Your Refuge

²From the end of the earth, I will call to you, when my heart is overwhelmed.

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

³For you have been a refuge for me,

A strong tower from the enemy.

⁴I will dwell in your tent forever.

I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings.  --Psalm 61:2-4

Retreating to a sacred place has always been a habit of mine when life events get overwhelming.  It is one of the things I have appreciated about hospitals - how they invariably have a chapel somewhere onsite.  It is one of the things I have decried as crazy on the part of churches that lock their doors.  Fully comprehending the irrational acts of vandalism that churches endure, I remain steadfast in my belief that their doors need to remain open.  Retreating to a sacred place is often a last straw coping tool.

This Psalm is comforting in the sense that it affirms this habit.  No matter how difficult things can get, there is a refuge, a rock,  to which we can flee.  Now more perfect people than I may be able to just "go into" communion with God at those difficult times.  But for me, I have to physically pull myself out of the space I'm in and move me to a quieter space, and if I can associate that space with the sacred it's way better.  It's one of the reasons I have tended to make altar places at home and office.  They provide a centering point and a reminder of keeping The Holy nearby when many things can swirl around and spin us away from the Refuge of our lives.  So, when things get chaotic, and they often will at some point, get to a place of sacred quiet and remind yourself that someone bigger is in charge.