Dear church family,
I recently read something lovely in Annie Dillard’s book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. She describes her house that’s nestled in the mountains of Virginia at the bank of a creek, like an anchor out at sea. She writes:
The creeks… are an active mystery, fresh every minute… Mountains are giant, restful, absorbent. You can heave your spirit into a mountain and the mountain will keep it, folded, and not throw it back as some creeks will. The creeks are the world with all its stimulus and beauty; I live there. But the mountains are home.
Dillard is describing two important aspects of our lives. On the one hand, life is ever-changing, transient, and dynamic – like a creek. On the other hand, life is rooted, connected, and constant – like a mountain. Both are true, and both bear witness to the life of our God, who is, as St. Augustine said, beauty ever ancient and ever new.
I share Dillard’s words because they seem to describe my busy summer thus far. Between traveling to South Carolina and Georgia to visit family, hiking Mount LeConte, and soon spending a week out west, we’ve had a lot on our plate. And all of it has made me feel like a creek – going with the flow, moving this way and that, prone to rush or meander depending on the circumstance and season. Maybe you can relate.
How grateful I am, then, to know there are mountains beneath it all to keep us steady, like anchors at sea. These mountains are spiritual practices, like prayer and Scripture-reading and worship. They’re also our trusted brothers and sisters in Christ, whom we can trust and depened upon. Most of all, they’re the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, whose love is steadfast and sure. We may feel like we live in the creek, but the mountains are home. Thanks be to God.
See you Sunday,
Blake