“Send out your light and your truth,
that they may lead me,
and bring me to your holy hill
and to your sanctuary. ” Psalm 43:3
This photo is from High Rock on South Mountain in Maryland looking west over the Cumberland Valley. Although this place is accessible by road, I got there via a short spur trail from the AT that runs along the mountain’s side below this rock. High Rock is famous for being a hang gliding launch site.
Most of the time when I have read this verse, I think of myself on the ground, pleading for light (somewhere up in the sky) to show me the way on my dark path. But this morning, the verse struck me differently. What if God’s light and truth is the hang glider; I am the one jumping off the rock? The hang glider then carries me as I bring God’s light and truth to those who need to hear. (Yes, I am using my imagination.) To be honest, I believe God’s sanctuary is down in the valley with those in need and not on some remote mountain. (I’ll argue with psalmist on this one.) I and the rest of us are called to to help pilot this light and truth of God to some extent, although I’m not exactly sure where I will land today, right? Any current of wind or the Spirit may take me to another field entirely. A coffee house? A doctor’s office? A check out line? So here’s a question for you which only you and the Hang-gliding Spirit can answer: to whom might God’s light and truth be carrying you today? Meditate on that thought while you watch this jump off of High Rock and its subsequent landing.
Suggestions:
1. Take this verse with you and ponder its meaning for you throughout the day. What do you notice? What do you wonder? To whom might God’s light and truth be taking you today? And click here if you would like to read a blessing for leaving the mountain written by Jan Richardson.
2. Or read all of Psalm 43 to discover how this verse fits into the psalm or to discover a different verse.
3. Or comment with a photo of your own that illustrates this verse’s meaning for you.
Tomorrow’s verse: Psalm 44:5
Starting January 1, 2016, for 150 days I am posting a daily psalm verse with a photo that is a visual meditation on the text for me. Each day a verse from the next psalm is chosen until all 150 psalms have been featured. To participate you may subscribe to my blog at https://elainedent.net or “friend” me on Facebook and watch for the daily links to blog posts. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and most of the photos are from a cell phone or small camera while hiking the Appalachian Trail or the C&O Canal/Great Allegheny Passage Trail.
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