Good morning…
After watching footage of the massive explosion rocking Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut this week, I turned on the news to see the touching story below. Titling her homemade video Beauty From Ashes, a granddaughter filmed her grandmother playing “Auld Lang Syne” on the piano amid wreckage from the blast. The familiar song, based on a 1788 Scots poem by Robert Burns, is typically sung among friends and family on New Years Eve around the world. The phrase “auld lang syne” literally translates to “old long since,” and basically means, “days gone by.” At least 137 people were killed, 5,000 wounded, hundreds have been reported missing, and more than 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes.
In solidarity I sense their utter anguish from across the globe, the same gut wrenching pain expressed by the psalmist: I found myself in trouble and went looking for my Lord; my life was an open wound that wouldn’t heal. When friends said, “Everything will turn out all right,” I didn’t believe a word they said. I remember God—and shake my head. I bow my head—then wring my hands. I’m awake all night—not a wink of sleep; I can’t even say what’s bothering me. I go over the days one by one, I ponder the years gone by. I strum my lute all through the night, wondering how to get my life together (Psalm 77:2-5, MSG).
I pray for all those left shaking their heads, wringing their hands, lying awake all night as they grieve the loss of “old acquaintances” never to be forgotten. May devastated mourners go looking for our Lord, remembering our God, wondering amid their open wounds, “God, how will we get my life together again?”
…Sue…
P.S. Photo from Unsplash.com.
