Leap day

I didn't plan on writing anything about the election. I wrote it anyway.

Every four years

We get one of these.

It coincides

With electing a new president

Except

At the turn of the century.

Every four years

We need an extra day

To help get our calendar

Back in order

With the sun

With the seasons

Except

At the turn of the century.

Sometimes it seems

We need more than an extra day

To tackle

What’s before us

What’s behind us.

It’s all a figment

Anyway,

The way we count days

And years

Even seasons.

This year

We elect a new president.

We need more

Than an extra day.

Suet

Bird supplies were on sale at the local Ace. That, plus our senior discount, given even though the cut-off is 62 and neither one of us is quite 62, meant we filled the cart. 

At dusk

We hang the bird feeders

Bought

With our senior discount:

Thistle seeds

For the finches;

Suet and seed

For the wider variety.

This morning the suet cage

Swings open,

No suet to be seen.

Six squirrels play chase,

Tease a neighbor cat,

Energy abundant.

We think to return

The suet cage,

Demand a new suet cake.

But no

But now

We see the squirrels

Anew.

Figs

I am reminded of the The Ugly Duckling. Not a duck, but a swan.

Sometimes fig trees

Demand more attention

When they don’t produce

Than when they do.

Give it another year

The gardener says

Give it another year

I will offer it

My full attention,

Perhaps it will even offer

Something more than

Figs.

Perhaps it is not a fig tree

At all.

Addiction is a metaphor

The term addiction can apply to so many things: alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, sex, work, etc. etc. etc. It is whatever we do to escape life. It promises life, and we believe it. It is not life. We know it is there when we find ourselves saying if only. Addiction is a metaphor. It can delude us, or it can lead us back to life in community with others. Sometimes community begins with one person.

Addiction

Is a metaphor.

We hide behind it.

We use it

To get help.

We say we are powerless

Over it

Find a company of people

Who help us

Say no

Say no

Say no

Then

When and if

We say yes

Say no again.

We admit change is possible,

Not hopeless.

Now we see in a mirror darkly,

Then we shall see face to face.

Addiction

Is a metaphor.

We hide behind it.

It hides behind us.

We say no.

Then yes

Then say no.

Begin again.

We hold hands

With our company of people

Begin again.

Abundant grace

Extra hours are sometimes mined from the scheduled ones. Sometimes they appear, like gifts, from the sky. Grace.

An extra hour

Has landed in my lap

Bestowed

Granted.

I hear from two

Unexpected people.

Grace is abundant.

Huge.

The laundry difficulty

Is on its way

To being resolved.

The kitten now sleeps

On top

Of the laundry basket,

Fishes socks

Out the hole in the side.

New game.

Everything

Is new,

Even this extra hour

Bestowed.

Granted.

Grace.

Rocks

The local bakery has begun offering Snickerdoodles, a favorite cookie when I was growing up. I found a recipe. It was the wrong recipe. I crossed it out in the cookbook and wrote "WRONG" for whomever uses the cookbook next. On to the next recipe.

It’s been years

Since I’ve made cookies.

Not a surprise

They turned out

Like rocks;

They did not spread

On the pan

In the oven

Like I remembered.

They stayed round,

Cooled like lava cools.

Solid.

Though not as interesting

As lava

Which begins its life

Underground,

Streams molten

From volcanoes

Hardens into so many things

Fascinating.

No

These cookies

Were simply

Rocks.

Slow down

For my friend and colleague Suzi as her daughter flies to Uganda to help people slow down. We could use some missionaries to help us do the same.

Today she goes to Africa 

To remind bus drivers

To slow down.

Such a thing

Has proven helpful

In Kenya

So she

Will help expand the notion

To Uganda.

Such a simple thing

Really

To help keep people alive

And well.

Slow down

I say to my clients

Slow down

I say to myself

Breathe.

At this rate

The weather is odd all over. 50 degrees on February 20. The seed catalogs tell me it's time consider the garden. When to plant?

