Ask any Minnesotan today how their weekend was and 99.99% will say "Perfect!" They will most likely say this because, since in this state known for its frozen nature we are obsessed with talking about the weather, the weekend could only be described in one way:Perfection. This past Saturday and Sunday are the days we want to hold on to, to remember and recreate in our imaginations on those long, cold, never-ending days of winter. Perfection. Cool mornings & evenings, with warm sunshine and a light breeze sandwiched in between. The lakes, the pathways, the streets were crawling with people soaking it in, holding on to these glory days, trying to squeeze the life out of the beauty of it all.
Outside my window sits the church's playground. This morning it is full of children for our Vacation Bible School. They are laughing, screaming, running, climbing. They, too, are holding on to the last of these summer days. Unlike those of us who live in the work world, they are given the gift of savoring the freedom of summer. But now the school supplies are stacking up in the house. Parents are talking about 'schedules, planners, backpacks, homework' and they can feel the summer slipping away. Vacation Bible School this week is a last ditch effort at summer camp, that place where kids get to play, make stuff, do a little study to keep the adults happy, and play some more with friends they have known their whole lives or with new ones. As they swing, as they slide, they are holding on.
Last evening we gathered to celebrate our first ever community garden at the church. The garden held all the ingredients for salsa so we deemed it a 'salsa party' complete with a salsa band. We ate tomatoes, cilantro, peppers, onions, jalapenos from the two little raised beds. As we scooped our chips into the blessings of these vegetables planted, grown, watered, and harvested by many hands, we were holding on to the the tastes that will become shallow and dull in the winter. One of the saddest sights at the grocery store is a tomato in February and that is to say nothing of the taste. Yuck!
Holding on need not be an act of desperation.Holding on can bring us into the moment, help us to savor the goodness of this day, this minute, this life. Holding on connects us with the Breath that moves among us at all times, urging us to look around, to touch gently, to listen deeply, to love wholly, this world, this blessed world. And we can all say together……it is good, very, very good.
"This day God gives me strength of high heaven,
Sun and moon shining, flame in my hearth,
Flashing of lightning, wind in its swiftness,
Depths of the ocean, firmness of earth."
~James Quinn, SJ, ascribed to St. Patrick