For all the ways in which I found the word ‘mighty’ difficult yesterday, I find today’s word…refuge…a piece of cake. Come to think of it, sometimes a piece of cake is a perfect experience of refuge! Continuing this journey of a-word-a-day in Lent, I will be particularly interested in the photos people might post to give a visual to the word ‘refuge’. Personally, I find this word so easy because I feel as if I have given so much intention in my life to finding places of refuge…places that create shelter and protection for the nurture and care of the soul. The places that have been this refuge for me are sometimes ones I have sought out with great passion and planning. Others simply appeared and offered themselves.
We all are people of landscape whether we are aware of it or not. There are places where we feel more safe than others, places that tell us quite quickly that we have found a good place to build a nest. I have known refuge in places far-flung…the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland is never far from my heart and s sheltering place to me. I have known refuge on Papoose Lake where my husband’s family has a cabin. Staring at glassy water and hearing the sound of a morning loon provides soul shelter. I have also known refuge in the rolling, green hills of Ohio, along the fickle waters of the Mississippi River and in a certain gold flowered chair that sits in my home office. All these and more are places of refuge, places where I have known the warm and welcoming sense of being held by something greater than myself.
The psalms in the Hebrew sciptures are filled with both images and the actual word ‘refuge’. I can imagine those early writers of such heart-filled and passionate songs calling out to God: “How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm after psalm declares with great conviction that refuge can be found in the presence of the Holy. A presence available to all people.
Yes, refuge comes in places and in landscapes that provide shelter for those times when fear or confusion shake us to the bone. But there are also the people who are refuge. You know them, don’t you? The ones we call in the night when the dreams and crazy-making thoughts of darkness threaten to overwhelm. The ones who love us even when we cannot love ourselves or imagine we are lovable. The ones who reach out and pull us close and form a circle of shelter…a place of refuge…from all that life can throw our way. The ones whose names are on our lips and etched in our hearts when we say, when we breathe the word ‘love’.
Wherever we are today, there are those walking past who may be seeking refuge. If we are awake and aware, we can see it in their eyes, the ways in which they dart to and fro looking for a safe place to land. We can see it in the way they clutch their arms across their body to protect their heart, their soul. For there is only a one letter difference between refuge and refugee. Something to think about. Today our action might make all the difference in the world to some one. Perhaps we are being called to be a sheltering place for someone. May we have the grace to notice and to know. May we be ready to be a refuge.