messy family room or holy moment?

Well, I guess it doesn't have to be an either-or answer.  As I pulled the sheet out of the drawer and drug the chairs into the family room, I have to admit that I was fighting the neat-freak within me knowing what a mess a there would be to clean up.  But as the girls and I worked to make our little fort a home, a messy moment was transformed into a holy moment right before my eyes.  

I think we often see the big moments of life as holy or sacred - birth, a new beginning, marriage, a wrong forgiven, the first/second/third child, death, etc.  (Hence my first post on holy moments.)  But the reality is holy moments happen right before our eyes every day - the laughter of a child, the kindness of a neighbor, a quiet moment in the midst of a busy day, a delicious cheesecake dropped off by a friend (a holy moment I experienced today), food on the table . . . a messy little fort in the middle of the family room.

Usually on Sunday night, my girls and I drag out some craft supplies and create something with glue, fabric, markers, toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, whatever.  But tonight we created something different, something that we will take down, put away and only see again in photos.  But it was still fun to create together - not just a messy little fort but also a holy moment - a memory that I'll never forget . . . and hopefully they won't either.  

Craft on! 

holy moments

For some crafting is a full-time trade.  Others juggle crafting part-time, kids, work and much more.  For me crafting is a hobby relagated to Saturday naptimes and after the kids are tucked in bed and off to dreamland.  Right now would be about the time I would be opening my fabric drawer like a kid in a candy store and pulling out the next fabric treat ready to be made into a crayon roll.  Not tonight though.

Many of you know that much of my time - day and night - is spent pastoring a wonderful group of people in a wonderful little community.  I've spent seven years visiting newborns, baptizing kids and adults, marrying couples, sitting in hospital rooms . . . holy moments.  One of the most holy moments is being with a person when they pass from this life into the next.  Today I experienced another one of those holy moments.  And although all I did was sit there, my body, mind and spirit are as exhausted as if I have just run a marathon.  It's hard to explain . . . this humbling privilege of watching a family say good-bye to a beloved parent, grandparent, great-grandparent who has lived life well.  

Lately, I've been echoing the words of prayer-poet Ted Loder.  Here's one of his works that speaks to me and for me today:

Eternal Friend,
grant me an ease
to breathe deeply of this moment,
this light,
this miracle of now.
Beneath the din and fury
of great movements
and harsh news
and urgent crises,
make me attentive still
to good news,
to small occasions,
and the grace of what is possible
for me to be,
to do,
to give,
to receive,
that I may miss neither my neighbor's gift
nor my enemy's need.

 

So . . . no crafting tonight . . . no report of my crafting antics or sewing adventures . . . just attentive listening for holy moments. 

What are your holy moments?