Wednesday, February 4
Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.
—Psalm 33:20
One evening, essayist Anne Taylor Fleming had a remarkable piece. She spoke about how Americans go too fast, do too much, and have no patience with waiting for anything. For example, we go on crash diets and expect to lose weight fast. Perhaps it works, but then the weight comes right back.
Fleming mentioned a best-selling book called
French Women Don’t
Get Fat. Their secret? French women eat slowly, enjoy
food and wine as pleasures, and allow themselves a cream puff now and then, or
cheese omelet. “They know how to slow down, to savor life,” the essayist
said.
Then she switched to talking about
her beloved pet, a beautiful golden lab recently diagnosed with incurable
cancer. When she heard the diagnosis, Fleming said, she vowed to be with him
every step of his way.
And she was.
They took shorter walks, did not run as
much. The whole pace of their lives slowed down. Finally, at the end, she lay
next to him, stroking him, just being there. She stayed with him as his life
slowly slipped away.
Fleming never mentioned God, but I
thought that what she said would make a great sermon. I think our souls are worn
out with the endless chase, the terrible pace of our lives. How much better it
would be if we could “wait for the Lord,” as the psalmist puts it, savor each
day for what it brings, and be more fully present to each
other.
Give us grace, O Lord, to begin, today, to live more sanely. Help us to slow down, to do one thing less than we had planned. Strengthen our resolve to live as you would have us live, in tune with your universe and with each other. Amen.
