“I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy; *
for you have seen my affliction;
you know my distress.”–Psalm 13:7
Clearly the psalmist knew what it was like to have the clerk at the office supply store “check in back” and find the very last one of whatever obtuse item is on the supply list from one of your child’s teachers. (And, who says that Holy Scripture doesn’t relate to the problems of our modern times?)
Here we are at the start of the academic year and the start of the program year at St. Alban’s. We are at one of those cross roads or transition moments that happen during the year. The rhythm of the summer is ended and a new rhythm is starting to tap out a new beat. The summer ends, the school year starts, we put away summer clothes and our more casual sense of time and get ready for fall with it’s more exacting and full schedules, time tables and commitments.
For many, these transitions cause some amount of “getting used to,” even though we’ve been at this moment before–probably every year of our lives since we were able to attend school. While perhaps full-on “distress,” as the psalmist puts it, isn’t what many of us feel there may be a pang of reluctance to dance to the new beat of this time of the year, even though this can also be a time of excitement over new beginnings and new experiences ahead.
The good news here is that God is with us in those moments of not just wanting to hit snooze, but wanting to turn off the alarm all together. Mercifully, God is also with us as we are enlivened and re-energized by the possibilities of what we will experience or learn or create in the months ahead. The good news is emmanuel: God with us, in every moment.
The Daily Cup 