Saturday, May 22, 2021                     (today’s lectionary)
The Lord’s searching glance
The Lord’s searching glance is on mankind, and he searches for both the just and the wicked.
As I get older, I get more peevish. Which means foolishly picky and sarcastic and selfish. Perhaps I also become wiser, and if there’s any way I exhibit that wisdom, it’s probably that I notice my peevishness quicker, stop, and apologize. Whatever wisdom I can track down comes in handy, as we move through one day at a time on the way to whatever happens next. Margaret and I will have been married 42 years on August 19.
The just will gaze on your face, O Lord.
All of this marriage stuff works way better when I talk to God. God is more than willing to listen to me both beat myself up and complain about Margaret. He isn’t quick to judge, perhaps because he understands so clearly his own rules. “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” If I talk with him, my conversation with Margaret becomes more civil. God’s patience with me quiets whatever impatience I have with myself, with her, or more often with the situation we’re in.
Peter said to Jesus, “What about him?” And Jesus said, “What concern is that of yours? You follow me.”
And I am also confident that something like the same conversation is going on between God and Margaret. She loves God, and that helps her love me. Our strong intimacies with God make us both safe with each other.
Yesterday we drove to South Austin for Margaret’s covid vaccination, did a little shopping, took a roundabout way home, stopped at a roadside stand to get peaches from Fredericksburg, and appreciated the Hill Country views. We were not in a hurry. We argued, then stopped, argued, then stopped. Margaret said, “I don’t need to be right, I just need to be heard.” Amen.
When he entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself. He remained in his lodgings for two years, received all who came to him, and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and Jesus the Christ.
Outside our apartment, green leaves whispered in the breeze. The sun warmed our windows. We might not see Miles and Jasper for a couple more days. There’s no hurry. If it takes a few days for Margaret to shake off the vaccine blues, I can make some dinner for us.
We’ll have time to feed the birds, read a devotion and the lectionary Bible verses, take a nap. When Miles and Jasper are here, well-timed naps matter more than almost anything else. We benefit from that as much as they do.
There are many things that Jesus did, but to describe them all? I do not think the whole world could contain the books that would be written.
It doesn’t matter much just where we are. During these last days of May, what matters is our conversation with God, taking time to speak, and time to listen, at least to scratch the surface of God’s gift.
Here’s a poem I found in Kevin O’Brien’s guidebook, The Ignatian Adventure, p. 199, written several centuries ago by St. Teresa of Avila.
Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
All things are passing
God never changes.
Patient endurance attains all things,
Whoever possesses God is wanting in nothing,
God alone suffices. (p. 199)
(Acts 28, Psalm 11, John 16, John 21)
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