Spinning

Every morning we get up, and the world is still spinning. Spinning through time toward eternity. But on the way, the whole surface--I suspect-- is covered with great clamor…and I daresay that most of it savors of some sort of human distress…even if the end result is a new life coming forth to breathe the air of earth, or the final departure of one whose life is spent, there is constant change and stress, accompanied by the challenge to cope.

Just this morning I learned through an e-mailed prayer request that a group of young people ascending a mountain near Kathmandu are in urgent need…one is experiencing altitude sickness and needs to be airlifted down.

Another e-mail described to me the storybook proposal of a friend’s son to his sweetheart—rose petals and a park gazebo figured prominently…I hope to see some photos. I remember this young man as a spunky towhead with a ready smile, not so long ago.

Each of us has our own heart concerns…of various “flavors” and urgencies…the sheer scope and weight would be too much for any one of us to absorb. I have my own, and you have yours.

I remind myself again that, in the words of T.S. Eliot, “He is the still point of the turning world.”