God of the Sparrow 🌱 By Kathy Manis Findley

One of my fondest memories as a child is being compelled by a loving grandmother to memorize and recite poetry, Greek poetry not poetry written in English. I hated doing it, but as an adult I’m so glad she insisted. I learned so much about the beauty of language and the adherence to the ideals of justice and human dignity.

One particular poem has stayed with me for almost 60 years. I have never forgotten one word of it. I will give you the English translation, although some of it will lack the intensity and drama of the original poem.

The mountains scream out victory and the forests echo the sound. And every person is waiting for the glory to pass by. They look at her and they welcome her, embracing her . . . the young with smiles and the old with laughter. Every man from the mountain and every lion of the water, every victor, and every young man wear on their heads a crown of glory, plaited with tears, plaited with the cries of the orphans.

And you, God of our victory, the One whose heart has been so deeply hurt, sound the trumpet from one side to the other, “How the people now live again . . . How the country lives again . . . And one more thing, the Greeks will never again live as slaves.”

So you might ask, why does this poem matter to me in this day and time? It matters because it is filled with the poignancy of losing one’s freedom and the delight of getting it back. I hope that it will be said of each of us that we refuse to live as slaves. So the question is this: What is it that has the power to enslave me? And how can I live my life in the glory of freedom, freedom from all that harms the human spirit?

There are a number of life traps that enslave us, and we must determine in our hearts not to be slaves to them. Overindulgence. Toxic relationships. Workaholic tendencies. Harmful personal habits. The bondage of sinfulness.

We can easily become enslaved in any of these areas of life, and we often do. But I, for one, do not want to be a slave to those things that have the power to hurt me.
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Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.    – Galatians 5:1 American King James Version

Consider the words of a Women’s Freedom Song from South Africa: “Now that you have touched the women you have struck a rock, you have dislodged a boulder, you will be crushed.”

If you ask, you will be told that nothing prevents women from rising as high as men in the workplace. After the Women’s Liberation Movement and Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s, many people feel that discrimination is in the past. However, in real life, there are still barriers for women

Forbes’ list of Most Successful People is still dominated by men. Women make up only 14 percent of corporate boards. And examples are many of instances where women do not receive equal pay for working equally as hard, and just as effectively, as men in similar positions.

But all of that does not touch on the reality that many women are not empowered because they have not discovered ways to empower themselves. We tend to “stay in our place” because that place may seem more comfortable to us. I love the quote “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” So many famous women have quoted those words that no one knows for sure who first said it. That pithy phrase has appeared on T-shirts, placards, mugs, bumper stickers, sometimes with attribution and sometimes without.

But it seems that Laurel Thatcher Ulrich made those words famous when, in 2007, she wrote a book with the title Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. The women she featured in this 2007 book were pioneers and indeed would not usually be described as “well-behaved.” She included women such as Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

We could name woman after woman who shaped history because of her bravery, her compassionate good works, her inventions, her accomplishments. But what is most important is for each of us, as women, to find ways to empower ourselves to change the worlds we live in today. We must stand up for ourselves and for our own self-determination. We must stand strong for the good of our children. We must be found in Parent Teacher meetings at school, at school board meetings, at board meetings in our cities. We must stand up and be heard, always proclaiming what is right and what is good.

We cannot wait for someone to empower us. We must look to the strength of the foremothers who lived before us and follow their example. My hope for you is that you will find ways to empower yourself to be all that you can be. Then we can change the world.

By the way, every spell checker informs me that “foremother” is not a word. And that’s not acceptable! If it’s not a word, let’s work together as strong women of courage to make it a word.

PS – Thankfully, dictionaries do include the word “foremother.”

Our days are filled with golden moments. In the life of every individual there are moments of such transcendence that they may be called golden. Perhaps they are moments of celebration like the birth of a baby, when time stops and you recognize the miracle of birth. Perhaps the golden moment is a long hoped for life transition that you will never forget. Perhaps the golden moment is a first day of school, a graduation or a wedding.

