Notes on Hope Devotional
Fog
By Sue Fulmore
We don’t get fog very often where I live on the dry prairies of Alberta. When it does come, it feels like a brand-new world. A world of mystery and magic where anything is possible. I imagine I might turn a corner and find a kindly elf or forest nymph.
In some ways, the fog feels like a cocoon, surrounding and enveloping me in soft light. I look at the world around me as if through a soft-focus filter on a camera, or as though a gauzy curtain has dropped from the sky.
The trees in the distance are scarcely visible, their shapes muted, ghostly, and mysterious.
Earth and sky seem as one, sharing the same hue. And barely perceptible, the sun tries hard to break through the opaque barrier.
I head out the door to walk and celebrate the beauty that comes with the fog. As I think deeper though, I come to realize my dislike of this state of affairs.
The fog allows me to see only a little way ahead, which is completely fine on familiar paths. But when the way is unknown and obscured, I do not like it. The foggy landscape makes me think of just how little I know about the future, how unclear it all is. I don’t think I am alone in wanting to know what is ahead in life. We would prefer a blueprint rather than this indistinct muted future. Maybe part of that is our desire to be the architects of our own lives – in control, autonomous.
Fog requires me to trust in the unknown, the obscured, the hidden plans of God which are ahead that I cannot see.
If I allow myself, I can trust in the not-knowing; I can rest in it even because I know that God sees me, hears my cries, and is on his way to help me always. He knows the path intimately and I can trust him to guide me. When anxiety reaches into my heart, I find it helpful to pray breath prayers—short phrases matched with each inhale and exhale that remind me I am not alone in all that is unknown.
These words from Isaiah come to mind as I look into the fog, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar path I will guide them. I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them”. We need not fear; we have a guide.
I wonder if there is something that feels obscured in your life right now. A move, a change in jobs or family dynamics, a loss, retirement?
Maybe this breath prayer will be helpful for you too,
Inhale: Even though I cannot see,
Exhale: Jesus, you know the way.
Sue Fulmore is a freelance writer and speaker seeking to live an examined life. She pursues beauty on the regular, believing it soothes and sustains, and points us toward the Creator. She seeks to point others to a more examined life and a deeper connection to God through her writing. Sue currently shares an empty nest with her husband of almost 4 decades in Alberta, Canada. Sue is the proud long-distance mom of two adult daughters, and is still learning to navigate this stage. She tends her garden in the summer and indoor plant babies year-round. Sue prefers tea over coffee, baking to cooking, and will always find new ways to express her creativity. You can find her at: Sue Fulmore - Midlife examined (@suefulmore) • Instagram photos and videos and A Capacity for Wings | Sue Fulmore | Substack