Prompts from Old Songs and Psalms during the Pandemic: #10

                                      In Peace I shall both lie down and sleep, Lord, make me secure.. From Ps 4

Hear My Words, Oh Lord… at dawn I will plead before you and wait,  from Ps 5

During the night I occasionally fret, but I am not overly worried as life flows on and I ponder in silence.  These times are slow and I am slow as I try to enjoy each day as age advances. 

But then there are disruptions and the unexpected happens.  In Psalm 6 the writer is in distress, weary with sighing, weeping in sorrow with trembling bones.  I dare not complain, as my suffering was acute, not chronic like some friends who live with constant pain.  

I was in the hospital for ten days.  These weeks have alternated between pain, anxious waiting and tranquility.  Finally I had a procedure called “Biliary Duct dilation percutaneous, with SJB”.  The radiologist thinks it went well.  But the doctors in the hospital had given me too much of an antibiotic and I came down with an allergic reaction - hives and extreme itching all over my body.  One of the seven plagues, I guess.  

Thankfully we are able to take a break from the medical regimen and go out to find a quiet place to camp along the Big Hole river.  We had a magnificent view of towering cliffs above with pine trees silhouetted against the blue sky and puffy clouds in quiet majesty. 

 I am reading Kathleen Norris’s book “Acedia and Me”  Acedia, which I was not familiar with, is defined as a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one's position or condition in the world.  This is the way it is in life.  There is a lot of acedia happening these days as people feel listless, restless and out of sorts with isolation. Acedia has been written about by Christian monks and mystics for centuries.  No matter how we may want to pray the psalms and be in tune with the divine presence, life presents us with times of aridness and acedia.  Yes, even boredom.

One day we took a ride over a mountain road with magnificent vistas of  snow capped peaks high above and a herd of elk in the river valley below.  We were the only ones on that road.  It was so easily available - you just have to know where to go.  Every day is not a mountain top experience, but some are.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCjhhvj7mv0