But sometimes the golden moment is a life-changing experience caused by pain, a fork in the road where a hard decision has to be made, or a moment of sheer grief when you feel you have lost everything. Those moments are golden because you will never forget them and will forever experience their impact. You pass through those moments as a person changed. You have transcended your very life and have risen to a spiritual plane. That’s what makes these kind of golden moments so survivable. These are the moments in which you grow and transition. These are moments when God is nearest.

A friend recently lost her newborn baby girl. She traveled that horrendous road with dignity, courage and faith. Thoroughly heartbroken, she fully experienced the birth and the death of her baby within one life-altering moment. She never saw her daughter smile. She never saw her daughter take a breath. But because God was so near, this was a golden moment for her.

Moments of grief are the most golden moments in life. They are the moments when we are assured that we have a treasure in our earthen vessels.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

2 Corinthians 4:6-9

May you experience this treasure in every golden moment of your life.

The early morning is my time of contemplation and re-creation. The silence is healing for me in this time when the only sounds I can hear are the sounds of chirping insects, the slightest birdsong, and the gentle wing sounds of hummingbirds. The silence helps me breathe.

And then there’s music. Aldous Huxley said that “after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” In fact, many words of wisdom have described music.

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”
― Kahlil Gibran

“Music… will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.”
― Martin Luther

“Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends.”
― Alphonse de Lamartine

So many testaments to the power of music! I couldn’t agree more, and have found that music does indeed open a fountain of emotion within me when nothing else could reach the depths of my sorrowful times.

So take a few moments to enjoy and be uplifted by the following YouTube video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?autoplay=1&v=j1hVY7bmqsA

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said this: “There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler.”

How true that is. As we travel our life journey, it becomes clear to us sooner or later that we simply do not know the meaning of every twist and turn. And we certainly don’t know where our path will lead. That causes fear in us and we are afraid to take the next winding curve not knowing what may be beyond. It causes fear when two roads cross and we do not know which is the best way to turn. It can be disconcerting to reach a fork in the road knowing that at least one path will become our “road not taken.”

The religious folk among us believe that God is guiding every step, that God lights our way and we are compelled to always take the right fork. But even those who follow their path with that level of certainty still move forward with some level of fear. No matter how certain we are that our every step is guided, we know that we have choices to make and directions to take. For most of us there is no divine audible voice giving us direction. So we always fear we might take the wrong path.

The most accurate picture of life’s journey is one that includes twists and turns. Taking a journey is always full of unknown meaning, fear, and even risk. But I love the words of Anaïs Nin:

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Our journeys are full of meaning and full of risk. But our lives will blossom if we take our journey, one step at a time, with hope and faith that there really is meaning in every journey. In the end, it is true that, if we have follow in faith, God does lead us.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, O God, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.

From Psalm 73 and 143

I’m tired of trying to outrun my memories. I am tired of carrying the baggage of broken relationships. I want to accept the past and live my life so that each moment becomes an opportunity to become closer to the person I am meant to be. But I can’t live that way if I am always trying to outrun memories. We tend to try outrunning memories, especially if we have experienced unpleasant incidents, harsh words, disappointment, and the betrayal of broken relationships.

The reality is that many of us have lived, or are currently living, the pain of that kind of life. We carry the heavy burden of broken relationships and hurt feelings, and we don’t know how to move on from that painful place.

All of us have memories from our past. Sometimes those memories are good ones, and sometimes they are not so good. The not-so-good ones are the ones we want to outrun.

Can we forget those unpleasant parts of our lives? Can we drop the heavy baggage of regret? Can we move on and either restore those broken relationships or make peace with the loss of them?

It really is possible. Still, forgetting and forgiving may not be easy to do, especially when the persons who have hurt you are not even seeking forgiveness. It is very hard, if not impossible, to forgive in a vacuum, outside of relationship. And if the person or persons do not want any kind of relationship with you at all, it is not really possible to forgive them. Forgiveness is a relational act and it cannot occur when there is no relationship at all.

