Today’s word is #fear - The phrase “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” always puzzled me… that was until I learned that the Hebrew word for fear (yir’ah) also means reverence. We “fear” the Lord because the Lord is holy, or rather so very “other” than us that we cannot help but be stricken with awe and reverence. I can point to several times in my life that the fear of the Lord was real and tangible to me, and in each case I had an overwhelming feeling of awe and knew that the ground I stood on was holy. One such instance was taking this picture a little over a year ago, as I stood by the Pigeon Point Lighthouse about an hour south of San Francisco. It is my desktop wallpaper on my laptop, and a printed copy hangs in between my kid’s rooms. Other than the natural beauty of this image, what about it makes me think of fear, reverence, awe, and a holy other God? It is because I am reminded of that moment. I had grown weary, my eyes were dim, my head was down, my nose was buried in books, my heart was fragile, my ears were clogged, and my plate was flooded. I needed to get away, open my eyes, and encounter a holy other God anew. Miles from home I was able to rediscover a little fear in my life; and it has made all the difference. (at Pigeon Point Lighthouse)
