Icons

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling very cold and empty. No particular reason, just the early morning gloom that I sometimes wake up with. I got out of bed and dressed and went into my prayer closet (I do literally have a prayer closet, or rather I have my icons and prayer books on a bookcase in a closet) to do the Morning Prayers.

I wasn't really thinking about it, but at the end I reminded myself to kiss the icons that are on the top of the bookcase and hung on the walls. As I did so, I realized that I'm not all alone. The icons reminded me that there is the cloud of witnesses St. Paul talks about, the Church Triumphant, which prays for us if we ask it. I literally felt so warm and joyous! It was such a remarkable change from what I had been feeling just before.

It strikes me as interesting that I needed that physical contact with wood and paint to remind me of the Scripture. I needed my cloud of witnesses there. I think that is one of the reasons I love the Orthodox church. It recognizes that we do live in a fallen world and need our senses raised up to heaven.

My "prayer closet"