Once-upon-a-while-ago I wrote a story that emerged as I was thinking about the Hebrew letter Tav. In English, this letter holds meanings like “mark”, “truth”, and “perfection”. This led me to the prophet Malachi, and you can read the story if you search for Malachi on this blog, or listen to it on YouTube below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tav can also indicate both life and death. Both. Last week I was walking in a forest in Stirling, Scotland. Some old trees had blown over during high winds, their roots exposed. Dead, but brimful of life. decaying and producing and providing nutrients and shelter for moss, fungi, insects…. and me. I sat in the shelter of the roots while the icy snow started to fall and remembered this story. The prophet Malachi. Death and life. Decay and renewal. They aren’t separate. One is nourished by the other. Both are present in us. And God, The 3, are present in all things. Look again<\/em>, He said: “Behold, I am doing a new thing, now it springs forth” (Isaiah 43:19 ESV). <\/p>\n\n\n\n So I asked myself … what teeny new thing is growing in me this spring? Nourished by death, by high winds and shaking maybe, but new and beautiful and hopeful still. What new liberation am I experiencing, what new gratitude am I feeling, what new loss am I bearing the weight of? Look carefully. Look again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might want to ask yourself that question too. You might hear Him whisper the question from Isaiah 43 “Do you perceive it?” <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n They are with us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n