rest

flood waters,

trials,

battles,

and enemies abound;

they're knocking at your door,

they're huffing and puffing and blowing your house down,

they're snarling, growling, thrashing,

and grasping at your throat,

they plot and scheme and devise for destruction,

they spin webs for your capture,

they build trebuchets and hurl their lies at you,

denouncing you as helpless, hopeless, defenseless.

yet,

the truth pervades the chaos

and whispers into your ear-

you can have

and will have

every help, every hope, all the defense necessary

to

lie

down

and

sleep.

there's a lion who makes it possible.

---

Psalm 3:1-6

small-town moment #43

I get home from some errands, walk in the front door, greet my parents, and make some small talk.

Me:  "Did you guys hear abo-"

My parents, in unison:  "Yes."

"The dove descending breaks the air
With flame of incandescent terror
Of which the tongues declare
The one discharge from sin and error.
The only hope, or else despair
Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre-
To be redeemed from fire by fire."

-T.S. Eliot,
Part IV of Little Gidding from Four Quartets