Psalm 59

Psalms for Praying 

Nan C. Merrill   

  

And I will sing of your kindness; 

I will sing aloud of your

steadfast love. 

For You have been my Rock 

and my Refuge in the days 

of my distress. 

O my Strength, I will sing 

praises to You, 

for You, O Beloved, have 

renewed my life; 

You have set me free to live 

in gratitude and joy.     

   

 

I am grateful to start my day reading one of Merrill's renditions.  We are almost two months into this journey, and I do think I am bit more courageous because of it.  Lately, I have been thinking of this poem by Rumi.   While generally I do not wake up in fear, thank goodness, it is easy to get distracted almost immediately.  Schedules, emails, weird and troubling news on the internet are noisy contenders for our attention.

  

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty

and frightened. Don't open the door to the study

and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

From The Essential Rumi, translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, 1995.