section that spoke to this day for me. It is a section that speaks to an acknowledgment of the finiteness of our days. Here’s how Fischer interpreted it.

Tell me my end
the measure of my days
What it is -
I want to know
When I will cease to be
You have made me for a shape in time
that has an end, a final day
but to you it is nothing

In the Christian year, today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, where believers are marked with ashes on their foreheads as a remembrance of that finitieness of our lives. There are some who are able to live lives that, when they come to an end, are celebrated as having lived “full lives.” Adn there are others whose lives fall short of that and we speak of how much more life could have been. In recent days, I remembered with a family their son who died several years ago by suicide. I heard from a friend today whose birthday is shared with his father who died less than a year ago. I grieve Lisa’s loss this day. And there are countless others that I am sure we could all share.

The photo today is one from Tuesday when I tried to walk the labyrinth downtown (Scout was not cooperating). After we walked out, she was happy to trot along the sidewalk and we saw this. (I intensified the color to help with the contrast)

i don’t know if it was accidental or intentional but it reminded me of an unfinished labyrinth. There’s a spiral in there and even a bit of a heart-looking shape in the middle. On this Ash Wednesday and on a day many of us remember lives that ended too soon, I thought it was fitting.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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