To you I call, for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.
Psalm 17: 6, 8
Susie and I are praying together along with a lot of other people in the world today and hoping that God will turn an ear toward our pleas. The entire world is living in a suspended state of anxiety over a disease that no one has any control.
Surely, our lives are as uncertain as was the life of the Psalmist who called out to the Lord to safeguard and protect him through whatever perils surrounded him. He asks that he, alone, be treated as preciously as “the apple of your eye.”
I know how preciously I treat Susie and Delia, how as tiny and vulnerable creatures, I protect them. I know that surely God is far greater than I. And wiser. And loving.
A modern world which is accustomed to certainty and control is left to relying on faith and uncertainty. In the shadow of angels’ wings, we are protected even though we might be unaware.
A disease has separated the world into pockets of small communities becoming threaded together in the most creative ways. Grace and inspiration seem to spark ingenuity and communication. Human connection supersedes fear.
Susie, Delia, Michael and I are one small instance of faith and community. Even in the quiet, I hear the reassuring words resounding over and over again within the sacred texts, “Be not afraid.”
Somehow, having Susie and Delia around help me remember that. They still get up every morning, look to be fed and then Susie climbs up in the “prayer chair”. She reminds me of what should come first in my day. Pray first. The anxiety can come later.
