Every Thought Is A Prayer!

Week 53: Auld Lang Syne


Approaching a new year, we look back on the old, and we think of how we might take the best of it with us. “Under the water, carry the water,” says David Byrne.  “Remove the water at the bottom of the ocean!  Same as it ever was.”


12/30:

The End Of A Year

A Reflection of 2013


It was a year of days,
of memories encapsuled
by the frames of wake
and fall asleep,
of moments made more precious
by their being relived;
it was a year of days
waiting to be told.

It was a year of stories
big and everyday:
stories of the bear
and of the fish,
days of paddling
on rivers and lakes;
it was a year of currents
and rolling waves.

It was a year of driving
and finding ways off the map,
past the Windmill and
up to the Iron Range,
across Indiana and
into Appalachia;
it was a year of returning
home again,

It was a year of running
through heat and cold,
on the treadmill
and on marked courses,
away from the pack
and alongside others;
it was a year of keeping
a steady pace.

It was a year of giving
unrecorded time
between rest and play:
evening shifts for charities,
Saturdays at Habitat,
workdays at the sanctuary;
we were a city of hands
doing the work of God.

It was a year of opportunity
to get up and speak,
or unabashed humility
to stand by, watch and listen,
with moments of tears
and calls for hugging,
it was a year of chances
for smiles, a few of loneliness;

It was a year of weekends,
beer and Scrabble times,
the day I fixed a fence gate,
the week I finished a floor,
the chance to cook at home,
or find new restaurants;
it was a year of poetry
and Ravinia,

It was a year of time
for my daughter,
and time for my son,
days in airports and hotels,
weekends reserved for family,
seasons to stay at home;
it was a year of communion
in North Dakota and Wisconsin,
Minnesota and Illinois.

It was a year of news cycles
and breaking news,
reports of distant tragedies
and fallen heroes,
cause for reaction
and the plea for pause;
it was a year of watching
and turning channels.

It was a year to cheer
from the grandstands,
to witness Blackhawk wins
and basketball games,
to visit PNC Park
and Busch Stadium;
it was a year of the world
spinning around me.

It was a year of meetings
and tournaments
and talent shows,
of homework days
and deadline days,
overtimes and days off;
it was a year of events
and eventualities.

It was a year of living together
more than needing to be apart,
of looking into the future
and moving on from the past,
appreciating the present
but letting go;
it was a year of growing
and finding room to grow.

It was a year of life
and a life of days,
with days marked
by anniversaries
and calendars
full of X’s in squares;
it was the year of now
with the mark of days

It was the year of often
and always, a time to pray,
every day its own
celebration, every joy
an urgency to give thanks,
every gratitude a promise;
it was a year of promises
at every wake and call.


12/31:

Retrospect


...There will be great poetry in this
     after a while,
However long it takes to figure out
What happened, but not long enough to let
It be forgotten.  Maybe time will heal
Our wounds before we find the words to say
But the words will be there, waiting
     to be spoken,
Hidden behind whatever scars remain,
Forming themselves within our shaken souls
Like a slow forgiveness.