Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Expectancy-Turned-Reality

Approaching the railroad tracks each day,
my head turns, looking right then left.

Yes, my eyes always check for permission to cross over
and continue on my way,
but my heart forever yearns, with childlike anticipation,
to wait for the train.

Silly, I guess.
Even childish, I suppose.

Yet I unashamedly admit it;
the delightful anticipation
of driving up to the tracks
at the very moment that the train
chugs its way across my path in all its glorious enormity
makes my insides flutter with excitement.

Well, it happened!
Yesterday…… TWICE!!!

I could hardly contain myself.
I threw my head back and laughed out loud.
Turning my truck off
and rolling all of the windows down to get the full effect,
I sat in wide-eyed amazement
as the larger-than-life locomotive
rumbled and screeched and clickity-clicked its way along the track,
just like in the storybooks
but a hundred times more impressive.

All too soon, 
the last car passed by taking with it the echoing sounds
of expectancy-turned-reality.

The freedom to continue on my way
was now wholly encompassed
within the delicious anticipation of another train
yet to come.
~ae

“Make me know Your ways, O Lord,
teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
for You are the God of my salvation;
for You I wait all the day.”
~Psalm 25:4,5

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Behold, Your Mother

What would she do?
Where would she go?
Who would care for her now?

When passion for independence
meets the stark reality of vulnerability,

When lifelong skills and abilities
are confronted by intense helplessness,

When the gift of serving others
gives way to the humble state of being served,

Jesus provides...

...knowing well
the full extent of our neediness,
our need for each other,
the void that accompanies loss.

...His position as God’s own Son
did not demand that He relinquish
His position as Mary’s own Son.

Jesus,
in submission to the Heavenly Father,
not neglecting His responsibilities to His earthly mother,
accomplished everything necessary
to fulfill the Scriptures.


“When Jesus then saw His mother,
and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby,
He said to His mother,
’Woman, behold, your son!’
Then He said to the disciple,
‘Behold, your mother!’
From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.”  
~John 19:26,27