Psalm 43 - Light and Truth

A few days ago, MaryAnn McKibben Dana posted about her “big three” that help her practice hope in her life. She wrote about this in her book and then shared a few days ago about how those three met her last Sunday morning. About a week ago she also asked about which of those three people felt was most urgently needed. I replied that of them - beauty, relationships, and action - that beauty is the one that is most needed for me.

That rose back up for me when I read Psalm 43 last night and again this morning. It starts off in a lament but then the tone shifts quickly as the writer asks God to...

send out your light and your truth;
let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
and to your dwelling.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy;
and I will praise you with the harp,
O God, my God.

And then it concludes with a self-question about despairing and a self-challenge to hope and trust and praise of God.

What I heard speaking to me in this was what is that which helps me to see God’s light and God’s truth. What is there that leads me? How can I come to the “altar of God, in joy, and with praise”? For me that is so vital right now as I also saw this morning news of an escalating and unprovoked trade war with our Canadian friends, more executive actions specifically targeting transgender individuals and support organizations, and so much else. So, with all that swirling, I centered on those middle verses of this Psalm, asking for that light and that truth. What came to me at about 4:40 this morning was to be intentional about what is beautiful to me just in the first few hours of my day. So I started making a list and kept the list up until about 9am. Here’s the beauty that I experienced. Some have photos and sound, some not.

• Hearing the gentle breathing of my wife when I woke up

• Hearing Scout’s not so gentle snores when I woke up

• The soft warm blanket from our trip to Acadia last October

• The nearly full moon when I went outside

• The friend at the gym who I am blessed to see every early morning

• Finishing Sage Warrior this morning on the treadmill at the gym

• Watching big wins by both the Avalance and Nuggets after finishing the book

• The beautiful diversity of people at Planet Fitness

• Having my wife’s coffee ready to brew for when she woke up

• Paying Scout’s belly rub tax before going on our walk

• The branches that looked like upraised arms, greeting the morning sun

  

• The sun appearing just over the horizon illuminating the trail

  

• The illumination of the path as the sun was rising higher

  

• The sound of the birds

  

• This pup

  

• The hand tree

  

Here is the self-question and the self-challenge at the end...

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God.

There is so much that is hard right now but there is also so much that is soft and renewing. All of it together - that’s where hope arises.

Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed

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