Busy Lent

And God said……

³¹ Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Mark 6:31  (NIV)

Our house is relatively quiet these days. But we are B. U. S. Y.

We come and go    Get it done

Busy

Doing

Shuffling

B.  U.  S.  Y.

Oh. I said that.

Busy. Even though it is Lent. And winter hangs on.

  Easter has not dawned

We did attend Ash Wednesday services     Well, it was an evening service

 I could handle that. (Thank You, Father) Then . . . .

          Another day. Another grocery store run

          and Dishes into the dishwasher (thankful I don’t have to scrub each by hand)

          and Dirty clothes into the washing machine

Pick up prescriptions, drop off a bad hearing aid at the Fixer Place

Bring in wood

Make a fire

        

  Light candles after dinner    Just because

Get some rest, child

          Another daylight

    Beds made

     Gas in the car

    Load the walker into the car

          Run the car through the car wash

(thankful it doesn’t have to wait for me to do it myself)

Get some rest, child

          Everyone in bed, lights low, house softly creaks

Balance the checkbook            Call in prescriptions

 (thankful for telephone recording systems)

    and another load into the over-worked but faithful washing machine

             fill Dishwasher, again      it      quietly does its job

                    Night-lights turned on          Oops….rinse the sprouts
(just because I love green things on my counter and in our salads)

Okay, Father, now I am here.

          Silence

                    Finally       I sleep

Sunrise, mark days off the calendar     and buy ice cream-- just because

Sunset

 The house gets dark and it rests again. . . then it wakes and runs    then it rests

Father. Hi.

          Silence

                    Everywhere

                    No thunder    No lightening    No doors slam   

          If a tree falls in the forest, I don’t hear

Another day dawns       B. U. S. Y.

Then . . .

Father, I am here.

         

Daylight            Dirty clothes   Feed the dog,    the cat      the people

Smile, cook, share news, acknowledge birthdays, send e-mails                                

Encourage hurting others, bake molasses cookies, go to another funeral,

unload the walker      walk slowly and hold doors      smile

Re-load the walker       drive     talk about the life lived well

Check on all the far-off children/grands/greats

Truth be told, I expected a quiet revelation at the most

                    A loving whisper at the least

          Just silence         and      The quiet screams all around me

Father. It’s me        Again

          Silence

I sit           Ask for nothing             He does not reply

I go back     Again     

                                       And again

Cold      Silence

               And still     I     Return     

                                                 Again

When did I finally KNOW       . . . . . .   that He sat beside me

           When did the quietness wrap around me      Like a warm blanket

I ponder His sweet, amazing love      and       my     on-going human frailty

His love is greater than all my need

Now I can breathe

                     And carry on     All the things that are mine to do      Alone

     But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:9