What we can do is forgive ourselves and make peace with the past and the memory of the person who harmed us. We can allow ourselves to think of some of the times when the relationship was good, while we spend less time thinking about the part that was so hurtful.

We can begin to look toward the future and not dwell on the past. We can face the future ready to begin again and to trust again. We can face the future ready to believe in ourselves and in our ability to form new relationships. We can allow ourselves to love again and to trust other people with the gift of our friendship.

Can we get hurt again if we do that? Can trust be betrayed again?

Of course, we can get hurt again. Every relationship holds within it the potential for someone to be hurt. That’s just the way we humans are. And a broken heart from a broken relationship or friendship can definitely make us think twice before trusting another person.

I have thought often about the fact that losing old relationships is one way to make way for new ones, perhaps new ones that are meant to be. Maggie Stiefvater says this: “As you learn who you are, you can better surround yourself with friends who make you a better person, and that sometimes only happens when you disassemble old relationships.”

So perhaps it’s okay to be okay with disassembled relationships and to relish in the new friends that have come your way. Perhaps it’s okay to stop trying to outrun our memories, and instead embrace them or file them away. Timothy Lane and Paul David Tripp have written a book entitled Relationships: A Mess Worth Making. That’s a great way to look at relationships. They can, indeed, be a mess worth making!

There are so many Scripture passages about hope in the Bible. And it’s a good thing, because for many of us, hope is in short supply. When bad things come upon us, hope seems far away. The Biblical character we know as Job had a terrible time holding on to hope after a series of very grave losses in his life. Things were dismal for him during this time and he expressed it freely, “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me.”

And that chapter ends in a most hopeless moment for poor Job:

Where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? (Job 17:15)

You have probably experienced some hopeless moments in your life. I know that I have experienced many along the way. Almost all of 2014 felt hopeless to me. Some of the time, doctors did not know why I had become unresponsive. At other times, I despaired because I had lost my ability to function without help. When I tried to move about, I would fall. When I tried to stay in bed, I became extremely restless. I could no longer write and began to re-learn my ABCs. I re-learned to identify colors. I tried my best to recognize the people in my life. The nights in the hospital were long and frightening. I didn’t know what my outcome would be, and at times I asked myself “where is my hope?”

But let’s not stay at Job. Let’s not stay at my most hopeless time. Lets move on to the light of hope, and find grace and comfort in the fifth chapter of Romans. Let’s look there for a hint about how to rejoice in our sufferings until we see hope’s light ahead.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for us.     (Romans 5:1-6 NIV)

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.   (Romans 15:13)

Psalm 113 Modern English Version (MEV)

Praise the Lord!
Praise, O you servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and for evermore.
From the rising of the sun to its going down,
the Lord’s name is to be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations,
and His glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
who dwells on high,
who looks down on the things
that are in heaven and on the earth?
He raises up the poor out of the dust
and lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
even with the princes of His people.
He gives the barren woman a dwelling,
making her the joyful mother of children.
Praise the Lord!

What does it mean to praise the Lord? How does one do it? Out loud? Silently? In public? For me, the answer is that praising God happens within me. It happens when I acknowledge God’s claim on my life. It happens when I allow my soul to be filled with God’s Spirit. And it happens just as the Psalmist says, “from the rising of the sun to its setting.”

It is a part of my spiritual discipline to praise God, and it lifts me up from whatever depth I may be in. Praising God is a necessary part of life. So today, I praise God for my life and all that is within me. I think of the words of a song:

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.

So I plan to praise the Lord from the rising of the sun to its setting.

I always look forward to spending time near an ocean. It renews and refreshes my soul. The vast blue sky makes me feel as if I am a clean slate. The waves of the surf relax me. The constant, gentle breeze cleanses me. The flight of the gull makes me consider freedom as a possibility for my life.

