Wednesday the Fourth Week of Lent
I will cut a road through all my mountains, and make my highways level…But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” Can a mother forget her infant? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. Isaiah 49
Each morning I fix a mug of tea, and write in my journal. Most of the time, my journal entries help me make sense of the day passed and the day ahead. I write lists; I organize my time.
My next two days are pretty full with appointments and classes, which of course leads to micro-managing my time: what time do I have to get in the shower today in order to leave early enough to have time before class? Today’s classes run until 9 p.m. and I need to get there early to do some online work with them.
And what about tomorrow? Well, tomorrow’s calendar is just about as full. That’s how life is these days – although I remind myself that the phone isn’t ringing, right now, and the day is clear, right now, and I still have time before leaving for class. I’m okay, right now.
I managed to plant peas and lettuce a week or so ago, but the yard work calls. But not right now.
Micro-managing and climbing mountains. And I expect your life is just as complicated. These are the days of micro-managing time. And people. And the to-do list.
That’s why I chose these words from Isaiah this morning. Words that again resonated with me and filled my heart with peace. Somehow it will all get done. Somehow my life is not forgotten.
“I will cut a road through all my mountains and make my highways level…”
I leaned back in my chair from writing these dots and pixels and smiled at myself. I will get through my days. And I can either get through them tense or I can trust that things will go okay. And whether they do or not, I can remain in a place of comfort.
That’s a lesson I learn over and over. Trust. Breathe. You’re safe. The world won’t fall apart and you won’t fall. At least you won’t fall if you pay attention; and slow down; and breathe.
Is this a reminder you need today? If it is, and I suspect most of us are treading about as much as we can these days, go back and read the verses at the top of this post.
“Can a mother forget her infant? Even should she forget, I will not forget you.”
Keep reminding yourself today that you are held. That you are loved. That the God spirit in you will keep you safe. Today, trust your journey will be on a level road.
janetsunderland.com 
The line about a mother forgetting is powerful for me these days, as I watch my own mother forget how to use a calendar to keep track of her days. She chastises me sometimes, asking why the days past are still on the calendar–“all we need to know is what day is today–what do we need to know today?–Where are we today on this ‘calendar'”
And she tells me repeatedly the only story she recalls from my childhood–the story where her father-in-law seemed to correct her for failing to cover her infant (me) from the wind. Who knows what he said, what she did, what the temperature was that day in 1951–or was it 1952. She was a twenty-year-old only child with her first baby. That’s all she remembers–being chastised for failing her infant.
So, even though my mother DOES forget her infants–all nine of us, at times–the spirit of God apparently remembers us, remembers her, remembers what needs remembering and forgets what needs forgetting.
Thank you for remembering to post these mini-Sabbaths, Janet.
What a lovely story and realization. Thank you Susan. Maybe it’s also a gift to forget….
Thanks! I needed to hear this today.
Those of us who have a connection with the level plains of Kansas will especially appreciate today’s reading. Last weekend I heard Tom Averill talking about “What Kansas Means to Me” in Kinsley, KS. He said, “don’t think of Kansas as flat – think of it as level.” How I love the level plains and that huge bowl of sky!
Thanks, Maril. I hadn’t considered, when I chose that passage, why it resonated so with me. I like the Tom Averill line – think of Kansas as level… nice.