Today's PAYG began with this song...

Take me to a quiet place
When I can be with You
And all my cares can slip away from view
Take me to a secret place
Where You are all I see
And everything is how it's meant to be

If I leave the world behind
Surely I will find
Sanctuary in You
I'm so tired of it all
I need a place to fall

Nowhere else will do
My sanctuary is You

I never knew there was such grace
I never want to leave this place

If I leave the world behind
Surely I will find
Sanctuary in You
I'm so tired of it all
Ineed a place to fall
Nowhere else will do
Sanctuary ïs You.

Karen Money

What struck me especially was the first stanza and the idea that "all my cares can slip away from view".  As I head it sung, I was reminded of a once popular worship song 'Jesus, we celebrate your victory' with the (in my view) unhlepful line 'and is his presence our problems disappear' usually accompanied by mumblings of 'oh no they don't' or 'really?'

The idea that problems 'slip away from view' may be saying the same thing with different words, but for me it carries a different sense, one of temporary respite from the intensity of feeling that can threaten to overwhelm us in tough times.  I have a number of blog friends, web friends and life friends for whom life is very painful or anxious just now, and I know that they need places, spaces and people of santuary - a respite from the storm, allowing them to escape, however fleetingly, from the pressures they feel.

Sanctuary, a place of shelter in you, Lord

Not the stilling of the storm, but stillness within it

Sanctuary in steaming cups of tea drunk at kitchen tables

Sanctuary in bracing walks along wind-blown paths

Sanctuary in retail therapy and pamper sessions

Sanctuary in the other-world of a good novel

Sanctuary in the rhythmic feel of well-loved poetry

Sanctuary in the crescendo (or diminuendo) of favourite music

Sanctuary in late-night conversations live or online

Sanctuary in familiar words of old hymns and new ('secular') songs

Sanctaury, shelter, a place to rest, a place to escape for a moment...

A place from which we emerge just a smidgeon stronger, braver, wiser

A place we find, ultimately, in you.

For those who mourn, for those who fear, for those facing uncertainty may you find sanctuary this day.