The Less Efficient Road

I was in a meeting most of yesterday and when it concluded I decided to take the longer way home down 680.  Traffic on that corridor can be quite heavy, but that was not the case yesterday, and I enjoyed the light that shone upon both astonishingly green hills and the southeast mountain peaks that had a dusting of snow.  While I am relying on Google Maps more and more, I do not want to give up following a yearning to go another way that may reveal something new.  God stirs our hearts and speaks to us through yearnings and interruptions.  These should not be glossed over with perpetual routine and strict adherence to plans that may be no longer serving us.    

January is often not an easy month for me, but I think part of the reason is that I am forgetting to leave myself open to the new life that we celebrate every Christmas.  I try to go back rather than exploring a new way of being.  I try to be efficient when in truth, I am not in an efficient time of my life, and I think this is true of many of us who are in the last third of our lives.  I recently came across a lovely post on Facebook, attributed to author Victoria Erickson that helped me to understand where I was going awry:  "We are really not made to rocket straight through winter, ablaze with energy."    This morning as I perused the book, Fragments Of Your Ancient Name by Joyce Rupp, I received this message again. While we in the Bay Area usually have to travel to experience heavy snowflakes, we certainly do know both the inconvenience and the beauty of a wintry season that calls us to pause at the window as the unrelenting rain falls.   

May we not fear neither contentment nor the season we are in.  

The untamed winds of frosted winter 

Cough their way into penetrating coldness. 

Heavy snowflakes swirl wildly everywhere. 

You invite us to witness this fresh beauty, 

To lessen complaint about its inconvenience. 

You speak to grumbling hearts this season: 

"Celebrate the wonder of what is before you. 

Abandon your schedules and organized plans.  

Settle into the long wintry evenings of quiet 

and sip the [cup] of my contentment."    

  

Edward Hays as quoted in 

Fragments of Your Ancient Name   

by Joyce Rupp