Pause for Prayer: SATURDAY 7/1

It's a long weekend, Lord,

    stretching the usual break 

        right out there through Tuesday...

For many, this is an extra,

    a treat, an added calendrical twofer

but for others, Lord, 

    a long weekend's just a prolongation

         of what every weekend brings:

    time off with little money, 

        no extras, no place to go;

    more time alone for some

        while others get together;

    more time to think and overthink

       what worries mind and heart;

    more time for those who have no job

        from which to have time off;

    more time behind a prison's wall

        where time seems not to move;

     the slow, and even slower now,

        passing of the hours

    for the sick who live with pain

        and for those who grieve a loss;

    for those who wish the time would come

        for their time to be done;

    and for those who find a holiday

            more burden than a joy...

 

If that's the long weekend for me:

    an untimely extension,

    an unwelcome prolongation 

        of too much time already on my hands;

then wind up my soul's clock, Lord,

    and fill my hours and minutes

with healing thoughts, 

    good things to do,

          small joys to be discovered;

with the comfort of your Spirit

    anointing every moment,

        running through my day and night;

with the trust I need and pray for 

    to spend and live with grace

        all the time that's mine today...

 

But if the weekend is for me, Lord,

    a longed for joy and respite

then nudge, stir and move me

    to share and spend my time

with those whose long and empty days 

    might well be blessed and filled

        with the time that's mine to spare...

Amen.

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