Praise?

Psalm 146—”Praise the LORD,” it says and continues to list the glorious attributes of a God who saves the righteous and vanquishes the wicked. The headlines prove this to be wishful thinking. Images of the dying mix with words of the violence that engulfs and enflames the people. Cries and whispers mix with videos of the ravages of Mother Nature that consume the land she birthed and the landscapes we sculpt. Years of writing cannot exhaust the daily, deadly evil onslaught we endure. Natural and human-curated violence makes it plain we are powerless.

I stare in peace at the sunrise pinks and blues. I feel the tingle in my blood that pulses with the rhythm of the ripples on the lake. I feel a tune as I hear waking birds begin to chirp. The sounds of silence, which are anything but, continue their relentless tick-tocking and chiming background of keeping time. And I praise God for the beauty of life, and know I am also powerless to create such magnificence. For just this moment, I rest in praise, before rising to deal with the daily dragons within my dominion and imagined control.

Perhaps the poet, too, once sat for a second, fully aware of the threat of annihilation, fully aware of the chaos of daily living, and equally aware that day after day, night after night, the fleeting moments of peace are not fleeing. Rather they strive to live on, in us, and grow into the fullness of hope and faith and love as we go. Perhaps it’s not a wish at all to praise the Almighty.

Perhaps the peace of a few seconds that gives us peace imparts courage to see and tame the dragons. Perhaps the glimpse of still waters reminds us that the wars of our own making and the wars of living against Mother Nature are not everywhere all at once and, therefore, just might not be, at all, anywhere ever again, someday. Perhaps the endlessness of time passing time reminds us to enjoy the one eternal moment we get when everything is right with the world. Perhaps that is the moment to resolve, “Praise the Lord, o my soul, as long as you live, praise the Lord!”

on The Way: Read Psalm 146.  In today’s chaos, what moment of praise, what moment of tranquility, sets you free (and from what), opens your eyes, or removes the burden too heavy to carry alone? Might you be that moment of peace and praise for another, once, just for a moment, today?