Today's psalmist talks to himself on purpose: why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him.

Preaching to your own soul is a lost art worth recovering, and today's readings model it: thirst that turns into hope, blurry sight that gets a second touch, and a cross accepted on purpose. Speak to yourself kindly and truthfully as you read.

The blind man of Bethsaida saw people like trees walking, and Jesus did not leave him at partial. A second touch, and everything came clear. Peter, one paragraph later, is the same story in a soul: Messiah, yes, but a Messiah without a cross, and Jesus keeps working on his sight too.

So talk to your soul the way the psalmist does, and let Jesus finish what He started in your seeing. Downcast is a season, not an address: put your hope in God, for you will yet praise Him. And take the cross-shaped correction when it comes, because heeding it, Proverbs says, makes your life a signpost to somebody behind you.