Monday in the Fourth Week of Lent
Happy are the people who know the festal shout!
they walk, O Lord, in the light of your presence. Psalm 89:15
The digital read-out in my car displayed forty-three degrees when I parked, but with the wind chill and overcast skies it is certainly colder. I stand by the metal bleachers, bouncing up and down on my toes and wonder how the girls sitting on the bench can stay warm. Even the players on the field are not moving enough to get their blood pumping; softball at this age involves a lot of standing around.
Nevertheless, my daughter and her friend are full of brightness and spunk as they greet me after their first game and first win of the season.
“Can we go for ice-cream?” she asks enthusiastically.
It is a ridiculous request as we all stand there shivering. I hesitate. And in that moment I decide to run with her zeal rather than curb it with practicality. “Sure.”
And fifteen minutes later I am eating moose-tracks from a cone and visiting with parents I have not seen for months while our daughters laugh and fill the room with the brilliance of youth and outrageous possibility.
As the day slips into the evening, I know I have been fed. Dinner will be delayed—and may not even be necessary.
copyright © Anne E. Kitch 2014
