Wednesday, April 10, 2013

"Manna..........................."

"A kind of northing is what I wish to accomplish, a single-minded trek towards that place where any shelter left open to the zenith at night will record the wheeling of all the sky's stars as a pattern of perfect, concentric circles. I seek a reduction, a shedding, a sloughing off"...Annie Dillard, Tinker Creek

After dropping off Beth and two other women at the boardwalk beach, the inland side of this small outer island in Pensacola, I drove a mile or so farther out to a park area that faces the open sea. There's some open shelters here, a few tables in the shade, the breeze from the ocean and the sound of the waves enough company for me. For as long as this old man can remember, solitude equates to peace. That's not to suggest, however, an inner urge to abandon society all together, only that life leaves me with many questions and my mind is continually in search of some sense to all this. In coming to Christ over forty years ago, there was an instantaneous acknowledgement of having connected with truth, at least to some degree. The journey since has surely taught me that such commodity was never captured in its entirety. If the Book was an eye-opener, the Spirit was and is the confirmation of anything gained as I go. My pursuit changed merely in an understanding that answers come, even if acquired but partially, via encounter with Him. The puzzle is solved in bits and pieces, the hunt never a matter of me chasing an elusive quarry. Rather it's more like what the author describes above. I decrease that He might increase and sometimes, somewhere in His well, I get a glimpse of glory......

2 comments:

  1. I was trying to figure out where in Kentucky was the boardwalk beach! One of these days I'm going to take back up with Annie Dillard and Tinker Creek!

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    1. Sorry, Annie. We're headed back home tomorrow morning, visiting some friends here, "adopted" grandson with a new baby. Only about two more chapters with my re-read of Tinker Crink...

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