Walking in the predawn this morning, the signs of fall of hidden from view, you could have thought you were entering early summer. The slow warm breeze anticipated a clear, sun-soaked day. The air was temperate, beach-buoyant, welcoming. Even the pavement seemed content, distant from any contracting, crack-inducing cold.
This kind of warm-dark covers you like a blanket. It keeps out the ice chips and bayonet wind; it keeps out the tempests and mortal fears.
If I had a baptized or even anointed imagination I’d say it was like walking in Divine wing-shadow. Where, on reflection, we all should walk, at least once a day. Because in this foreshadowing of eternity we are free of the constricting day ahead, and free from any controlling past.
Those who imagine themselves here, who “image” themselves here, are doing dress rehearsals for eternity–maybe more. Maybe they are actually stitching a piece of eternity into the temporal rising and setting of our day. And in this space we are free and safe.
A safe place is soul refuge. And “safe” is one of the three things we humans need. Safety, belonging and a measure of respect, will see us through, see us grow into brothers and sisters, see us see in the other the best kind of sibling.
God bless free and safe people, who in their presence, make others free and safe.
