There is,
In the Book of Psalms,
A psalm that is a song of quiet trust.
O Lord,
My heart is not lifted up,
My eyes are not raised too high.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me,
But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother.
My soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel,
Hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.
This is Psalm 131 and it is titled in my Bible as A Song of Ascents.
Ascending Ascending a mountain These past two weeks I have spent from 3 to 5 hours,
Most evenings or early mornings,
Sitting beside a dear sister friend who is making her last great ascent.
That final walk,
The ultimate journey,
The loving return.
Each breath of hers was precious and on that last night before she died,
God helped me to realize that,
In the end,
Really,
That is all we have.
Our breath,
Our current breath.
We are not promised our next breath.
We already have kissed the last breath goodbye.
We cannot cling to it as we cannot hold on to the past.
And even that breath is a gift.
A gift of total,
Gratuitously glorious love from a divine lover who is supporting us in his arms even as we breathe.
On that last ascent,
It will not matter what we have created or achieved or known or acquired.
The fact that I have written a book or started a company or sold an astounding number of widgets or even loved will not be mine as a monument to me.
I have only this breath that is a gift to me right now at this moment.
Only this breath.
It is freeing,
Isn't it?
What is important to you right now?
What worries you or angers you or burdens you?
What frightens you?
What dreams are you clinging to?
Listen again to this Psalm 131 as it breathes through your soul.
O Lord,
My heart is not lifted up.
My eyes are not raised too high.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother.
My soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel,
Hope in the Lord from this time on and forevermore.
If a child is quietly at peace with its mother,
If it curiously looks around and tries to figure out what others are doing,
This will only lead to its swarming to break free from its mother's care or fearfully to hide behind its mother's protective presence.
As adults,
When we take our eyes off God and look around at what is happening around us and to us,
Trying to figure out on our own reasoning powers,
We end up breaking free of the nourishing and creating reality of the One who is our ultimate refuge.
We can learn from the image of this child presented to us in Psalm 131,
To see.
To see with the eye of the heart.
To perceive with the faculty of the heart.
It is a noetic stance before reality.
Instead of attempting to understand what is happening through reason alone,
It is the faculty of the heart that is able to comprehend natural and spiritual realities through direct experience.
The eye of the heart is cleansed through the practice of silence,
Of peace,
Of calmness,
Of trust and of prayer.
Together let us pray.
O Lord,
Grant that we may meet this coming day in peace.
In whatever happens,
In whatever this day brings our way,
May we rely upon your holy will and trust in your divine providence.
In every hour of this day,
Lord,
Reveal to us your will.
Bless all our relationships and all our dealings with those who surround us.
Help us to treat each person with peace of soul.
Guide our thoughts and our feelings in all our deeds and words.
When something unforeseen happens,
Let us not forget that everything is known by you.
That we are known and that in everything that happens,
We are held.
Teach us to act firmly and wisely.
Give us the strength to bear the fatigue of this day with whatever it shall bring.
Teach us to pray.
In you,
Lord,
Pray yourself in us.
Amen.
