Make the Ordinary Come Alive

Some day, I'd like to do a sermon series (or an art display) on the incarnation.
And I think it should definitely include this poem....

Make the Ordinary Come AliveBy William Martin, Ancient Advice for Modern Parents

Do not ask your children

to strive for extraordinary lives.

Such striving may seem admirable,

but it is a way of foolishness.

Help them instead to find the wonder

and the marvel of an ordinary life.

Show them the joy of tasting

tomatoes, apples, and pears.

Show them how to cry

when pets and people die.

Show them the infinite pleasure

in the touch of a hand.

And make the ordinary come alive for them.

The extraordinary will take care of itself.

A Sabbath Confession

Lord,
I know that sabbath is rest.
I know that you call us to re-center our time and our identity and our work ethic in You.

....but sometimes I feel like 'sabbath' is my excuse to be lazy. a retrospective name for procrastination
....sometimes 'sabbath' is a collapsing-curl-up on the couch or an eternal-clicking-into-the-internet

(something that spins me out of control instead of into it)

....but sometimes (also) the boundaries of deadlines and sermons seem much more pressing (and much more depressing) than that fourth commandment.
                         stress cries, "I don't have time to sabbath!"
                                                       ...and the words hang heavily. exhausted.

Sabbath itself seems like another one of those disciplines that need work in my life.

                                                                                                     

So I swing from one side to the other:

from 'laboring toiler' to 'sloth'
from 'exhausted' to 'unproductive'
...and each pushes me frantically (and guiltily) into the other

until

I realize 

that I can't do it.

not alone.

Lord teach me Your ways. Search me and know my sins--on both sides.

hem me in, behind and before and lay your hand upon me.

Lord, please free me from guilt and show me how to work in the Center. in the Still. 

in knowing, seeking

You.
(not me)
Amen.

Ash Wednesday

And Lent begins...

with the stillness of almost-falling rain.
with the smoldering embers of palm leaves turning
turning into dust
(dust to turn us out of it)
Lent begins.

"Yes!" said the young adult peering into the newly-blackened can.
"These ashes are authentic. None of that ziploc-purchased sterility that comes late in the mail. Our ashes will be real--and we will share them."
We will share authenticity with others.

...because Lent has begun.
And we, ourselves, are turning.