Good morning, good God!
Really, Lord – July?
Are you serious?
Can it be -already-
the seventh month of 2024?
with the Fourth of July just a few days away?
and a new year just six months down the road?
And what of these months behind us?
For many, they crawled at a snail’s pace:
painfully slow, intense and drawn-out,
almost as if time itself might stand still…
Yet for others time flew like an arrow,
whizzing by and passing too quickly:
not enough hours in any one day,
nor days in a week or weeks in a month…
And what have these six months held for me, Lord?
what might I offer today, at half year?
I bear the bruises and scrapes and scars
that time inscribes on a broken heart;
and I offer the course of your gently closing
wounds I thought might never heal…
I come with months of worries and questions,
filed away in my mind and my thoughts;
and I offer the grace of slowly discerning
your wisdom and truth, your presence and spirit…
I’ve memories of sitting and waiting in sadness
and praying for joy to find me again;
and I offer a midyear’s basket of praise
for good times, blessings, mercy and peace…
So much can happen in half a year,
in a month, a week, a day or an hour;
but in each moment you’re by my side:
Lord of my years and Lord of my life…
I offer you, Lord, my ups and my downs:
my good times and bad, my sorrows and joys;
whether time flies by or seems to stand still,
fill my soul with the timeless,
my heart with your love…
