The Midnight Hour

It’s midnight again.  For some reason I can’t seem to break the habit of late nights, even when I know I have an early morning rapidly approaching. 

I wish I could understand the rhythm of the creative, curious mind.  It is at this time of the day that I can sometimes do the most writing, and often do.  I've started awake in the middle of the night to write a paper or a sermon or to journal about something that is gnawing at my heart.  The need to express through words often seems to be a nighttime activity for me.  I suppose it’s because there are fewer interruptions and I can focus in a different way, or because the sounds of the night, mixed with the night air rejuvenate me enough to create sentences that border on brilliant…at least in my delirium! 

Is it the most effective way to get the things done I need to do, especially when the overnight creativity steals from the daylight activities?  As long as I don’t make a habit of it and can still find the necessary hours I need for restorative rest, yes, it can be. 

Dear God of each hour, be with those who find sleep elusive.  Help us to use those hours in productive ways: to simply listen to you, to list blessings and thanksgivings, to pray for others, for our leaders, for our world and for ourselves. Guide our sleepless hours with good habits, creative endeavors, and peaceful activities.  In your Holy Name we pray.  Amen.

I didn't get anything done today.

A friend calls and an unexpected lunch date occurs.
A few spare minutes and calendars are synched.
A calculated break on the couch and a nap refreshes.
A phone call last night and today, a friend comes along to a lecture.
An assigned lecture at Hamline and a dialogue of peace in Israel and Palestine begins.
A scheduled cleaning of the Lowry tunnel and two friends get an extra 30 minutes to visit.

I didn’t think I accomplished much today, when I didn’t crack a book or write a word on an afternoon where I had opportunity and time, but when I reflect back, each moment accomplished something I needed and there is nothing to feel bad about.  My schedule is full, my head swimming with things to do, and still, moments like these remind me that I have a life to live, full of people who I want and need to spend time with and that I need and want these distractions to set me back on a healthy path where people and activities are a welcome part of the schedule or a necessary distraction. 

Dear God, you love us to be in relationship with one another!  We sometimes need to remember that you didn’t make us to be alone in this world and you have placed people in our lives to help us be and become.  Thank you for shaking up rigid schedules; allowing connections and reconnections to occur, keeping us whole and healthy.  Amen.

One Maple Leaf

I found a maple leaf on the ground as I walked up our front walk.  It was a deep red, almost burgundy.  It was one of those perfectly shaped leaves that cry out, “Pick me up and press me in a book!”  I left it there, a contrast against what is left of the green grass, amidst the acorns and their caps, as a symbol that the season is changing again.  I suppose I could have picked it up and held it for a few moments, admiring how just last week the leaf was green and today it looks different.  New.  Transformed.  Not just a little bit, but fully changed in a short, short time.

Tomorrow I could go out and look for that leaf and I know that if I could find it, no longer a candidate for an autumn leaf collection it would be drier and more brittle and maybe a little more brown.  But there would be another, newly fallen leaf, adding to the layer on the grass.  Each day, the lawn will transform as the other trees let go of the 2013 leaves, their lives spent, their cycle complete.

The leaves have provided shelter and shade when the sun was hottest and now they will provide nourishment for the earth, feeding the ground as it prepares for the winter.

Another reminder of the life cycle, of the fluidity of living and dying.  Today is the anniversary of the death of a friend, and there were three posts on Facebook about people dying or being buried today.  Each expressed their thankfulness for the life of their loved one, how they were sheltered, protected and nourished by these loved ones in life and will be strengthened by the memories as they grieve. 

Maybe I should gather a few leaves and acorns and light a candle, focusing on life, thankful for the cycle.

O Holy One, birds are migrating, winds are blowing, leaves are falling and people are dying.  Through all these signs, help us to be thankful, to press our memories into a book and to give you praise.  Amen.