3pm: All Shall Be Well (Lenten Pause)

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.

impermanence

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

(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: