Jet-lagging behind ...

Photo by paloetic

Last week I gaped at Las Meninas at the Prado in Madrid, wept with joy at Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, and imbibed enough cafe con leche to keep me awake until 2012. I will write about it for you, too -- but not today. Not while jet lag is getting the best of me, or work projects demand my attention, or the sheer number of upcoming tasks and trips and obligations dulls me to a nub.

Seems to be a theme lately, doesn't it? All the worrying and fretting. It would probably do me a heap of good to mull over these words from church this past Sunday:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4: 8-9)

So I'll think of Velazquez's art and Gaudi's devotion and the calm of a sidewalk cafe instead. I'll look forward to deep sleeps, finished projects, and a break in the schedule. I'll see beyond how harried I feel and praise instead the steadfast support and ready humor of all the people in my life. I will strive to be patient. I will aim for peace.

Prayer #182: Serenity Now (A Riff)

God, give me the strength to pick up my feet and the energy to prop up my lids. Help me move toward what I cannot see, see what I cannot move, and recognize the difference.

Amen.