At this rate we may

Never know the exact right time

To plant the garden.

Room for change

Wow. This one didn't go where I thought it would go. I'd forgotten about the magical order of PEMDAS. Sometimes subtraction comes first. Today I am unsubscribing from a few automatic email sites. Farewell Lands End. Goodbye J. Peterman.

I spend every Lent

In addition and subtraction,

Multiplication and division

Of thoughts and actions.

There is always room for change.

Sometimes I keep it on the bedside table;

Sometimes it rattles around

In my coat pocket.

When I buy a sandwich

The change goes

In the tip jar.

Addition and subtraction

Multiplication and division

There is always room for change.

Change adds pathways

To our brain,

Subtracts others.

We all have different orders

Of operation.

It’s not PEMDAS

For everyone

In that magical order.

But change

Is absolute.

Change itself

Is absolute.

Never all

So often we fish for reasons in the same place we have always fished before. I am reminded of Jesus telling the disciples to fish out the other side of the boat. I know.This is another reflection. Still, so much is connected. There's a sermon in everything. 

There are always reasons

We do the things we do,

We think the things we think.

Sometimes we can’t fish those reasons

Out of our subconscious

But still

There are always reasons.

They become a part

Of who we are,

But never all

Of who we are.

Never All.

Kitten joy

There's something about living with a kitten.

We live with kitten joy:

Ever hopeful

Her milk ring

Will be discovered

Where she found it

Four days ago.

Last night she dropped it

In the open dish

Of parmesan cheese.

Only by chance

We opened the container

Before putting it away.

There it was.

Milk ring

Oh milk ring

Oh plastic milk ring

Such simple kitten joy.

She knew

We’d find it

Where she left it

Just as she knows

There are milk rings

Under every cushion

If we would but only

Look.

It's not about me

When someone we care about hurts, maybe we make tea, something hot to drink. Maybe we talk on the phone, or sit in the chair opposite in the therapy office. The urge is to do something. Sometimes there is nothing to be done, except, perhaps, sit in encouragement.

It’s not about me.

I sit in encouragement.

It’s all I can do.

Great Litany

Tradition often means the first Sunday in Lent includes the Great Litany chanted in a pretzely procession around the church. This Sunday the labyrinth is also available at church.  We may walk around the block... later.

This year

The Great Litany coincided

With Valentine’s Day.

We decided to forgo

The Litany,

Stay home.

Sleep in.

Drink coffee.

The labyrinth,

Its pretzely path

Is also available

At church.

We may walk around the block

Hold hands.

Morning writing

All in good time. Sometimes good time is different than usual time.

It is 2:30

My morning writing

Was transferred to this afternoon:

First the toenails

With my daughter,

Then my beloved’s laundry,

Now the cats demand attention.

My morning writing

Comes in second

Or third

But it still comes in,

This time

Around the edges.

My nails are a lovely shade

Of red,

The cats have such soft fur,

The sun shines.

The writing

Is done.

No matter

Children, clients, parishioners, the people in Starbucks. Everyone. 

They arrive, they leave.

No matter your plans for them

They make their own plans

Mining our hearts

It is tempting to grab an idea from the Internet on how to live a Holy Lent. I catch myself saying What a good idea. I'll do that!

So many good ideas 

On how to live

A Holy Lent;

So many good ideas

Yet the best one

For me

For you

Must be mined

From the heart.

So tempting

To refrain from meat

When one is already

A vegetarian;

So tempting

To give up chocolate

When one does not have

A sweet tooth;

So tempting

To proclaim to the world

Our holiness

When really

We have barely begun

To walk that path.

We have each

Barely begun.                                

So many good ideas

Yet we must each

Mine our own hearts.

Repairer of the breach

Lent begins. The reading from Isaiah 58:12 surprises me every year. Every year I forget, Then I remember:

Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.

Right.

Ash Wednesday

A day to begin again

Repairing the breach.

