Willing to Work, Willing to Wait
Lord, what he said was,
“You can have instant coffee, and instant tea, and instant potatoes, but you can’t have instant relationships.”
And he was right.
We can’t measure out a portion of ourselves to each other, and stir once, and be friends
Or measure out an instant prayer, and beat with a fork until fluffy.
For “instant” never quite satisfies like the real.
And a depth relationship has a mutual history of shared joy and anguish.
It is a mellowed blend of caring and being cared for—
of listening–
of removing masks (which is seldom easy)–
of openness and honesty . . . without which
no relationship is valid.
Not with him. . . nor with them . . . nor with thee.
All of this takes time. And effort.
And expenditure of self.
So, Lord, why do I keep asking for instant communion?
Why am I not willing to put the same effort—the same care—into my relationship with Thee, that I have found necessary in my relationships with others?
Why am I so unwilling to wait?
So unwilling to apprentice my soul?
So reluctant to do my part?
Ah, Lord. I come. . . in joys and in anguish. . . in my moments of peace, and in my times of quiet desperation—
to sing,
to listen,
to pour out my humanness, to remove my masks. Amen.
—-Jo Carr and Imogene Sorley
Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Let us ‘walk in grace’ together.
May we find ‘joy in the journey and good times in the going.’