Psalm Meditation 679
Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time
June 23, 2013

Psalm 90
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;  our years come to an end like a sigh.
10 The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
13 Turn, O LORD! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands—O prosper the work of our hands!
(NRSV)

One of the worst parts about knowing that something is going to end is that we spend so much time worrying about when and how that might be that we forget to enjoy it as it happens. Those of us who worry too much about when and how are the ones who read the last couple of pages of a book to see how it is going to end. It lets us decide if we want to keep reading, it opens some of the secrets of the action. In one sense it lets us relax since we know how it is going to end. In another sense it takes some of the wonder and expectation out of it simply because we know too much about where it is going. Knowing that there will be an end also sets us up to be disappointed when we come to the place in which we ask the question, “is that all?”

One of the best parts about knowing that something is going to end is that it becomes very precious to us and we find joy in treasuring each moment. Eating an ice cream cone is a delicate balance between savoring each delicious taste and getting it all eaten before it melts away completely. If we eat too fast we take the risk of ‘brain freeze.’ If we eat too slow we run the risk of having it melt down to nothing without us. Done well, we can continue to savor the tastes and moments of that ice cream and cone even after it is actually finished.

With the psalmist, we have some idea that there is more to the story. We know that life is filled with moments of despair, illness, pain and any number of bad and terrible things. We also know that there are moments of deep and abiding joy, that there are relationships to treasure long after the day to day parts of them are past, that how we look at something can determine whether it is finally good or not. We know that God is the final victor without giving away all the surprises, even as we go through each of the moments that make up our lives.

June 17, 2013