Week 35.

The Fall (you know, the big one) has been on my mind in earnest this week, and I have felt heavy and simply achingly sad as I have contemplated the fragile nature of life and the harshness of life here in the "wilderness." On Sunday morning, I awoke with this feeling still haunting me and exhausted from the busyness of the week, I briefly thought about staying home from church. But I told David that I stood in need of comfort and so I was going to church. I was so grateful as I took the sacrament, to remember my Savior and his constant succor. There was a touching talk which reminded me of truths I already know, that as Christ suffered, in his moment of deepest sorrow, His Father sent an angel to comfort him. And that He does the same for us. But I was most especially grateful for the closing hymn. As I raised my voice and sang these words,

Oh, refresh us, oh, refresh us, Trav'ling thru this wilderness.

I clearly felt the comfort of heaven and a fervent gratitude to know that we are not traveling alone. The greatest blessing of my week came from singing these simple lines, written more than 200 years ago, by John Fawcett who, though separated by time and specific experience, must have felt at some point, the same feelings I felt this week, here in the lone and dreary wilderness.