Covered in prayer

This happens sometimes.  I have a job interview today, one that seems to fit a piece of what I feel called to offer the world.  Facebook is for me a way to keep tabs on the ones I care about, so I can pray for them.  It is also a way I can ask for prayer.  This happens sometimes.  I awaken with a sense that God has it completely covered.

I awaken

Covered in prayer,

Flannel, quilted prayer.

The warm guy next to me,

The cup of coffee now held

Warm in my hands.

The birds

Have begun

To build nests of prayer

In my backyard.

The ducks waddle prayer

Across the way.

They make significant steps

Toward the corn spread

For them to eat.

For her part

The woman,

Today in blue,

Spreads prayer

Like so much corn

In her wake.

I watch,

Surrounded on all sides

By prayer,

An abundance

A simple abundance,

Like corn,

Spread for the ducks.

Red scarf

With the Pope retiring for the first time in 600 years, I watch the lady in blue and red across the way, feeding the ducks with corn and bread.  The two events connect in my mind.  The lady and the Pope cast bread to the crowd assembled.

The woman across the way

Wears a blue jacket

With a red scarf,

A dark blue hat.

It is icy cold this morning.

I am glad

For the spot of red.

Now she stands at the top

Of the steps,

Surveys the ducks

Like the Pope

From his balcony

In the Vatican.

My lady in blue

With red accompaniment

Rivals the Pope.

Look

She appeared again

With bread for the ducks.

That seals it.

I never saw the Pope

Cast bread

From his balcony

To the crowd assembled below

On a particularly frigid day.

The woman, now in blue

I watch the woman, now in blue, across the way.  She is kin to me.
Thank you, May, for the invitation to join the KNOW group at church.

The woman

Now in blue

Has massed the ducks.

Her offering of corn

Is stored in the garage.

She moves more slowly

This year.

I was invited to join

The senior women*s group at church

Yesterday.

It is a supreme compliment.

Maybe soon

I will mass the ducks

Like the woman

Now in blue

Across the way.

Maybe soon

I will gather up the cardinals,

The squirrels

Like maybe St. Francis did

When he got older,

Beckoned the animals

To come to him.

I*m sure his garage was full of corn

Like the woman

Now in blue.