Morning

Yesterday morning was beautiful. Those mornings where all is gold and silver: gold from the rays of the burgeoning sun, and the silver threads of morning mist still weave throughout. The lighting catches every emerald facet of new leaves and fresh grass, and the ruby of a robin breast glows.

These are beautiful mornings, especially after the long cold of the winter, after the grey rain of the day before, after the dark of the cloudy night before.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption.
Psalm 130:5-7

More than the sun, more than the light, more than what symbolizes light and life, is our Lord. When we think of the moment--that moment--when we felt most alive, most joy; when we think of all that makes us warm and safe, all are things that point to our Lord. He is life himself, joy of a perfect three-in-one love, unshakeable.

More than the end of the night, is our Lord. Right now most of us probably feel we are more in the night. The long waiting for the morning. Watchmen waiting: will things be normal after COVID? Will restrictions be lifted? Will there be a resurgence? Will I go back to work? Will I find a new job? Will the economy survive? Will I see my loved one again? Will..... We wait. We long and long for the night to be over. But the psalmist reminds us: the Lord is more than the end to it. The end of this waiting is not our hope. The end of COVID is not our hope. Normal is not our hope. He is our hope. He is all that is good. And he is NOW. He is here.

It is good to long for normal; for that is a gift of the Lord's common grace and his providence. But let everything that causes us to long for that, also direct us past the normal, to the GIVER. Let us long for the Lord, and celebrate him.