“Even youths will faint and be weary,
Isaiah 40:30-31, NRSV
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”
Eagles spread their wings
Soaring, gliding way up high
Unfazed by the sun.
(Carla Romarate-Knipel, September 2020)
I wrote the above haiku in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown in response to a seven-day challenge to write seven haiku for seven days in September.*
Each day had a theme and a few words to serve as prompts.
My ‘eagle haiku’ was written on the day that the theme provided was “Determined/Excited.”
The day I wrote it was just another day of trying not to give in to the melancholy of being homebound for what felt like an eternity, even though it was just about six months of staying home.
The limitations of writing a haiku with five syllables on the first line, seven syllables on the second line, and five syllables on the third line paradoxically felt liberating.
It taught me the importance of pondering and praying with my eyes open and allowing spaces between one’s thoughts for God to speak.
As we prepare to journey into and through Lent, I hope we make time to create spaces to pray, ponder, and pause — to look up, inside ourselves, and look around.
When I made time to pause and look up last Sunday afternoon, I saw an eagle soar way up high above the parsonage. It reminded me to slow down and wait on the Lord.
I tend to speed up when I am determined and excited to do something for God and those I serve. But I am learning that in winter and the wilderness of “the-not-yet,” to wait on the Lord is a wise thing to do.
It doesn’t mean that everything has to stop.
What it means is to surrender to God’s command to rest and honor the Sabbath once or twice a week. And practice having mini-stops throughout the day.
It is living like a haiku. Limits can free you to do things that matter. It helps you to choose what is essential carefully. Not everything has to be done all in one breath.
As followers of Jesus, the season of Lent is when we willingly limit ourselves. Jesus invites us to accept our limitations.
In doing so, we are led by the Spirit to be tested like Jesus. In these testing times, we learn that there is only One that we can depend upon – God.
Only by learning to depend on God alone can we be the Church of Hope and Courage.
In a world pulled in many directions by competing voices, it is not easy to be this kind of Church.
But amid this seemingly insurmountable challenge of reaching people to join us in this adventure of soaring like eagles with the strength that God provides, we are not alone.
God is the source of our strength, and we can only move forward to the future that God has prepared for us if we are willing to be patient in waiting for the Lord to work in us and among us through times of prayer, the study of God’s word, and worship.
This patient waiting means allowing God’s Spirit to write the lines of our lives. Its creative limits set us free to soar above oppressive situations of too many nonessential choices and discover the new and beautiful things God is showing us.
So — may God, the Holy Three-in-One, bless us in this season of waiting and preparation where Jesus keeps us company as we journey through Lent and soar high like the eagle.
Yours in Christ’s Peace,
Pastor Carla
*Note: I learned at a haiku writing workshop that the plural form of haiku does not have an “s.” In addition, I admit that subconsciously (them!), the Philadelphia Eagles winning the National Football Conference on January 29, 2023, has influenced the choice of my eagle haiku among the 49 haiku that I have written! If you have read this far, send me an email at calayrk@gmail.com or a text message at 610-659-0314, and I will have a surprise gift for you. No, it’s not a ticket to the Super Bowl, but it will make you smile! The first one to contact me gets the surprise gift!)
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