Wednesday, September 15, 2010

In the Details...


The big festival... the day for which this entire town waits all year... begins tomorrow. One of my congregations is holding a bake sale to support their seminarian and asked if I would contribute. So... the muffin lady pulled out her parchment paper, soy milk and muffin tins and made miniature bran-apple and cornbread muffins. This week has already wiped me out. I am ready for a weekend of celebration and renewal. Thousands of people are preparing to descend upon this tiny town in the mountains for a weekend of new and old memories and I cannot wait to participate!

At the same time, I am up late tonight chipping away at my sermon on a Wednesday to make way for the busyness. I am consumed with prayers for friends and family who ache. One of my goals for internship is to learn what it means to be alone... how to care for myself in the midst of chaos and solitude. I've learned to turn off the television/internet and turn on the music. I've explored what it is to pray through baking or solitude or even quiet walks with the pup after the town has gone to bed.

As I baked these mini-muffins and created their little packages out of parchment paper, wrapped them in twine and labeled them accordingly, I thought of the loving care and detail my Creator has invested in me. Some of my friends would see these details as wasteful of time and energy. I've seen them as an opportunity for my intimate Savior to enter into this solitude in the mountains. I was reminded tonight of the many reasons to be thankful.

In the craziness of this Festival, people will (hopefully) tear into these tiny snacks without much thought toward the time and care that went into them. It only serves as a reminder to me of the ways I take the details of my own life for granted. When I lay my weary head on my pillow tonight, I will rest peacefully knowing that I am loved intimately by a God who not only created me, but sent His son to die for me.

...and a good sleep it shall be.

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