One For the Road #2: Psalm 131 - The Eye of the Hurricane

Another Psalm paraphrase, this time on Psalm 131. It also draws on Isaiah 30:15. There were two images strongly in my mind - one of the eye of the hurricane as a place of mysterious calm at the centre of the storm, and the second of being kept safe inside the strong hands of God.

The Eye of the Hurricane

Held in the hurricane’s eye
By strong and gentle hands
I am reluctantly at rest.

I am not done with wrestling:
This storm of whys and hows and whens
Has not spent its fury yet:
It rages still.
Not on some distant hill
But all around, within.

Here, in the hurricane’s eye
I huddle, a handsbreadth from the fearsome gust
That races round.
I dare not venture out a hand
To feel its power.
I would be tugged away
And flung up, tossed like a discarded wrapper,
And cast down God knows where.
I must be still, be still.

‘God, don’t hold me here’, I cry
Don’t make me wait in silence here.
The storm is calling me – I must tame it
To silence this soul’s seeking.
The questions, questions
Whose stark unansweredness is the cyclone’s rage
I must go – it is my storm.

"If you want to go now, you can, but you go alone."
Comes back his answer.
He has offered me a refuge, not a prison.
If I choose to step away
These strong fingers will release their hold
And let me go.
I ponder.

The storm blusters on, unchecked.
Will it abate? I do not know.
He will not tell me, yet.
I know I do not have the strength
To face it down and stand my ground.
There will be time enough for that.
For now, I must rest down on him
And recoup my strength.

And so, in the hurricane’s eye
Held in these strong and gentle hands
I am reluctantly at rest.

RKL 5.07.05

Comments

[wilsonian]

Another powerful piece.

I read it, and not 10 minutes later a friend called who is smack-dab storm central. It was powerful, praying for her with you post in my mind...

As ever, thanks.

[Lorna]

He has offered me a refuge, not a prison

beautiful. Bless you