“O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! Which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee!
How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gatherest her chicks under her wings, and ye would not.” Luke 13: 34 KJV
Prayer:
O, Father, God, Another covenant? Surely this time we will keep it!
“They will respect my son.” Matthew 21:37
O, make your people worthy of those tears, the breaking heart of the God made man.
“But they dragged him out of the vineyard and killed him…” Matthew 21:10.
O, people of God, bow your heads in shame…Father, have mercy! 21:39
It was almost midday and past time for the eggs to have been deviled. The bounty of family to arrive hungry and many items left unattended on the list; a list longer than I thought, now that the brightness of the day wore on and the early clarity of a 5:00 dawn was not quite so clear and bright as my evening list-making envisioned. But family is coming and friends and this is home still, though they are grown, and we are not so young to bustle so much.
Still the hens had been producing and I’d held back the eggs from our breakfasts all week. They were waiting there in the bowl atop the counter. The water, which I’d just put to the stove, was also waiting for my gentle hand to promptly add each egg (more than 2 dozen) and then to the deviling, but the phone ringing in the other room...
Our labrador was still young, and his given name of Gabriel was more for his whitish gold coloring as a pup than for his angelic disposition. I was in mid-sentence on the phone, when I heard the clamor in the kitchen, mostly the sound of the bowl hitting the ground and the dog skittering about –since eggs shatter quietly.
My week’s savings, a yellow mess on my already mopped floor; and the dog—need I mention the mess there. The devil got the eggs that day and God gave me grace to still my hand and quiet my voice until laughter came. Let me call that pup under my wing and wash him clean of his transgressions. He does so love eggs, or a mess anyway. As he tucked his head in shame, I lifted it.
How many eggs do we shatter? And how often may we be washed clean?
Submitted by Rosemary Holzhuter, 1938-2022 (Reprinted, 2014)
Prayer Grant that we might see the goodness You set aside for us and the goodness You place within us. When we shatter all Your gifts, let us, with meek hearts, lift our heads to You and be washed clean in Your abundant grace. Let us go about Your work with strengthened hearts and stronger backs to do all You ask. And when yet again we fail, when we choose to take and spoil the wonders of Your grace, help us find the way unto You. For we are but the hungry and curious in Your kitchen and many messes to be found. Yet we are Yours! O God, let us be grateful for Your wondrous mercy!