The Words

Maybe it happened when my Mother started taking me as a young boy to the public library.  Or, maybe it happened in Mrs. Evans' high school English class .  As I look back I am not always sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way I became captivated with words.  I have spent my life writing and speaking words.  Words have been my tool.  Words have been the way I sought to be faithful to the divine call to preach the Word.  Words have been my means of expressing the things within me.  Sometimes the words come easy; sometimes not so easy.  I have been trying to create images with words long enough to know that when it happens it is more a thing of grace than skill.

 

When we read the Psalms there are often moments when we no longer seek to understand the meaning, or wonder about the thoughts being conveyed.  Instead there are those moments when the beauty of the words as they are put together just cause us to sit back in wonder.  Sometimes they create images that call us to simply experience the beauty and power of the words as they have been put together.  The 30th Psalm has several verses which call us to such wonder.  Verse 5 says, "Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning."  And then there is verse 11 which says, "You have turned my mourning into dancing; You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy."

Who among us has not longed for joy in the morning and dancing while going through darkness?  Who among us not longed for a new day, a new season, a new spirit?  Who among us has not longed to know the blessing of God's joy breaking in among us?  This is the blessing the Word promises so even if still in the night of mourning, get ready for joy is surely going to come.  It is God's promise.  Savor the promise until some morning your feet finally start dancing again!