I am composing this article 16 years after the attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
This event altered the way we view the world and presented us with a plethora of spiritual challenges. But, every day can produce personal tragedies or moments of incredible joy.
It is my experience that these moments have in them an opportunity for a heightened awareness of God's presence. What parent has not crept into the place where the newest addition to the family is sleeping and felt moved to prayer and spiritual wondering?
I have also come to realize that almost all the joyful and the tragic events are bound to the immediate day whereas "the next day," can last indefinitely and be some of the most defining times in our lives. The psalmist must have known this truth as he wrote in Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may endure the night, but joy comes in the morning."
Recently I encountered two people that have experienced personal tragedies and later they had spiritual visions that joyfully directed their "next day." Their new normal included reaching out beyond themselves in Christ-like ways.
A friend had a double radical mastectomy. One morning as she was getting dressed when she unintentionally opened the drawer where she kept her bras. She began to sob. Then followed the silence. In the silence she remembered an article about the local domestic violence center and how sometimes the women left their abuser with only the clothing they were wearing.
She called the director and after they had talked she decided to annually donate new bras to the shelter. She felt a new peace.
A few weeks later I was on vacation. One day I was on a charter fishing boat with our daughter and her sons. The first mate was a disabled veteran. He had served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. On his last tour of duty an IED exploded and took off his legs below the knees.
He told us that before his injuries his favorite thing to do was go with his wife to the giant boot sale at an outlet mall. They spent hours shopping together and would buy new boots.
One morning as he was sitting alone on the porch watching the sun rise over the Gulf of Mexico, he had a vision and felt a new purpose. Later that morning he called the director of a nearby VA Hospital and shared his vision with him.
When it was once again time for the giant boot sale, he and his wife each bought a pair of boots and on the way home stopped at the VA Hospital and gave them to the director to distribute. He felt a new spiritual peace.
Symbolic gestures can be positives forces that can direct us during all our "the next day." Our new normal can be firmly ground in self-sacrifice and giving us a purpose of how we can serve our neighbors and our loving God. Weeping can endure for the night but joy comes in the morning.
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Ken Parks is the former rector of St. Theodore's Episcopal Church in Bella Vista. He can be reached by email to [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Religion on 09/20/2017