Tuesday 9 October 2012

when the fog rolls in....



I can't seem to make up my mind about fog.  

Sometimes it's dreamy and delightful.....like the morning of my birthday this August when my husband woke me early on our summer holiday to go out on the lake and watch the sunrise.  The fog sat low in the valley, hovering between mountains on either side.  It drifted in heavy...rolling and teasing and curling around us as we floated.  I loved it.  The morning was straight out of a fairytale.  And when the haze cleared and the sun rose,  a bright and glorious morning unveiled before our eyes. 

Last week the fog stretched past our home and settled into the nearby river valley as if it were sinking into lazy-boy chair.   The river was still there but I couldn't see it.  So was the farm just on the other side of the river, and the hills rising beyond that.  Nothing had changed.  The permanent things that I always count on being there - were still there, I just couldn't see them.

Fog is like that.  When we're in the middle of it, beneath its heavy cloak, we just can't see.  It's unnerving --especially when we tend to rely more on what we see than what we know.  Sometimes our lack of vision even makes us doubt the things we know.  

I have experienced times in my life when the fog has settled in, thick and heavy and bewildering.  I want to see and I can't.  Nothing is clear, nothing is obvious, and I grope and stumble my way through obscurity.   It's not dreamy.  It's not delightful.  

If only I could recognize the hazy times in my life as an invitation to sit in awe and trust.  To rely on what I know, rather than just what I see.  To be still. To cease from striving and planning and pressing forward and controlling. 

 To simply BE.

when life is dusty dirty

when it's dark and lonely

when I'm chipping and cracking everywhere
when the papers pile

when the work piles

when I'm soaked in the rain
JUST BE.
Because EVENTUALLY THE FOG LIFTS, revealing what was shrouded. Clarity comes.  My eyes are able to see what my heart has known to be true all along.

And I give thanks - again.  
For God's faithfulness.  
that I can trust - even when I can't see.  
For His invitation to 
BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD.



text and images © melody armstrong 2012



2 comments:

  1. This is simply beautiful, and a wonderful reminder of how to be in the midst of all of our daily busyness, to trust and know that He has our best interest at heart above everything we go through! Lovely entry.

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  2. Thank you friend. Honoured and humbled to have you as such a dear friend. xo Melody

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