This season of Lent, I am focusing on the monastic practice of seven daily pauses. Each week, I offer you a poem and piece of gradually changing art for each pause. Last week, we rested at the Hour of Illumination(12pm). This week, we break at 3pm, the Hour of Wisdom. A wonderful book greatly aiding me through this series is Seven Sacred Pauses by Macrina Wiederkehr.
Here we are, midafternoon,
By now,
the day has
witnessed us
trip up,
led astray,
race quick
Ashes have fallen upon us
in word and deed, we
swept in by the waves of life:
work
family
health
circumstance
Tiredness aches our bones, yet
the insistent clock ticks in our ear,
“You don’t have much time,
stay focused on your labor.”
We grab an extra dose of caffeine
keep going, us
strivers of completion
Still,
3pm beckons
Ding
Ding
Ding
(a holy pause)
a reminder of Christ’s presence
in the midst of an ebbing day
As the daylight ages,
so do we.
The remaining tasks,
worries we carry,
relationships we cherish,
won’t last forever.
They, an imprint of now,
impermanence their heartbeat.
This veiled hour soon to
be added to
the tapestry of our life.
Now is a time to honor now,
to forgive, release, lay down.
Now is a time to call upon
the wisdom of Julian of Norwich,
“All shall be well,
and
all shall be well
and
all manner of things shall be well.”
to remember God’s perfect timing
(kairos)
and give a rest to our own.
(chronos)
Related Posts:
[…] 3pm: All Shall Be Well […]
[…] […]
[…] 3pm: All Shall Be Well […]