Nights...

Ahhhh to sleep a solid eight hours again...it is no longer the rule, rather the exception when I clock a solid eight...after a physically taxing day yesterday far into the bush, clearing trail and running quads over snow covered kilometres, dead fall abounded and so the saws would come out. Twice this week we've done the work, feeling the satisfaction of a job well done and the push of physical exertion and soreness at the end of the day. The issue arises when you become dehydrated from the exertion and dryness of the air...you forget to hydrate as your breath fogs out with each exhalation...

Leg cramps follow merrily along to remind you, to chuckle at your mistake...and so my night was filled with guzzling water, subsequent trips the ladies room. and odd dreams/nightmares...this mornings first cup of heaven, oh that first sip, came at 0330...sitting in my chair and blearily gazing at the fire...

My friends, peace comes in like the tide...it ebbs, it flows and is as steady as the sun rising in the sky every morning and showering us with colour as it gives over to the night sky and its twinkling star invested reaches. Some nights it deserts me for an easier target perhaps...as my mind turns and wheels along at breakneck speed, I search for distraction and turn on a movie, quietly...I call up a game on my phone until my eyes droop and I drift off again.

Joy comes in the morning, no matter how early dear hearts...I woke with wonder at the gift of freedom; freedom from fear, from grief, from the loss of self to a master manipulator, master abuser. Never let it be said that he has not practiced his craft, over and over and over until it runs on a loop of believability and deceit...smoothly delivered, backed up by fists, by knees and elbows, by hard as hell head, by verbal beat downs lasting through the night and into the morning.

Please hear my heart this morning dear treasures...this is not a bid for sympathy or to drum up horror...no, these things come as no shock to the survivor, the lost one giving death a thought or two or three...it is meant as a mirror, meant to shine a light into the darkness and breath life into that gift from God, that light that has dimmed and dimmed some more until it flickers weakly...but it is there, and there is hope....

Allan Stratton Quote: “Where there is love there is life; where there is. “Where there is love there is life; where there is life there is hope.”

And so I speak truth my friends, my truth...and the truth for so many others. I speak hope and peace, love and joy to places that were so empty of life, they echoed on and on into infinity. Sounds so dramatic, silly perhaps...but I would speak to the lowness of spirit that the victim is experiencing...pushed down and under no longer sure where to turn...until they're absolutely sure that there is Nowhere to turn, they are alone...such are the lies told, spoke, yelled, screamed over them, through them until they feel as see through, as invisible as a gossamer thin spider web...

This is where we come in...we step in with love, with kindness and encouragement...we step in to provide a safe place, a landing pad when they are ready to find their way up and out of the hole they've been buried in....Love saves....grace holds...mercy releases...