March 22, 2012
But
as for me, this is my prayer to you,
at the time you have set, O Lord:
In
your great mercy, O God,
answer me with your unfailing
hope. Psalm 69:14-15
I
unlock the door and step into an unexpectedly quiet house. I am the first one
home today and I breathe in the stillness with relish.
I
pick up the mail from the floor, sort through it, take a handful to the
recycling bin, and then I just keep going. Stray dishes in the sink find the
dishwasher. Clothes strewn across the floor make their way to the laundry room.
Sweaters discarded after having surrendered to the unseasonable warmth are folded
and put away.
As
I tidy, I consider how to spend this unforeseen unhurried time. Read a chapter
of the novel I am enjoying? Resolve unfinished household business? Get a jump on tomorrow’s work?
Outside
the afternoon clamors on, but here I settle deeper into the hush and continue
my rounds. One task at a time I clear away the clutter and I realize it has
become a dance, a prayer, a pilgrimage.
I
give myself again to the will of the one on whose mercy I depend. Whose voice I
have never heard, whose form I have never seen, who yet speaks tenderly to me
and holds me fast.
copyright © Anne E. Kitch 2012
