We are half way through our journey of the season of Lent. Not only is spring but Easter itself is just around the corner! Some folks use this season as a time to be more intentional in self reflection and in pondering what is of value and importance in this gift of human life. At times we catch ourselves describing the past twelve months of pandemic as itself a long, long, season of Lent. Perhaps we, the fortunate ones, are beginning to sense and anticipate vaccination and with it a venturing beyond the confines of home and garden. I wonder what we have learnt this past year? I wonder what we have learnt about ourselves and each other? Soon we shall be able to “go” but where and how and for what?
W.B. Yeats’ most celebrated poem might well be The Lake Isle of Innisfree written in 1888. The real place of Innisfree is in Co. Sligo, Ireland. Yeats spent many summers there as a child, and the poem was a result of a sudden memory of his childhood while walking in London. Please join Yeats in his dream of going to where he can find peace and happiness, and where he can ponder the deep heart’s core. Where might you go, and what do you hope to find there? For you, what is at your deep heart’s core?
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
Prayer:
Holy God
the story of the scriptures
is one of people hearing your call.
One by one, they arose and followed.
Help me I pray
to arise and go,
to go, where you lead,
to go, and to do so, believing
to go, and to do so, hoping
to go, and to do so, loving.
Be present O Lord
in my deep heart’s core.
Amen.
Prayers, Poems, and Christian Ponderings 
What a gentle and peaceful post. During challenging times I have always believed that we are called by our memory to those places which hold a sense of steadfast safety and pleasure. Those are the places I never tire of visiting and this year those visits couldn’t happen. My hope is that by autumn perhaps the traditions associated with these places can resume. In returning to a family farm to see extended family once again, to imagine the scent of strawberry jam bubbling on my grandmother’s stove and to hear the screen door slam are joys that surely will help heal whatever has felt broken during the pandemic. Thank you, Edward.
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I always enjoy your comments and the stories you share. Thanks
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