Good morning…
In my book, I put a question mark by a new-to-me word. Evanescent. Do you know what “evanescent” means? I love to treasure hunt truth, so I get to googlin’. “Evanescent” means soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence. Quietly fading. Quickly fleeting. Brief. Short-lived. Vanishing.
“Every person’s life is lined with memories, keepsakes, habits, and traditions that we draw on for sustenance,” we read truth aloud as a class. “For comfort we turn to the scripts that we have inherited. We recall and visit the places and people that make us feel whole and happy… The secret of hygge lies in paying attention to the rhythm of our daily lives, the people we choose to spend time with, the things we use, and the activities we undertake that give life value and meaning… Hygge is an interaction between daily practice, everyday artifacts, and symbols of care. It subtly exists in the interrelationship between things, places, and people. Like a familiar song on the radio, heard in the car over the hum of the engine, the comfort of hygge is evanescent but very real.” (Louisa Thomsen Brits’ The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort, and Connection, 82-83)
I realize my word-hunt bumps you up against a word you may not know: hygge. We find a definition on the back cover: “Hygge (hoo – ga) is a Danish word but a universal feeling of being warm, safe, comforted, and sheltered – an experience of belonging to the moment and to each other. Hygge anchors us, reminding us to slow down, to connect with place and with one another, to dwell and savor rather than rush and spend.”
Our God is the God who creates us to crave “hygge.” Relentlessly relational, our Creator/Savior/Guide coaxes us toward comfort and connection, safety and shelter. We are designed by the LORD to slow down and simply savor, not speed fast and spend more, more, more. Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint. Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral… For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:4-7, NLT).
…Sue…
