Friday, March 6, 2009

Lent 9: The perfect fit

My husband and I, after over thirty years of marriage, are the perfect fit. We synch enough that we enjoy each other’s company and space. And we grind on each other enough to keep learning.

Occasionally I work from my desk at home, which gives me a few extra hours of not getting in the car or getting dolled up. So I have some space in my day to think, pray, and reflect. This morning I made breakfast, a leisurely half-hour process of stirring Irish oatmeal and making Indian tea (Lipton Yellow teabags simmered in spices, half water, half milk, and sugar.)

Breakfast was ready when my husband came down, at the beginning of his long day (4 hours of class time, 1 hour of chapel, plus 4 hours of grad teaching that ends at 10pm). He sat for a moment before jumping up to cool his tea by pouring it between cups over the sink. Up again to move the water jug left on the counter. Up again to adjust something else. Up again to put dishes into the dishwasher. He barely sat still. Take out the garbage. Pack up books and resources. He flew out the door at 7am.

The house is peaceful again. The flurry of movement is quiet. The canaries are starting to chirp awake and outside the sun is shining on the forest. In the tranquility, I quake to think of the consequences of two people in the same household in the same mad dash. Someone’s got to sit still.

C’est moi. I settle in, ready to tackle the day with work emails out of the way, dishwasher and washing machine going, and a pile of to-dos. We are the perfect fit.
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God's peace to you today!

*There are four things on earth that are small but unusually wise: Ants—they aren't strong, but they store up food all summer. Hyraxes—they aren't powerful, but they make their homes among the rocks. Locusts—they have no king, but they march in formation. Lizards—they are easy to catch, but they are found even in kings' palaces. Proverbs 30:24–28 NLT

*[Jesus] "Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink: nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:25, 26 NKJV

*When [Jesus] had called the people to Himself, with the disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" Mark 8:34-36 NKJV

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