From the Deep

The enshrouding blackness
engulfs my being.
Alone.
Afraid.
My mind is a whirlpool
ever inwards
towards an eternity of intolerable pain.

I used to reach out
a hand
into the black unknown
in hope.
But my soul was torn from me,
and I hoped no more.

It was like a pit.
Unfathomable depth.
Torturous groveling.
My tears the only sound
in the impenetrable darkness.

I remember that pit,
and the fear,
and the hopelessness
of an eternal agony of mind,
and the soulless wandering
in uncharted desert.

Now I find myself at this oasis,
this unlooked-for-harbour,
this refuge.
I did not deserve that gracious act
to pluck me from that all-powerful deep.

I had no hope,
but turning back along the path I came,
I see a gracious hand
and a loving smile.
I see a guiding light
and feel a protecting wing.

Nestling in your warmth,
my cold heart has thawed.
The blackness of my soul
has blossomed into a million blooms.

My tears have turned into jewels,
and my bitterness to honey.

But I remember the pit.
Keep me, O LORD,
Safe
in the refuge of your wings.

Elizabeth  (Ruth, Atkinson)

A Joyful Act

It is a joyful act to study eternal joy. It is merciful that God has allowed sinners to study God's mercy. It is the delight of theological reflection to see in their proper light the unity, harmony, balance, and proportion of the characteristics of the divine life. A right understanding of this proportionality goes far to prevent misunderstandings of God.

Thomas C. Oden's A Systematic Theology: Classic Christianity says:

God is the source and end of all things, that than which nothing greater can be conceived; uncreated, sufficient, necessary being; infinite, unmeasurable, eternal One, Father, Son, and Spirit; all-present, all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-empowering creator, redeemer, and consummator of all things; immanent without ceasing to be transcendent, Holy One present in our midst; whose way of personal being is incomparably free, self-determining, spiritual, responsive, and self-congruent; whose activity is incomparably good, holy, righteous, just, benevolent, loving, gracious, merciful, forbearing, kind; hence eternally blessed, eternally rejoicing, whose holiness is incomparable in beauty (75).