Tish Harrison Warren, in her wonderful book, Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep:
“The losses I’ve sustained make me afraid of what’s ahead. I begin to think, ‘Not one more thing, Lord. Do not take away one more thing.’
But, of course, we can’t make that bargain with God. We can scale the heights of human knowledge and still not know what will happen by breakfast tomorrow.”
Yet, despite that painful reality (yes, it is), she continues…
… As Christians, we take up watching as a practice — a task even. We stay on the lookout for grace.
We proclaim that even in the deepest darkness there is one we can trust, who will not leave us. We believe that even if the worst comes to pass there is a solidity to beauty, to God himself, that will remain.
Our posture of waiting does not deny the horros of the night, but it bets on the morning to come.
Fear also keeps us on the lookout, but instead of the dawn, we imagine only desolation. We assume there will not be grace enough for what lies ahead. Fear tells us there is no one with us who can be trusted on this dark road.
In this prayer of Compline, we pray for those who watch. Sure, I take this literally — we are praying for late-night security guards, the police, firefighters, whoever eyes the military radar.
But when I pray this prayer, I’m also praying for those who wait and watch, not knowing what’s to come. In this sense, all of us are ‘those who watch’.”
Amen. I pray for each of you readers who are up, wherever you are, at night or in the night of your life.
We must watch for the grace God gives, and gives to others, and if we take notice, we will notice that God is everywhere. But especially right here.
Oh, and if I post a lot of quotes from Warren’s book, it’s because it’s been so deeply meaningful to me these past 8 months. I think you’ll like it too. It’s wonderfully sober, because there’s no artificial exuberance, nor is there morbid and pointless reflection – except that which points in the direction of Resurrection. Even if our faith in that is fragile, God’s promise of it is not.
