Long Hollow

Thomas Merton said that, not me. But I like it.

I spend my day in silence. In prayer.

In the mornings, it's just me, the dogs and my thoughts. Most of the day I'm on my own in a little office with very little co-worker conversation. At night, Tom sighs and leaves me to the computer.

So I spend a lot of my time in prayer.

Today it started out joyful – how could it be otherwise? I'm blessed to be able to spend a bit of almost every day walking along a country road at sunrise with two goofy dogs whose joy is palpable and contagious. They run, roll in the dirt, sniff, play… and sometimes just stop and gaze in joyful wonder at the world.

It's enough to make you think anything is possible, especially when the birds begin to sing, relishing these warm mornings.

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops… at all. 

Emily Dickinson

But you know how it is – as the sun rises, reality sets in. The reality that bad things, sad things, can happen in the world. 

Sometimes sad things happen all at once. Last week, about the time I heard of my friend Carl's death, I also got word that a friend of mine had been the victim in a home invasion. Here is the offical news report…

On 02/05/2011 at approximately 9:00pm, three Hispanic males dressed in reflective work vests and hard hats committed a home invasion in the 1400 block of North Park Ridge, Deer Park. The suspects knocked on the victim’s door posing as employees from a local cable company. The suspects told our victim that they had information he had been stealing cable service and requested that he meet them in the backyard of the residence to inspect his cable box. The victim met the suspects in his backyard where he was attacked by the suspects. The suspects bound the victim’s hands and feet, and took him back into the residence. The suspects then ransacked the residence, stealing only a handgun. After the suspects left the residence, the victim was able to remove the bounds around his legs and contact a neighbor who phoned the authorities. The police department has been unable to identify the suspects as of this release date. The case is under active investigation.

My friend was watching his young granddaughter at the time, and she witnessed the attack. Of course, she was traumatized.

I've had messages from my friend this week, and although he spent a few days in intensive care, he's back home and says he's doing okay and his granddaughter is much better. But please keep them in your prayers for continued healing, and also that the creeps who assaulted him are found and convicted so they can't do this to anyone else.

While you're praying, please keep the teenage son of a friend in your prayers: I received word today that he's in intensive care. I don't feel free to offer any other details… just please pray for him.

Driving home this evening, with these things weighing on my mind and heart, I spotted this:

Right away, I felt better. 

Have courage for the great sorrows of life,
and patience for the small ones.
When you have laboriously accomplished your daily tasks,
go to sleep in peace
for God is awake.

~ Victor Hugo