This morning, brick by brick, I dismantled my day in prayer. Lingering in the quiet chapel after Lauds I took the day apart before it even began, letting my plans, my constructions, my assumptions, my dreams absorb back into God like the nighttime dew absorbs back into the day.
Sure, I will follow the calendar. I will be present for the scheduled arrival of guests. I will attend to my assigned duties in the monastery. But I’ll do so after having first let the day implode into praise, after letting the Dawn from on High break upon me and shatter my heart into freedom, into shards of light that will illumine the way as, brick by brick, I construct the day.
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
He has come to his people and set them free…
…In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.