Ordinary Time

For many in churches in the liturgical tradition, this time after Pentecost is known as "Ordinary Time"...paraments remain firmly green, the season unbroken by high holy days, and a certain sameness pervades the readings from scripture, as week after week we seem to focus on the same topics. Someone remarked to me last Sunday that it is getting kind of boring...like most of life, I think, where a sameness pervades daily existence and we have trouble seeing beyond it, often struggling to find some meaning in the daily chores and commitments, the trials and tasks which mark the sun's rising and setting. And yet...isn't that what a great deal of the spiritual journey is about? Relishing, reveling in the ordinary, the everyday? It is, after all, where we lives our lives- most of the time... and how much we let slip through our fingers if we can only enjoy and appreciate the highs, the mountaintop experiences. Life is lived mostly in the valleys and on the plains...and even with that awareness, I often struggle with appreciating the ordinariness of my life. Perhaps you do, too. And so I write...

homecoming
How tightly we clench our fists
around moments of bliss,
moments of clarity! How
we long to stay on the mountaintop,
reveling in the tantalizing transfiguration
of the ordinary into the extraordinary.
 

But the reality is that most of life is ordinary-

if that can truly & fully describe
      a scarlet cardinal at the bird feeder
          or the shining light of the full moon,
      the taste of the first morning coffee
          or the feel of a comfortable bed at day’s end,
      the smile of a child swinging high at the playground
          or the cozy presence of a beloved pet,
      the savory, cinnamon-tinged flavor of homemade
      applesauce
           or the house-filling aroma of soup cooking on the
           stove.

And even when we find ourselves

longing for those earth-shattering moments
of startling illumination and beauty,
eventually we will realize- if we are honest
with ourselves- that the place we want to be
is where we already are-
                          and it is home.

an ordinary life

I have had an ordinary life
in so many ways…ordinary to me,
al least. Yet I was always fed & clothed &
housed & loved and never neglected or abused-
...except for when I was three, by a man of
importance and integrity, or so my
family believed...
…except for the years I spent trying to
live up to what I felt were the expectations
of two wonderful but perfectionistic parents,
believing I had to measure up in order to count-
yet unsure if I ever could or would.
…except for my need to have boys “love” me,
though my need was never truly satisfied,
for love had long ago become confused in my
mind with physical touch.
…except for the heavy and heartless hand
of death which fell on my life over and over
and over again, driving me to my knees,
whipped and whimpering.

But always I arose, always found

some inner strength (the presence of God,
I suspect). Always I traveled on, step by step,
my face pointed into the wind-
     my ordinary face,
     my ordinary steps,
     my ordinary life,
…except for giving birth to three amazing
children and adopting another.
…except for the presence of nine uniquely
lovely grandchildren who bring love and
laughter to my days.
…except for the beautiful gathering of
friends populating my life throughout
the years.
…except for the life-changing travel to
the Dominican Republic and Ghana and
Chaco Canyon and Iona and East Africa.
…except for the mid-life choice to go
to seminary and become a pastor.
…except for daring to write and
publish three books after my retirement.

So- an ordinary life?
       How extraordinary!

With a tip of the hat to John Lennon whose song, Imagine, always makes me cry.

 

imagine

imagine

living in a world

where you are bathed in

contentment

where no matter what is

happening your heart

is at peace

 

imagine

living free of dissatisfaction

of making comparisons

full of simply

being yourself

 

imagine

living in openness

and acceptance- of yourself

as you are

of others as they are

with no victimizing or

judging

imagine

living in gratitude

for the incredible gift

which is this life-

for breath and blood and thought

for emotion and for touch

for hearing, sight, and speech

imagine

living in the place

of needing nothing more

to make life complete

of dwelling in the sense

of enough

just imagine!