Wake, O wake
You know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; the night is advanced, the day is at hand. – Romans 13:11-12
Night is drawing nigh – “How long the road is. But, for all the time the journey has already taken, how you have needed every second of it in order to learn what the road passes by.
Dag Hammarskjold
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees.
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Mary Oliver
Pray
Merciful Savior, grant your household
a discerning spirit and a watchful eye
to perceive the hour in which we live.
Let it be filled with your dignity and your love.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Go deeper
Think about something that you’ve seen or heard recently that startled your imagination. If you think of nothing, then look for such a thing in the days to come.