Catching the Sun

a parable about the meantime

A few weeks ago, I attended a workshop on creative worship with Dr. Marcia McFee. She shared a video of the song “I Believe” by Mark Miller as worship opener. Here’s the song on Spotify, although this version on YouTube is better, in my opinion. I like to skip forward 30 seconds past the spoken narration; feel free to do so, and then to close your eyes and just listen. 

…I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.

This past Christmas, someone–I think it was my mother?–gave me this cute solar-powered sun catcher for my study at the church:

I decided to hang it in the kitchen window at home instead, and it’s fun to watch our zoomy kitten hunt the rainbows that float around the walls and skitter across the floor, always beyond the reach of her quick paws. 

Sometimes, the shade is such that the sunlight falls on just the prism, so you get tiny stationary rainbows. 

Other times there’s no direct sunlight at all, and it just sits there, unmoving. 

I’ve done my part. I’ve put it in the best position I can. But I can’t make the sun come out. I may long for those rainbows to dance while I’m doing dishes or brewing my morning tea, but I have no control over when that occurs, if ever. 

One thing I can do in the meantime is take some small delight in the inner workings of the gadget, and the designers’ good sense to make the gears bright colors–a rainbow within the mechanism itself–and to house it in a clear plastic casing so there’s something for me to behold while I wait for the sun to shine again.  

It’s not the showstopper I’m longing for, but it’s what I’ve got. Sweet and delicate.

Here ends the parable… apply where needed.

~

What I’m Up To

It’s been a busy week in The Blue Room. There’s a bonus post for paid subscribers, reflecting on “what’s mine to do” and how we decide. Also, a new episode of the podcast, an interview with the Rev. Lynn Horan about hope as an embodied phenomenon, not a cognitive one. 

And, the Crown and Anchor is open for business, with two Ted Lasso posts, a trailer reaction post and a season one recap and theme discussion. I didn’t intend to write twice this week, but it felt good to live in that world–a world where people who are struggling mentally can simply walk down the hall and knock on Dr. Sharon’s door and find her miraculously available exactly when they need her. Honestly? As a parent who’s been at this a while, that may be the most fantastical thing about the show. Sigh. Anyway, I hope you’ll check out the posts and COMMENT! 

Finally, I’ll be preaching this Sunday at Trinity Presbyterian in Herndon VA at 10:15 a.m., in person or via livestream. Then I’ll be dashing out to a lunch and learn book talk at Leesburg Presbyterian Church.

~

Link Love 

My friend and colleague the Rev. Frances Wattman Rosenau has started writing at Substack, and is doing a kindness discipline during Lent. Sweet and thoughtful reflections here. 

Steady on. Be kind.