Everything Belongs

20Aug

If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me and the light around me turn to night,"

Darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike.

-Psalm 139:11,12

Everything belongs. Though when we are in a season of darkness it can be difficult to remember this.

Last year in EfM, we had several reflective conversations about darkness and light. As a child, I was very afraid of the dark, due in part to the stories of “bloody bones” coming up the steps from the basement as told to me by my older cousins. Even as an adult, after a lifetime of city living, it never seems really dark to me. And when it does, I’m still a little afraid of tripping or falling down the stairs.

In our discussions last year from the persistent question of one of our participants, I began to contemplate the darkness in a new light, so to speak. Not so much as something to be feared, but more like Psalm 139 expresses, as an incubator, womb, or state of embracing what is unknown. Something necessary for growth.

God created out of a chaotic dark void. And as those created in God’s image - we, too, must move through voids of darkness, chaos, and the unknown. I hope I can develop more faith this year that with the light will come clarity and creative energy that formed itself in the darkness.

I like the American Standard Version of this verse: - Darkness is not dark to you, and night shines as day. The darkness and light are but one. Everything belongs.

Musical Reflection - Holy Darkness, Dan Schutte

Merciful God, when my fears arise in darkness and unknowing, remind me that trusting in you will bring clarity with the daylight. Amen

Psalms Light Trust Learn Pentecost Growth

Posted by Maria Elliott

Maria Elliott has been Trinity since 1994, first as a parishioner and then for sixteen years establishing the office of stewardship and development, and currently as the Director of Pastoral Care and Spiritual Life.

WIth a degree in Music and Business from Drake University in her native state of Iowa, Maria went first to New York to work for a concert artist management and then for the Arts department at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. At the Cathedral, Maria was confirmed, met and married her husband, The Reverend Michael Kuhn, and began an accidental career in the Episcopal Church. She has served on the Diocesan Stewardship Committee, the boards of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship and the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, as a Stephen Minister, and currently Education for Ministry Mentor.

Maria’s interests include playing the oboe in the New Orleans Civic Symphony and she is currently training to be a Narrative Enneagram mentor. Her daughters, Hallie Wilkins and Sophie Bedaña are Trinity School alumni. Maria has two grandchildren, Celeste and Alden Wilkins.

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