An Anguished Heart Yearns to Fly Away

I am certainly not the only one who has noted that we are on the cusp of the most vicious US presidential election of our lifetime and anticipate that whatever the outcome, the validity of the election will be challenged and even dismissed. With my priority being on caring for my wife Candy with her Alzheimer’s and her 93 year old Dad, I have intentionally tried to avoid being drawn into the fray. Even though we watch no TV news and do not take a newspaper, I do try to stay informed by accessing a selected balance of news sources on line (please don’t try to vet my selections, I do even sample those well-known for “fake news” to understand their perspectives), I am acutely aware of the multiple tangled threads of turmoil in our country. I am also acutely aware of not just differences of opinions among family, friends, colleagues – people I know, love, trusted, whose faith in Jesus is unquestionable – that go way beyond political disagreements to radically contradictory perceptions of reality. In my prayer Psalms this morning, I resonated with these lines from Psalm 55:4-8, 12-14 and found they gave me a way to articulate to God the present anguish of my heart.

My heart is in anguish within me, the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. And I say, “O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest; truly, I would flee far away; I would lodge in the wilderness; I would hurry to find a shelter for myself from the raging wind and tempest.”

It is not enemies who taunt me— I could bear that; it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me— I could hide from them. But it is you, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend, with whom I kept pleasant company; we walked in the house of God with the throng.