I love these autumn days! This week I have enjoyed sitting outside on my patio, sipping my coffee in the morning moonlight. It is dark at 6 a.m., and the sky has been clear and beautiful.
Wrapped in a blanket, I enjoy the morning chill and steamy cup warming my hands. Gazing up I count the three stars in Orion’s belt, watch as jets with flashing tiny red lights intersect through the dots of stars on the incline to their traveling heights. The promise of 80 degree heat by afternoon adds to my pleasure as a chorus of crickets serenade. The forecast of a cold front coming in by week’s end helps me savor each of these mornings and afternoons. It has been spectacular and sacred.
Psalm 34:8 “Taste and see that the Lord is good,” comes to mind. The rest of the verse is: “happy are those who take refuge in him.” Eugene Peterson in his paraphrased version, The Message, writes “Open your mouth and taste, Open your eyes and see — how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.”
Psalm 34 is a good one, not too long and so appropriate for any day. Early morning is an oasis of timelessness. A refuge, where I am suspended in the power of the moon’s light, a God-filled buffer before I start my day.
We never know what will happen any given day. My daughter was taking a run along her usual route through her San Francisco neighborhood when she heard a thud behind her. A motorist had struck another runner while in the same crosswalk a few yards behind her. While a nearby walker followed the car until it pulled over, my daughter ran to the fallen woman and determined she was alert and conscious and wanting to get up. My daughter insisted that she stay down, and blocked traffic going slowly around them as she called 911. The squad and police arrived quickly, and the woman and driver were attended to. My daughter then continued home and called me as she drove to work late after the incident. Life delivers all types of difficult and challenging situations. A diagnosis of cancer, a family member or neighbor dies, a woman wanting to become pregnant learns she will never conceive, a drunk driver goes through a red light into other cars. I have often heard it said, “God never gives me more than I can handle.” Rather than that I think life often gives us way more than we can handle — that’s why we need God.
The Psalms are a good place to find God and something to buffer us against life’s ups and downs. Peterson begins Psalm 34 with, “I bless God every chance I get, my lungs expand with his praise.” Good day, bad day, good news, awful news. Life takes us on a journey. No matter what the season, or whether it is morning, noon or night, time is to be savored. Open, taste and see. “I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” That’s a handy verse for any moment of any day, especially this one.
The Rev. Patricia Stout is a retired pastor serving as Stated Supply at Old Stone Presbyterian Church. She also serves as a substitute teacher for Delaware City Schools.