I experience re-creation at the ocean. And literally, the ocean becomes a confidant for me. I love the poetry of Naseer Ahmed Nasir:

Had ocean been my confidant
I’d have given it
All of my truths for safekeeping . . .

Had ocean been my confidant
I’d have given it
All my loneliness
I’d have walked with the wind
Clasping its finger in my fist
On distant paths
From whence no one comes back!

Had ocean been my confidant
I’d have given it all my depths . . .

Had ocean been my confidant!

(Translated from the original Urdu by Satyapal Anand)
* Had Ocean Been My Confidant
Naseer Ahmed Nasir

I plan to visit the ocean soon. No doubt, I will give it all my truths for safe-keeping, all my loneliness for healing, all my depths in hope of fresh, new life.

In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
Your young men will see visions,
Your old men will dream dreams.

Acts 2:17 New International Version (NIV)
Are you a dreamer and a visionary? If you are, be on guard, for dreams and visions can bring about unusual actions.

In 1858 a young girl saw a vision as she was gathering wood near a small rock cave. Fourteen-year old Bernadette described her vision like this: “a girl in white, no taller than I, and beautiful.” The woman spoke to Bernadette, who was a below-average student and the daughter of poor parents. She was not used to being spoken to with such respect. Bernadette saw the vision 18 times. When she asked the woman who she was, the woman responded, “I am the Immaculate Conception,” using a term Bernadette had never heard. Of course, people did not believe young Bernadette.

During one of her later appearances, the woman in the vision told Bernadette to dig for water with her hands. When Bernadette began to dig, she uncovered a spring. In the Pyrenees Mountains of Southern France – a place called Lourdes — the spring still flows to this day, and people from all over the world come to its waters to pray.

An estimated 200 million people have visited the shrine, which is called the Statue of Our Lady oh Lourdes, since 1860.

That such an astounding vision that has affected hundreds of thousands of people came to a young girl from a poor family, reminds me that sometimes the rich and powerful are simply passed over and ordinary people are chosen to dream big dreams. Amazing work and astounding things can be accomplished through ordinary people who haven’t forgotten how to dream and haven’t closed their hearts to visions.

Could that be said of you? That though you may be young, though you may not be wealthy and powerful in the eyes of the world, you possess the power of dreams and visions! And nothing – NOTHING – is impossible to you.

I was once a part of a group of people looking for a building to purchase and occupy for community service. We looked at the building and saw needed repairs, a precarious roof, water leaks, and a huge amount of money needed for restoration. Interestingly, another group purchased the building because they saw what was possible, a manicured playground, brightly-colored play equipment, a volleyball court – a dream!

One more thing . . .

Extraordinary visions and wondrous dreams do not just come on high and holy days. Visions and dreams can come to dreamers on ordinary days and at ordinary times, usually when we’ve reached the end of our own resources and we need to dream the most. So, for dreamers and visionaries, it’s always a season for dreaming.

I love to hear stories of courage, always hoping that I will find a little extra smidgen of courage inside myself. This story is about the courage of the Biblical character we know as Joshua. He had an enormous task ahead of him, just as we do at times.

So as the story unfolds, the Lord appoints Joshua to succeed the great leader Moses. It is a daunting appointment for Joshua, but God promises to help Joshua make the treacherous crossing over the Jordan.

Arise, go over Jordan.

It just so happens that at this place and at this time, the banks were overflowing. The crossing would be difficult. Joshua had no bridge or boats, and yet he had to believe that God, having ordered the people to cross over, would make a way. The Scripture passage gives Joshua instructions for success:

Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.    – Joshua 1:7-9 New International Version (NIV)

Being strong and courageous also applies to us, especially during those huge life challenges we face from time to time. In such times of life, I like to lean on these words.

