It was very, very early morning, the inky blackness of the sky above seamlessly meshing with the just as black water below.
I knew they were out there.
I could hear them.
Somewhere.
Only as I moved silently along did I occasionally catch a glimpse of them, their shadowy figures briefly revealed by the faint lights flicked on from distant kitchen windows along the shore where residents sleepily prepared their morning coffee.
Not a breath of a breeze bestirred the blackness of the water as little red blinking bow lights winked through the darkness, the whooshing throb of matched oars and creaking oarlocks the only sights and sounds, as if amphibious monsters were approaching ever nearer, striking fear, portending doom, demise imminent.
Then, there was no sound.
All was unearthly still.
I strained to hear, to catch a glimpse, to quiet my pounding heart.
Slowly, imperceptibly, then more and more, I saw what had caused the crews in the eights and fours and doubles and some singles like me to glide to a stop.
Sunrise.
From behind the distant mountain, far from where we watched on the motionless water where we caught our breath on the lake, the sky changed from black to purple to pink to orange and then yellow as the bright herald of the day announced a new dawn.
Divine love, and for that matter human love, is like that.
The Psalmist David wrote, “When early morning comes, let your love satisfy all our needs. Then we can celebrate and be glad every day for the time we have left” (Psalm 90:14).
They say that love only comes once in a lifetime, that adage therefore exhorting lovers to cherish one another.
But occasionally, and by contrast rarely, love does come twice.
And when love comes twice, it’s like that very early morning row through the darkness, shadowy forms passing in the night.
But then – then – we are royally invited to witness the celebration of the sun – like a bride coming upon whom all eyes are turned – being united with a new day, and it’s a new beginning, a fresh and beautiful and wonderful new start.
Love is like that.
