Foggy mornings are not unusual in autumn. Cold, clammy and all-enveloping, fog can confuse our sense of direction, oppress us and compound anxiety. Real and metaphorical fog can smother, leaving us rudderless and floundering, longing for the sun to pierce the mist and give us a glimpse of future security.
What sort of fog might you be in today? An unclear future for yourself or someone you love? A change of home or job? Tiredness where you can’t focus properly on anything? Illness? Unanswered prayer? World-weariness? Status anxiety? Any of these things, and many more, can plunge us into a fog of bewilderment, anger, fear or despair.
How, and when, will the fog lift to take us into the realms of light and clarity? “Sometimes a fog will settle over a vessel’s deck and yet leave the topmast clear. Then a sailor goes up aloft and gets a lookout which the helmsman on deck cannot get. So prayer sends the soul aloft; lifts it above the clouds in which our selfishness and egotism befog us, and gives us a chance to see which way to steer.” (Words of 19th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon)
We sometimes use prayer as a desperate last resort: “God help me!” At that point we relinquish self-dependence.The fog may not clear immediately but God is there in it with us. A case of “Let go, and let God…”
Pam Pointer 