Slow Learning

Today I share a blog I posted only a few months ago, in the season of Lent which precedes Easter. It is good to be reminded at times. There are some things we are slow at learning, and forgiveness is one such thing. I hope you agree. There are just too many poems in Scott Cairn’s book Slow Pilgrim
published in 2015 by Paraclete Press, that I would love to share. Today, I will
share two. I am conscious that in the Christian calendar we find ourselves
almost half way through the season of Lent. It’s a long journey from Ash
Wednesday to Easter and it highlights the fact that our journey from birth to
death is itself a journey and a pilgrimage and along the way there are times
and seasons when we are more conscious that our own journey is shaped not just
by the contours of the road but by the contours of our hearts, shaped not just
by our solitary steps but the steps we take in the company of another. So
please indulge yourself today by taking time to read slowly and ponder gently
the words from Cairns. Remember, Lent is a season of meditation, reflection,
penance, and pilgrimage. Today is full of hope.

Setting Out
Pilgrim: What is it that you do here?
Monk: We fall, and we get up again.

In time, even the slowest pilgrim might
articulate a turn. Given time enough,

the slowest pilgrim—even he—might
register some small measure of belated

progress. The road was, more or less, less
compelling than the hut, but as the benefit

of time allowed the hut’s distractions to attain
a vaguely musty scent, and all the novel

knickknacks to acquire a fine veneer of bone-
white dust, the road became then somewhat more

attractive, and as the weather made a timely
if quite brief concession, the pilgrim took this all

to be an open invitation to set out.

ON SLOW LEARNING
If you’ve ever owned
a tortoise, you know
how terribly difficult
paper training can be
for some pets.

Even if you get so far
as to instill in your tortoise
the value of achieving the paper,
there remains one obstacle—
your tortoise’s intrinsic sloth.

Even a well-intentioned tortoise
may find himself in his journeys
to be painfully far from the mark.

Failing, your tortoise may shy away
for weeks within his shell, utterly ashamed,
or, looking up with tiny, wet eyes, might offer
an honest shrug. Forgive him.

Prayer:
Eternal God,
as I walk through life
my prayer is that your Spirit
will give to my feet and my faith
a hopeful tempo. May my walk be
steady and sure, seeking to be true
to the call of the gospel.
Help me to be quick to forgive,
slow to judge.
Quick to extend help,
slow to keep score of wrongs.
Quick to defend the rights of others, and
quicker still to provide a welcome to those
whose walk has taken them through deserts
and across seas in fear and uncertainty of their
next step.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear my prayer. Amen.