Time change. Spring Forward. I did not want to wake up this morning. I stayed up to watch the end of a basketball game last night. You know, March Madness. It’s the first weekend of our Spring Break and I guess I was feeling a little like celebrating. I made popcorn and baked muffins. I wanted to snack, sip wine, and watch collegiate basketball. It wasn’t terribly late, mind you, but when my husband gently woke me this morning at 7, I grumbled. Ugh. “Five more minutes.”
I’m not great at morning. It seems I used to be. I think I used to bound out of bed ready to face my day, but this has changed. I’m a morning grumbler. My husband is good in the mornings. He is cheerful, kind, thoughtful, and ready to face his day. Poor guy. He unsuspectingly tries to engage with me, and I snarkily reply. Before he knows it, my snark has inspired a response from him. That’s when I notice that I’ve been less than kind.
So, yes, this all happened this morning. By the time we were in the car making our way to church, the banter was a little testy. I feel bad because he’s on his way to church to preach, and I am going to sit in our church’s coffee house for about two hours doing whatever I choose to do. I can read, grade papers, blog. I have time to shed the snark before I go to the second service; he is going to walk right into serving. He has to quickly use whatever skills he has acquired from twenty-six years of living with me to shed the snark and return to his normal cheerful self. I know he is able to do it, but still feel badly.
While he’s doing whatever he does to prepare to greet people and deliver the message that he’s been working with all week, I shuffle down the stairs to my corner seat, unpack my bag, open my computer, and begin to review an essay that I’ve been helping one of my students with. I’m reading through her claims, her analysis, and her evidence when I find myself singing with the coffee house’s piped in music,
Be still my soul, Lord make me whole
Lord make me whole*
I pause. Hm. Yes, that’s why I am snarky this morning. My soul is restless. I’m tossing around complaints and worries. I’m holding them in my hands and examining them over and over. Perhaps you know what I’m talking about. I’ve gathered items all week — the health issues of family and friends, the knowledge that people in my life make choices that I don’t agree with or approve of, the constant barrage of the ‘news’ feed, my own persistent health issues, and countless other gems. I’ve been caressing them all week, and I haven’t changed their reality one bit. I involuntarily join the plea of the song, “Be still my soul, Lord make me whole, Lord make me whole…”
The song ends, and I go back to the essay. I give the feedback I promised then order a pot of extra strong tea. I can feel the snark hanging heavily on me, so I know I can’t turn right to my blog. Come on, Kristin, you know the drill. Turn to the Scripture, first. That’s where you’ll find your truth.
If you aren’t convinced yet of the power of a regular reading plan, let me share with you what I found today. It was waiting for me — Day 132, Psalm 66.
For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads;
As I’m reading, I’m shaking my head. I’m embarrassed. It’s not like my worries and troubles are a crushing burden. Yes, I do have concerns that are real. However, in the grand scheme, I have been very gently ‘tried’. In just this past week I have heard stories of others who have had true ‘crushing burdens’ on their backs, who have actually felt like ‘men [were riding] over their heads’. Comparatively, my troubles are small. I read on.
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
I just have to sit here for a minute. Indeed, I have been brought to a place abundance. Even if I didn’t have a church I loved to come to every Sunday, even if I didn’t have a committed husband who wakes up happy each day, even if I didn’t get to live in a community that energizes me, even if I didn’t have my dream job, even if I didn’t have four children that make me very proud, I would still have much abundance to write about.
I’m convicted, obviously. I examine the gems in my hands and realize that they are mere pebbles. I exhale and continue to read.
I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I mean, I’m already here. In just a little while, I will ascend the stairs and enter the sanctuary. I will carry my pebbles up with me and leave them there for You. I think You’ll probably be more effective with them.
Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
Truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Guys, I can’t make this stuff up. Mere words transform my snark into confession, humility, and gratefulness. It’s a miracle –one that I don’t want to overlook today. He cares enough about me and my ‘burdens’ to speak directly to me. He has stilled my soul again. May He still yours, too.
*The Brilliance. “Dust We Are and Shall Return.” Brother.
Next Chapter 