Dark night of the soul

Excerpted from a recent e-mail I sent to a friend:

"Sometime soon I'll write out more about my current state, but not now. It's one of those moments when on the surface it may look like I'm doing better than I've been in a long time - I'm really involved at church, I'm playing for two symphonies, I work out every day either before or after work, sometimes even with a personal trainer, but I also can't sleep well at night (either can't fall asleep, or wake up entirely too early), constantly question why I'm still where I am, and the moment I arrive at work each day, my heart sinks, my soul fills with rage and dread, and the physical feeling of oppression causes my shoulders to droop, my face to sag downward, my chest to become tight, and my head to begin to throb.

It sounds like we're both just holding on by a thread. May that thread be strong and lead us down paths that will bring us sure-footing. Amen."


With the theme of such darkness, let me share some photographs that recently came my way. These were taken in Magee, Mississippi, where the eye of the storm passed overhead.

Maybe these pictures, with their combination of beauty and dread, can remind us of God's presence even in the worst of times.