It is a mystery indeed.

Happy are the people whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way. Those who go through the desolate valley will find it a place of springs, for the early rains have covered it with pools of water. They will climb from height to height, and the God of gods will reveal himself in Zion. LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; hearken, O God of Jacob. Psalm 84:4-7

Well the thing about that viral “Happy” video is the sense of release. No matter what weights and complications and fears those little dancers have, for at least five or ten seconds at a time, they set them aside, and are in the moment, splashing through the springs of refreshment. Release. He will provide.

I think that is my favorite thing about teaching, for the moment, as I look into the eyes in front of me, the thing that is important is that he or she gets whatever is right here in front of us, whether is be the Greek understanding of hospitality, xenia, or the difference between preterit and imperfect tense. Or how things are a little rough at home and, yes I would love to pray for you. It is a release moment with no little voices crowding in.

And today Lewis quotes from Midsummer’s Night Dream,

Never anything can be amiss

When simpleness and duty tender it

Which in my mind, means bringing a childlike heart to the LORD God of hosts, my Abba Father. And what more perfect example of a child’s heart than beautiful Miss Everette? Her newest trick is the “Put the paper on…your head…your nose…your chin…your shoulder…” And Everette will grab that folded up piece of blue paper and slap it on the appropriate body part, with proud joy and attentive eyes that do not leave mine.

And I am pretty sure she is happy. Simpleness and duty, which, really means fixed attention, hearts set. Release.

And Lewis talks about the mystery of communion. It is a mystery indeed. I do not know and can’t imagine what the disciples understood Our Lord to mean when, His body still unbroken and His blood unshed, He handed them the bread and wine, saying they were His body and blood…Yet I find no difficulty in believing that the veil between the worlds, nowhere else so opaque to the intellect, is nowhere else so thin and permeable to divine operation. Here a hand from the hidden country touches not only my soul by my body.

I hope I do not offend God by making my Communions in the frame of mind I have been describing. The command, after all, was Take, eat: not Take, understand.

And Shelley sent me a Beth Moore quote yesterday, which sustained me throughout the Readers’ Theatre and the third ser/estar lecture in a row, and the drives up and down Speedway where there are no distractions and enough silence to allow the questions and fears to squeeze in by the cracks. She wrote: Now I believe those decisions that felt like stabs in the dark at the time were as determined by God as the ones that burned with conviction.  I've come to believe that very little of this is as fragile as it feels.

 He is not fragile. He provides the springs of water in the valleys and He will carry me from height to height. The God of gods. Jehovah-jireh. His strength. Release.

Happy.