You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 91.1-2
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When I close my eyes,
other than to sleep,
sometimes, I do so to avoid seeing this world’s
elemental miseries
wrought by natural calamities
and the work of the hands of human cruelty
and etched in my mirrored-countenance’s deep-lines of spiritual poverty.
And when I close my eyes to evade all this,
sometimes, I relish the darkness
that, for me, implies Your presence;
for You, Almighty One,
alway beyond the reach of my reason,
my conceiving or comprehending,
dwell in that shadow far-surpassing my fullest knowing.
Aye, O Lord, my God,
You are Shadow;
yet Your Darkness is brighter
than the most brilliant light.
Therefore, alway in You,
come what may,
come whene’er,
I do not…I will not fear
to make You my safest refuge,
my trusted dwelling-place.
occasional observations of mind and heart, soul and spirit 
Love this Paul! Sometimes being in the dark is a good thing! I too close my eyes quite a bit other than to sleep. It’s a fairly new thing for me, and You may remember that I’m afraid of the dark.
But recently when I close my eyes, like you just to shit stuff out, I too can feel God’s presence. The first couple of times it felt odd and maybe even overwhelming, but now I feel peace. I sleep better now too because I now try to shut the world out and just center myself with God before I even get into bed. I love how you phrased it as a “dwelling place” because at first it seemed like I was hiding. But a dwelling place is a good place to go right??
Thanks & Love
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Yes, dear Loretta, a dwelling place is a good place to go…
And, in light of the troubles of the world, I love your error in writing, which, for me, speaks volumes of revelatory truth: “…when I close my eyes, like you just to shit stuff out…” I know you meant “shut” and not “shit”, yet, for me, so often – and I’ve been a newshound ever since I can remember, for I learned to attend to the events of the day from my parents and my godparents – so much of what we hear and see in the news airwaves these days is unedifying shit, which, on increasing occasions, I avoid by changing channels or closing downloads or casting the newspaper aside.
Now, in this poem-prayer, I’ve gotten to a (and, I pray, I can remain in that) space/place where, by faith, my trust in God carries me through our troubled times; not that those troubled time will end (for they may not; indeed, they may grow fiercely worse!), but rather that I have a welling place in God of greatest safety even if…even though my life may (at some point, will) end.
Love
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And I called myself “proofreading” it before I sent it!!! LOL!! I’m sure I was multi-tasking…. but as you pointed out… my error can fit in many situations these days!!!! I love your point about being in “greatest safety” in your place with God… On a daily basis in my real (non-Alzheimer’s related) job we try to provide greatest safety for people too!! Now only if we all felt Safeway with God we wouldn’t even need the security profession.
Love
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One word to your point about being safe, thus, not needing the security profession: Amen. BUT it ain’t so, is it? So much, too much in this world of hurt and harm makes the security profession necessary and, individually, our attentiveness to our surroundings and circumstances; not to dwell in fear, but rather to live with prudence.
Love
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