This post...

This post
will not be
what I want it to be,
but that's ok
for now.

A week
(and half a weekend)
of grading
claimed priority,
and rightly so,
I think.

This week
I give way
to the call
of writing.

--------------

I am the bookmark maker for this year's silent Lenten retreat. Our theme is Sacred Listening, which is, of course, always timely. I found an icon of Elijah hearing the voice of the Lord -- the still, small voice of the Lord -- and I included several scriptures that have to do with listening, hearing, hearkening (yeah, I'm an old-school/KJV/poetic/Shakespearean kind of gal). But I also had to get my old favorites, Madeleine and Mary Oliver, in there, too.

None of their admonitions or reflections are terribly new --
we must listen to the silence,
listen to the Spirit,
listen to the work that is trying to be communicated through us,
listen to nature,
the birds,
the trees,
the water,
the dog,
listen to the person trying to get a word in edgewise,
close mouth and listen,
get out of the way and shut up and listen,
we have two ears and only one mouth for a reason
-- no, nothing new,
but certainly I still need to hear it (listen!).

------------

More on Mary and Madeleine, and Kathleen Norris and Dorothy Sayers (both of whom I'm reading for Lent), later in the week. I haven't forgotten my vow to write about Mary Oliver's reading. Even if no one else reads it, I need to do it for me.