Empty Spaces

Loneliness is awful, especially during the hype and 'happiness' of Christmas.  Everyone else seemed to be enjoying families, copious quantities of food and huge amounts of stuff they didn't really need.   I've been thinking a lot about this over the past few days - not just because the festive decorations are gone and the home looks rather empty; it's because, although I am blessed with so much, I have started to miss my Dad who died several years ago.  I miss our conversations, I miss his constant affirmation, I miss his strong embrace when we hugged - even his earthy smell.  Harry was most certainly a flawed dad, but he was amazing and he was mine.  The psalmist David, knew what it was to be alone, more than that, pursued by violent men!  In Psalm 63 (as in many other psalms) he writes about discovering the God who knows, draws near and massages the broken hearted: "You God are my God (he writes) earnestly I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.  I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.  Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you" (verses 1-3).  David's context was dry as a chip, but his relationship with his God wasn't.  Today as an act of my will i'm going to look up and praise Him for all I have had, all I have and all I anticipate from the hand of gentle omnipotence.