I wrote this, and too the photo, exactly a year ago.
Except above the lintel, to the left of the surviving granite facia, there is a small square hole. That's where two sparrows are building their nest. I watched them come and go. Aye, in a broken world, even the sparrow finds a home. (Psalm 84.3)
And at that moment, something inside nudged me towards hope. You know those moments when you breathe deeply, look at the blue sky, and decide yet again not to give in to despair? And like that other poem by the Psalmist extraordinaire, we hear that still small voice, the birth of defiance which is the backbone of trust, "Why are you cast down and sick to your heart's core? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him!"
Today I hope in God for the return of peace and safety for the people of Ukraine. May those who have to flee find a home and a welcome in the human family where borders are not walls, but lines of safety and help.
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