March 23, 2012
Some wandered in desert wastes;
they found no way to a city where they might dwell.
They were hungry and thirsty;
their spirits languished within them.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress. Psalm 107:4-6
As I finish my morning prayers, I open the book of David Whyte’s poetry that is my companion in this desert pilgrimage. “Waiting to Go On” is the title of the poem. How fitting, I think.
As I enter into today, I find I am waiting to go on. Waiting to go on in my course through Lent. Waiting to go on in my search for new life. Waiting to go on, to get on, with the next step.
I hesitate; because this path is sometimes a trudge, a toil, an obscurity. Do I have what it takes to go on?
“All this continual practice,” the poet writes:
All this continual practice,
this sharpening
and attentive presence,
all
this daily fetching and gathering
this constant maturing
and getting ready
…
all this work to have one complete day
lived just as it should be (David Whyte)
I remember this wilderness road is also the resurrection road. I am practicing life.
copyright © Anne E. Kitch 2012