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.     – Deuteronomy 31:6

What a wonderful day, one of those days when all is right with the world! How we wish every day could feel like this. But life does have its ups and downs. Everyone experiences the “ups” and unfortunately everyone also experiences the “downs.”

What gets us through the down times is a wonderful word called resilience. Trees, for instance, develop resilience as they grow. Their trunk grows larger and stronger and their roots go deeply into the ground to create stability. We know that some types of trees are far more resilient than others. People are like that too. Everyone has a little resilience; some people have a lot of it. Here’s a definition:

the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness

Each time we face off against a difficulty in life, we develop some of that precious resilience. And it serves us well for the next onslaught of trouble.

So developing the toughness we need to withstand difficult times is a human matter. We develop it as we go through life. And a part of the development involves our own emotional growth. We have control over that. But there is also the spiritual realm and the role God plays in making us who we are. It is best described by Francis de Sales.

The same everlasting Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day.
Either he will shield you from suffering or give you unfailing strength to bear it.
Be at peace then and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.

I am committed to work on my own resilience, but I am very glad that God gives us the unfailing strength to bear suffering. That’s good news!

Dark nights of the soul always come to an end. We might feel as if they will last forever when troubles come upon us, but light eventually shines in every dark place. That’s good news for all of us. We cannot avoid the dark times of life. They are inevitable. But those who have faith in the God of light will always see the dawn again.

A dear friend of mine lost her infant granddaughter today. No doubt, she is walking in the depth of darkness right now with her family. They will grieve such a profound loss, but their faith will sustain them and eventually the light will come back in their lives.

I am certain that the morning comes for all of us who must walk in darkness. The day will dawn and the morning star will rise in our hearts.

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

2 Peter 1:9 NIV

God’s mercies are new every morning; God’s love enfolds me and warms me with the light of the morning sun. I have found the early morning to be a wonderful time to meet God and listen for God’s voice. It is a quiet time when often I hear nothing but birdsong. The morning dew glistens on the grass. The trees blow gently in the slightest summer breeze. My plants are basking in the sunlight that is not yet hot enough to scorch them. The sky is bright with clouds, with the newly risen sun casting its rays across the expanse.

For me, it is a time when God is near and I am most aware of God’s love for me, a love that never fails, a love that is ever near. I am thinking this morning of so many scriptures that speak of God’s love, but the one that most moves me today is in Romans 8.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39 NIV

Thanks be to God, the One who is near me every morning, for a love that is constant. There is nothing that has the power to separate us from this love.

Today was another red-letter day for me. After a lengthy consultation at my dialysis clinic, my nephrologist is referring me for kidney transplant evaluation. At this point, that doesn’t mean much, as it is a long process to even get on a transplant list. Still, it brings up many strong emotions for me, not the least of which is the probability of a hospital stay. After spending fifty-three days in the hospital in 2014, I have a strong dread at the thought of spending time hospitalized.

And then there are the emotions of a donor-recipient process. It doesn’t feel like a process; it feels much more life-changing than that. What is important at this time is that I contemplate my emotions and tend to my physical and spiritual health. No one knows how this will play out in the end. I only know that just the thought of an evaluative process is daunting to me.

In this situation, I most need to trust in God and avoid leaning on my own understanding. What I am facing is continuing end stage kidney disease or kidney transplantation. On my own, my response is “Yikes!” With God, my response is that I most desire that God’s will be done in my life and, most of all, that I learn to more fully trust in God with all my heart.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6 New King James Version (NKJV)

As I contemplate the graces I have received, two scriptures come to mind. I hear the words from the book of Lamentations saying to me that through God’s mercies I will not be consumed, because God’s compassion does not fail. In fact, God’s compassions are new every morning. The Scripture adds a strong statement of faith . . . “Great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

The other scripture is from the book of James, and is so comforting.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

I cannot help but recall the words of the beloved hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

When things are out of kilter for me, I find that I rest on the assurance that the God who watches over me is one in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. I am assured of God’s unfailing faithfulness, that God’s compassion does not fail. No matter what assails me, from my illness to a variety of other losses, that assurance has been enough.

