Mama Monday #31

We had to switch our phone plans for a number of reasons and I was on the phone for hours on Thursday and Friday and Saturday getting it all ironed out. I was reminded of this lovely prayer from Kate Bowler for some of those "garbage days" when things just feel tedious and dumb and a royal waste of time. 

On this day of Epiphany, may you find some "crumbs of joy" (Kate Bowler's words below) and may you "cultivate a new way of seeing" (as Gregory Boyle so beautifully states in his new book) especially when it you find yourself living in the midst of a garbage day... 

💗

for this garbage day 

I can find no good in today, 

and I don't want to try. 

It feels like a lie to sugarcoat reality, 

instead of naming what is. 

When there is much to grieve, 

too many losses and disappointments to name, 

too many things going wrong, 

when I'm better off

climbing back under the covers 

and trying again tomorrow. 

Blessed are we, the Debbie Downers

and Negative Neds, 

who come to you just as we are, 

with our loneliness and loss, 

our scarcity and sorrow, 

and say, God, there is just not enough, 

Not enough money to pay bills. 

Not enough jobs or safety

for those who have them. 

Not enough wisdom to find solutions. 

Not enough strength or comfort or connection. 

Not enough patience to deal with these people. 

Things are hard today. 

Perhaps it is too much to say, 

"God, thank you for today," 

because today is already topped up with 

frustrations and bad attitudes 

and unhope. 

So instead, may there also 

be a blessing for those of us who say, 

"God could you come meet us here on this garbage day?" 

Give me a microscope to notice 

the tiny, tiny graces. 

The smell before the rain. 
The softness of my pet's fur. 

The way my friend 

gives the best hugs. 

Or that my favorite show 

always cheers me up. 

So when gratitude feels impossible, 

may I learn to compress my attention 

so narrow as to find the smallest

hopes. 

Not as a formula or to quiet the wrongs, 

but as a practice of finding 

any crumbs of joy

now visible on the kitchen floor. 

-Kate Bowler 

💗

"Now the season of looking for Him everywhere is upon us 

— the season of Epiphany is what they call it.  

Heads up. Keep your eyes and ears and hands open. 

He is everywhere, and He moves in pretty surprising ways. 

You do not want to miss Him." 

-Robert Benson