"Connected......."

I’m not sure from what perspective the author of the quote here so penned these words. A friend of mine, though, after losing her son not all that long ago, recently captured a rare phenomenon with her camera and then merged the two together, trying to express through an image what God is doing in her life. Such tragedy is not familiar to me. I can only imagine. The message, as it is presented, however, speaks to this old man. Not only is our existence one wherein, almost from the cradle to the grave, trying to put meaning to the world around us and our days as they come to us seems futile, but it’s for sure that often we find it hard to explain ourselves in the middle of it all. We are a “vessel void of light” on a journey taking us through a dense fog. So where is the “gift” in this scenario?

I never could comprehend why the Creator, if He knows the future before it even happens, allowed Adam and Eve to so sin in the Garden; but what the last four decades of walking in this has taught me, more than anything else, is: the Father has my hand. If it has been a stumble down the path for the most part, if questions about me, about the Church, and about an “infallible” Book in the hands of a fallible humanity have left me scratching my head many times along the way, it has also been a lesson in progress, teaching me my need of His rod and staff, a maturing, ever so slowly, in the knowledge of His grace. Looking back increases faith, allowing one to rest in whatever lies ahead; the well within to which one returns for assurance…..