Friday night I read E.B. White’s essay, “The Eye of Edna,” which placed the author in a dichotomous reality between a hurricane as reported by the radio news, and White’s observations of his surroundings.  The 1954 piece was plump with humor, and serious undertones.  White stressed in his accounts of the events unfolding how compelling the radio reportage was, forcing him to continually reevaluate his contradicting perceptions.  The resultant verbal graph of mismatched truths was disjunctive and prophetic.  Half a century later, many of us are still disoriented by news, skewed for one purpose or another.  Over the years I’ve come to believe that the best antidote for distortion is an earnest relationship with God.  God’s truth is immutable and when we study His word, the news loses its power.

My husband and I read the Bible each evening to assure a peaceful sleep and fix guideposts for when we arise.  We are reading Psalm now, one chapter at a time.  Psalm 131 offers comfort and peace, stillness in the storms:   

Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul in is like a weaned child within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever.

Psalm 131:2-3