2023.11.21

Reflections from Gloucester – Part III

Praying the Gaps

I reached the Easter Point Lighthouse and the Dog Bar Jetty on Saturday morning. As I walked out onto the jetty, I noticed the rhythm of the gaps between the granite blocks. They occurred every 3.5 feet; 2300 feet of gaps lay ahead. My rough calculation was that there were approximately 650.

I imagined each gap represented a day and realized that if you added 650 days from the COVID lockdown (2020.03.15), you would come up with the HitchHiker date of 2021.12.25 (Christmas Day 2021).

As I walked away from the lighthouse, I prayed and reflected on those gaps representing what I lost in that dark stretch of time: my mom, the church family before COVID-19, the collective insanity and lack of civility in society, and so much more.

When I reached the far end of the jetty, I turned and looked back at the lighthouse in the distance with the morning Sun over its shoulder. It surprises you how far away it is.

Then it came to me that I would cover the same number of gaps walking toward the light as walking away from it. So, I began the journey home, praying along the way. I walked over 2022 and into 2023 and experienced more challenges and losses from those years, including my dad’s passing in April 2033.

As I neared that jetty’s end (or the beginning), I stopped and calculated the date it would bring me to. I found myself on a Friday, only three weeks before my present; that date was 2023.10.06.

Friday, October 6th, may mean nothing to you, but it was an incredible day for me; I had finally come to terms with the collective on that day, mine and others. I felt the scales falling from the eyes of my heart, and I was beginning to see again, even as the tears flowed, blurring my vision. I found myself worshiping while breaking free standing on the last granite slab!

Ironically, I would return home to some complex challenges I had left behind when I left for Massachusetts, including the fallout from the reduction in church staff and the pending closure of our preschool. But I found my light again!

There will be many more gaps to pray, but as long as I intentionally face and walk toward the lighthouse, I will find peace. To the glory of the Triune God of Grace!