A Concord Pastor Comments: Pause for Prayer: THURSDAY 6/18

Today: a poem by Leo Dengel
followed by my Pause for Prayer...

Four Kinds of Lilacs

"Why don't you turn at the next corner,"
she said, "and take another road home.
Let's go past that farm with all the
different colored lilacs."

"That's seven miles out of the way,"
he said. "I wanted to plant the rest
of the corn before evening. We
can look at lilacs some other time."

"It'll take only a few minutes"
she said. "You know that lilacs
aren't in bloom for long—if we
don't go now, it will be too late."

"We drove past there last year,"
he said. "They're like any other lilacs
except for the different colors. The rest
of the year, they're all just bushes."

"They're lilac, purple, white, and pink,"
she said. "And today, with no breeze,
the scent will hang in the air—no flowers
smell as good as lilacs in the spring."

"I thought of planting lilacs once,"
he said, "for a windbreak in the grove.
The good smell lasts only a few days.
I suppose we can go, if we hurry."

"Now slow up," she said.
"Last year, you drove by so fast
we couldn't even get a good look.
It wouldn't hurt to take it easy."

"Well, there they are," he said,
"and looking pretty scraggly—past
full bloom already. You should
have thought of doing this sooner."

- Leo Dengel, in Home from the Field: Collected Poems

Lord,
there are two people in the poem
but both their voices live in my heart:
the one answering your Spirit's call
to seek and find the beautiful
and the other countering
as hesitant, logical and practical...

Too often, Lord,
the second voice wins the day
and I lose moments of joy,
blessings from you,
gifts with a shelf life, a season
- they're here, then they're gone...

Lilacs bloom in many shapes and forms,
in a kaleidoscope of colors,
in seasons long and short:
tune my heart to your Spirit's call, Lord,
and quicken my response each time you draw me
to your beauty, truth and joy...

Amen.