In the Fourth Watch

In the fourth watch, so often You come.It is here in these early hours that at times, the dark and cold brought fear.Fear and tumult in this heart.Worry, for images better left unimagined.The quiet and the still revealed the storm within.There were times when these sweet, blessed hours saw You standing just over there, on my rolling waves, outstretched Arm, while I secured my bow for yet more fear, missing You completely.In the fourth watch, where there was no storm, I was overtaken by its fury.This, the way of the deceiver-to project the image of lightning, hail, a roaring lion’s glaring teeth…seeking to devour.And indeed deception will devour…in the fourth watch of the night, when the day is just there, when the light is so near.Though in this world we will have tribulation, You have overcome. In all these things, you have made us to more than overcome; to overcome through You. Even in this dark planet, pockets of Heaven, glimpses of Glory are always here, and we may live in it, if we believe. Even in this cold land, you’ve seen fit to show me these places, and to let me dwell there often, for some unknown reason. My life has been full of your beauty, favor, and tenderness. It is often that I stand by your warmth and light, warming my hands, and love to imagine others standing by that light within me, as we pull through this final watch of the night together….It is here where quiet brings truth.The truth being that we have nothing to fear.The truth being that we are not alone.The truth being complete peace.It is in the hours just before dawn when our spirit can hear Your Spirit, and receive…Here, now, the spurious can be faced down, the false jettisoned, as we take your outstretched Arm and lay our head on your truth.The waves are gone. Such quiet, and beauty, and rest.Here, as the final watch is ended and the day begins, please let me take that rest and build a life on it. Please help me illustrate this garden in which I dwell, Your mercies new every morning,In the fourth watch of the night.