newstalk

Sunset on Long Lake.

We leave the dining hall for the waterfront. A certain slant of light draws us there. Beyond the trees, a fading sunset dims warmly above the calming water. Light like rich fabric adorns this fall evening—rich silky dark blues, deep woven purples, velvet crimsons and fiery cashmere oranges, befitting the personages of Mother Earth, Father Sky. Our conversation is common, our laughter rough, like burlap. Yet in this context we are interwoven with threads of fine gold and precious silver. It sparkles in our voices. Names denote people we know, but in this light they become mighty figures of legend, deep wells of wisdom, steadfast anchors of truth and hope. Myth surfaces as fact. Facts remain facts, but only as a thin gossamer veneer. The more one looks, the more one sees.

A fish jumps—perhaps not even jumps, but only breaks the surface of the lake—motion registered on the edge of perception, confirming all that we had suspected to be true. The days are long, but God is with us here, now, always. A condition of complete simplicity, wrote Eliot, costing not less than everything. Anything is possible—laughter, prophecies, dreams, visions, magic—all the regalia that clothe these naked souls of ours. It is all a gift, but with the terrible price of freedom. These eternal moments, and all others, like and unlike, code the patterns of our lives, the weave, the warp, the woof. Moirae. We wear these gifts spun for us by hands we cannot yet even picture, much less grasp. They are apportioned to us; to some much, to some little. We wear these gifts, then we die, naked beneath the sun, grasping after the threads of the wind. Yet in this moment there is peace. I do not know why.

I know only this lake, Long Lake, but I do not know what lies beneath its surface. I know the fish that swims and jumps, but I do not know where it lives or what it does all day. I know my friends, and we talk and laugh together, knowing nothing. And I know the sky is beautiful, though I do not even know what that means. I know that God is here with us, and He will not let go. This is more than I ever knew before, and it’s all I need to know.

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