Woman who walks in wolves

Amazing what a pair of wolf slippers can do.

My wolf slippers arrived.

I am now

Woman who walks in wolves.

They are curiously light

And whimsical

Yet also

Powerful

In their own

Woolen

Wolfen

Way.

First love

I am tracing my decisions back.

At thirteen

My mother told me

Some women love women

Some men love men

Like your parents love

Each other.

The college handbook

Was on the coffee table

For my sister.

I fell in love

With the Quaker school

In Indiana.

When it came my time

I visited schools

In the East

In the West.

Then I chose to go

To Indiana,

To my first love

Sight unseen.

Truth

I began a long reflection on the "situation" at Wheaton, It got muddled quickly. So... a haiku. And prayer for all involved and all who witness. Sadness and anger and, yes, cynicism. So...a haiku. And more prayer.

"They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, Saying, 'Peace, peace,' But there is no peace."

Jeremiah 6:14

Pray for peace within.

Let not cynicism prevail.

Pray for peace with-out.

George

What's in a name? So much.

It’s a name

But oh so much more.

My life has been punctuated

With Georges,

The first in a long string

Of presidents.

Washington

Of course

On the one dollar bill.

But also

My great grandfather

In Napoleon, North Dakota.

Bank president.

We have a family dollar bill

He signed.

Back then

Legal tender was signed

By bank presidents.

It is framed

In my brother’s house

In Minnesota.

These are singular

Georges.

When my brother and boy cousins

Were born

My grandmother offered a ransom

If one of them was given the name

Of George.

No one took the bait.

Years later she had a dog,

A Maltese,

She named him George,

Drove him around

In her Cadillac.

Since then I have known

Many Georges

They join a long line

Of singularities.

Wimp

I believe life is a series of realizations (among other things). I admit being tempted to evict the wimp from my existence, I even wrote Begone, Wimp, as part of this reflection... then took it out and added hospitality into the mix,

I come to myself.

I realize the wimp

Has inhabited my body.

She hid in the crevasse,

The abyss.

I stored things there.

I wonder how long

She has spoken for me.

I wonder at her words;

Words that moderate

What I say out loud.

There you are.

I will hold your hand,

Walk with you

Around the block,

I will speak for myself.

I will invite you

To warm yourself

In the sunshine

With the cats

On this winter day.

Making plans

I understand people downtown think there are no resources for alcoholic clergy. Come on, folks. Come on. Really? Of course...there are so many systems that encourage denial. Clergy are notoriously reluctant to seek help. Alcoholics will do everything they can do to avoid admitting they have a problem. A double whammy. And I thought I would get schooling to assist this double whammy category? Really? Whatever was I thinking?

Change once more.

Why be surprised?

Change is our only constant.

We are assured

Today will be something different

Than we expected.

Ah yes

Plans once again

Dashed to the ground

Buried in the front

And back lawns.

Still we make plans

With ourselves

With our companions

With whomever appears

At the door.

We laugh.

We cry.

We say

Of course

Of course

Of course

Then

We make more plans.

Presentation

Convergence

It’s raining

And thundering.

February 2

Groundhog  Day

Candlemas

Feast of the Presentation.

It’s raining.

My brain

rains

And thunders

In concert.

Groundhogs

In the Temple.

Jesus

In the Temple.

Simeon and Anna

In the Temple.

Rain and thunder

Lightning now

Too.

Here we are

All of us together

Present

Once again.

Another confession

Thinking of decorating around the kitten and the Christmas tree,

We never put away

The Christmas tree.

We unplugged it,

Took off the lights,

Put away the decorations.

The tree

Is in the corner

Of the living room,

The top branch twisted

Like something

From Dr. Seuss,

May he rest in peace.

The kitten climbed it

This morning,

Her small calico face

Made it

Almost to the top.

She,

Her scruffy self ,

Fur that goes every which way,

Long fluffy tail;

She herself

Is something Dr. Seuss

Would draw,

May he rest in peace.