Day 141j: Offered a drink in the Desert … (September 17, 2019)
On & on & on I walked, into the days’ steadily sweltering heat – eventually making it to the town of Surgoinsville, where the Smyrna Baptist Church almost mockingly let me know that “God is a God of all comfort”; a verse from the first chapter of 2 Corinthians; a verse written by the faux-apostle Paul, and as such a verse that completely misses the mark. For what brought me solace in that particularly difficult moment (I was clearly overheating and incredibly thirsty at the time) was not some hollow promise of imminent celestial providence, but rather the knowledge that every step I took thereafter without receiving any aid or comfort would be that much more powerful as a result; that The Way of Christ (as lived and taught by Jesus himself in the Gospels) was not about receiving any personal reward of benefit at all, but was rather empowered by the choice to serve anyway – especially in those moments when service was the most difficult to give. And so onward I walked still, weaving in pseudo-delirium down the roadway, yes, and yet doing so with a smile on my face – for I was doing so for Peace & Love. And so it was that I soon came across the Kingdom Hall of the local branch of the Jehovah’s Witnesses – ad so it was that I found a functioning water spigot around back of the same – and so it was that its blessed waters were offered to me; waters that were cherished, not because they had been offered in my time of need, but rather because I had intentionally not asked for the same …
“Until they are taught by a greater thirst, men know not what good water is truly worth … Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore, may the relief of laughter rinse through your Soul. As the wind loves to call all things to dance, may your gravity by lightened by grace. Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth, may your thoughts incline with reverence and respect. As water takes whatever shape it is in, so free may you be about who you become. As silence smiles on the other side of what’s said, may your sense of irony bring clarity & perspective. As time remains free of all that it frames, may your mind remain devoid of all its smaller names. In this way, may your prayers of gratitude and acts of kindness deepen enough in this, your one & only moment, to resoundingly know in the depths the heart-filled laughter of God.” ~ inspired by Lord Byron & John O’Donohue
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