Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, September 13, 2020                (today’s lectionary)
 Wind in my willows
Bless the Lord, O my soul
And all that is within me,
Bless his holy name.
Just a couple of blocks up Lincoln Avenue, Margaret volunteers at the Hope Center, a food pantry and helping place funded by the Vineyard Church. Last week Hope received free furniture from a local business and passed on some of their former furnishings to volunteers, including us.
Bless the Lord, O my soul
And forget not all his benefits.
What a windfall! We did have to spend several days rearranging and discarding furniture, books, and lots of other stuff. Our shelves were empty, and now, of course, the new shelves are filling up again. But our study-studio is more gorgeous now. Not so thrown-together looking. There might not be walls of walnut, but it’s not bad.
As the heavens are high above the earth,
So surpassing is his kindness to those who fear him.
Sorting like this is exhausting. Again, as so often, I envy the chicken’s life. But chickens don’t do what we do. Margaret has a deep desire to make our house a retreat center, a place for men and women to seek God in quiet. For that we should have books, art supplies, a DVD player and TV, chairs and  tables and desks and beds, plus a nice kitchen. We have all of that, except for now, we live here.
We have prepared for the future often in our lives. Margaret is a teacher, and she kept supplies stored away to use in the future. I write and read, and I have collected books into the thousands, knowing someday I will read them all. Outside there are carpentry tools, inside there are kitchen tools. We know how to prepare for the future – for a number of alternative futures, in fact. A retreat center is a wonderful idea. So we prepare.
My mantra in “retirement” is there’s no hurry. And I know that’s true. My Post-It-Note-Size Rule of Life is Read, Write, Listen, Pray, Every Day. Be here now. Stop and smell the roses. BE rather than do. These are the mantras I love, and that I think Jesus loved. Be still and know that I am God.
“Take no thought for the morrow, for today has enough trouble of its own.” There’s one of Jesus’ sayings that I think we both love.
If we live, we live fo
for the Lord.
We are the Lord’s.
My Aunt Mary used to hold me in her arms (when I was two or three or something) and sing, “Let me go! Let me go!” Now I hold precious books in my hands and if I listen just beyond their covers, I hear it again. “Let me go! Let me go! There is someone out there who will read me. You’ve just left me on your shelf.” Sometimes the books get personal, frustrated with me: “Get a life!”
Love one another as I have loved you.
OK, OK. I need to get on with my sorting life. But in this moment of rest I rejoice in the ten bags of books that went to Orphan’s Treasure Box, our favorite local used bookstore. And I rejoice in taking three deep breaths in a row, and remembering how my Aunt Mary loved me. Goodnight, Moon.
           (Sirach 27, Psalm 103, Romans 14, John 13, Matthew 18)
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