Johnstown, NY-   This morning…one of my favorite views is to peek out the bathroom window in the early morning at sunrise at the Rectory and look over at the church tower. The rising sun drapes changing hues of color minute by minute, trying on the outfit of the new day, and I stand in gratitude, Today is bittersweet as I saw the sun rise, saw the colors drape and change and knew it would be months before I would pray over this view again.

Of course we are doing something exciting— sunrise in Iona, Venice and Santorini, among many other places, but there is something about home, isn’t there? Something about the deep heart connection of even this simple view that reminds me who I am, who God has called me to be, the city where I serve, the mountains not far off.

I leave at God’s call as well, called to something more, to music I have not yet heard, prayers I cannot yet imagine. But always I carry the Mizpah prayer, first spoken by Laban to his nephew Jacob, as we prepare to leave:

“May the Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent one from another” Genesis 31: 49

30 minutes to boarding….may the Lord watch between me and thee…may the Lord watch between me and thee