We Are the Leaves in the Dark of the Night

AM Psalm 16, 17 • PM Psalm 22
Amos 5:1-17 • Jude 1-16 • Matt. 22:1-14

In today’s Reflection we read psalm 16, a Miktam* of David:

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.

I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also dwells secure.

Occasionally, when I wake up a laggard feeling comes over me followed by worries. Often something as small as not being able to find an address overwhelms me. But then I might recall, with no objective, the Requiem we sang at church, or the singing of hundreds of eleventh and twelfth grade students and the conducting of an individual who was inspired, or the smile on my daughter's face when she saw her son singing, and I am renewed.

Recently, I saw a play, Tiny Beautiful Things, performed by four people so secure in their desire to do their best that I was cast into a new world. I was amazed, not at the outcome so much, as that plain old ordinary people can rise to such a call. What joy!

*a poem to suggest atonement

Written by Rebecca Newth

...who thanks God for counsel in the night and daughter Olivia for the title, Leaves.