"Midway in our life's journey"

So, yesterday I passed the old Medieval tipping point, the point at which the Pilgrim awoke to find himself "astray from the straight road" and "alone in a dark wood."

By the grace of God, in the light of Christ and through the everpresence of the Comforter, I am neither astray or alone - though I recognize how easily I could be.

And today, though I can't put my finger on any particular "why," I feel very, very blessed.

I feel very grateful to the Master of the Universe and Captain of Our Salvation.

I feel grateful for asparagus soup, for children, for hope in what is not yet seen, for a song like "Mr. Tambourine Man" that expresses so well what I so often feel:

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship,
My senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip,
My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels
To be wanderin'.

I'm ready to go anywhere,
I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way,
I promise to go under it.

and for the Psalms that do the same.

from Psalm 116

Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
I will walk before the Lord In the land of the living.

What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people.

Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints.
O Lord, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;
You have loosed my bonds.

I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
Now in the presence of all His people,

In the courts of the Lord's house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!

I feel grateful for friends I can talk with regularly and for friends I rarely talk to but who sit out there on the edge of my mind like jewels.

I feel grateful for 5:30AM and for the all the meetings I have today.

I feel particularly grateful for all the love and beauty in the world.

I feel grateful for all the mistakes I have made in that first half of the journey, especially those that were made in love but even those that taught me things about myself I might not then have wanted to know.

I feel grateful for my Sony DSC-R1, which is just a great camera for for me, and for the subscription to LensWork that I got for my birthday.

And more than anything these days, I feel very grateful for my wife, who is far more of a Beatrice to me than she or anyone else could possibly guess.