Listen to this hymn at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hv_a4v6b3QI

Luke 24:29-35 New King James Version (NKJV)

But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

In times of deep sorrow, long, dark nights of the soul, I can sense God keeping vigil with me. In those times, I am not alone. God abides with me until the day dawns and the light of morning washes over me with peace.

The nights are the worse. Fred is asleep. Everyone I know that could support me is asleep. And for me, the worry washes over me as the night seems to stand still. I yearn for morning when the light will ease my pain. But the morning comes on its own time. So the night seems endless.

In the scripture in Luke, the people ask Jesus to abide with them, for the night was coming. He stayed with them, and did so much more. So much that they said to one another, “Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked with us and opened the scriptures to us?”

The experience is similar when God abides with me in my times of sorrow and worry. There is no better remedy for the loneliest, darkest night when all feels unwell within me. There are two certainties in those times: God abides with me in the dark time and the light of morning always comes.

“Abide with Me” is one of my favorite hymns. It is not, as we usually believe, about death. It is very much about life and how God is with us when our darkness deepens. The hymn calls God “Help of the Helpless.” I am so grateful for that kind of God and for the reality that the light of morning always dawns, even after the most ominous dark night.

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Enjoy this hymn on YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i5nbq_VEea0

Writing is cleansing for the soul. It is a discipline that holds the power to rearrange life. It affects personal choices and common thought patterns. It can initiate introspection and contemplation. Just as a path in the forest reveals new things at every step, so does writing become a journey of discovery.

Writing can be catharsis for those who need to cleanse the spirit. Writing can give true insight into the self. It can be a candid, honest exercise. It can open the mind to creative thought and open the heart to fresh compassion.

Writing is spiritually and emotionally healthy. Writing a blog can be the beginning of daily personal growth. I recommend writing a blog as a spiritual discipline, one that is not as much for the reader as it is for the writer. Writing my blog has taught me a great deal about myself. The fact that others can read it is simply part of the discipline. Yes, sometimes I have a message I want to share. But most of the time, the message is for me . . . a message I need to heed. Thanks for reading this blog. I welcome your comments and cherish your thoughts in response to what I write.

Change is hard for me. In fact, most people dread change. Today I changed the look of my Blog. I miss the old one and can’t figure out how to get it back. The change seems to be a done deal I’ll have to live with.

i don’t like that at all, but life is filled with changes. Sometimes we see them coming. Sometimes they slip up on us when we are completely unaware of them. And sometimes, they are of our own making. We contemplate the possibility, convince ourselves that change will make things better, and then we do it!

The hymn “Be Still, My Soul” says this: “In every change, He faithful will remain.”

This was just a small, insignificant change. But it reminded me how difficult change can be. Thankfully, I am also reminded that God is faithful through any change. I am grateful for that.

By the way, I hope you like the Blog’s new look. It seems to be a permanent change that cannot be undone.

Genesis 1:14-15 New International Version (NIV)

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.

Oscar Wilde has said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Life can be filled with pessimism. We may spend our time focusing on the circumstances that bring us down. For me, the result is often a deep-down feeling of sadness. It comes over me when things around me go wrong. It could relate to my end stage renal failure, the distance between me and my grandchildren, family circumstances that bring angst.

Any number of things can cause the kind of sadness that makes me feel like I’m lying in the gutter. The truth is that, most of the time, I can look up at the stars for comfort. It is always a reminder of the majesty and power of the God that placed the magnificent lights in the heavens. What a wonder that is! What a miracle that separates the day from the night, that marks sacred times, that marks the days and the years, that gives light to the earth!

When things are troublesome and nights are dark for you, remember the words of Marcus Aurelius, “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”

Looking up at the starry sky, running with the stars always reminds me that the same God who created the stars of heaven also created me. Thanks be to God.