A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: SUNDAY 10/19

This poem has a simple peace to calm the harried heart
and wisdom to slow and pace the hurried step...

The Patience of Ordinary Things
by Pat Schneider

It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare,
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they're supposed to be.
I've been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish,
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs.
And what is more generous than a window?

"The Patience of Ordinary Things" by Pat Schneider
in Another River: New and Selected Poems.

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For today's Pause for Prayer, spend some time with Pat Schneider's poem and then just look around you to find and be grateful to God for the patience of ordinary things... Here are some ordinary things for whose patience I'm grateful...

For the patience of time healing my wounds,
for the patience of tears bathing my pain,
for the patience of mercy forgiving old sins,
I give you praise and thanks, Lord...

For the patience of days keeping me going,
for the patience of growth when I'm dragging my foot,
for the patience of time biding my hurry,
I give you thanks and praise, Lord...

For the patience of morning waiting my rising,
for the patience of night to end my long day,
for the patience of sleep awaiting my rest,
I give you praise and thanks, Lord...

For the patience of others bruised by my faults,
for the patience of those who wait for my care,
for the patience of any whom I have offended,
I give you thanks and praise, Lord...

For the patience of those who forgive and forget,
for the patience of friends who put up with my quirks,
for the patience of those with whom I'm impatient,
I give you praise and thanks, Lord...

For the patience that's yours when I put off my prayer,
for the patience you show as you wait on my words,
for the gift of your grace ever patient with me,
I give you thanks and praise, Lord...

Amen.