Good morning…
“Love that reading and your message,” a friend wrote after yesterday’s post, A Weekend Of Waiting. “Reminds me of the Sue Monk Kidd’s book, When the Heart Waits. Peace be with you.”
“Good morning, Sue,” wrote another loyal reader. “I love the beautiful quote you shared: ‘Strive to be one of the few who walk this earth with the ever present realization – every morning, noon and night – that the unknown that people call heaven is directly behind those things that are visible.’ An essential reminder every day – daily bread. Xo”
“Hi Sue!” still another subscriber wrote. “Just read today’s devotional and it reminded me of our sermon yesterday…which was on the 400 year period of silence before Jesus was born. We sang a song based on the words below that were found on the wall of a concentration camp after WWII. Thought you might be interested.”
“I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there’s no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when He is silent.
I believe through any trial,
there is always a way
But sometimes in this suffering
and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter,
to know someone’s there
But a voice rises within me, saying hold on
my child, I’ll give you strength,
I’ll give you hope. Just stay a little while.
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love
even when there’s no one there
But I believe in God
even when he is silent
I believe through any trial
there is always a way.
May there someday be sunshine
May there someday be happiness
May there someday be love
May there someday be peace….”
― Unknown (written during WW2, on the wall of a cellar, by a Jew in the Cologne concentration camp)
I replied to each email, responding to the final friend, “Thanks for sharing these words and the story behind them. When we were in Israel this March, we went to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, which sits on the slopes of the Mount of Remembrance on the edge of Jerusalem. Walking through the memorial was so very powerful. These challenging words remind me of that experience and this ugly photo I took of excruciating waiting.
The promise of God’s love rises up through the horror.
I can never escape from your Spirit!
I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
and the light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to you (Psalm 139:7-12, NLT).
May we never get away from the God who silently sees us through all forms of darkness – every morning, noon and night. For each beloved child of God, our collective hope remains the same.
May there someday be sunshine.
May there someday be happiness.
May there someday be love.
May there someday be peace.
…Sue…
