The Message behind the Madness

Every Sunday

(almost)

We loose our religion

getting to church~

And when we finally arrive

(late)

We tiptoe

(like a heard of elephants)

Into our chairs~

Definitely not benches...

because

Benches are for the righteously deserving

bunch that arrive

 to church on Time.

And without fail~

When I finally get a chance 

to glance

at my elephants...

Inevitably I see...

A missing sock

A mop of hair that didn't quite get combed

A milk mustache

A bow that doesn't match

(who am I kidding?...My daughters don't even wear bows)

Dirt behind an ear

or

last weeks snack on my sons white shirt~

I giggle

Just a little

(but not so much)

Because I am feeling like a great big

Looser

(with a capital L)

By this time, I sure could use a drink

but I don't drink

So I sit and think think think...

Hence the Sacrament...

There really must be something in the water~

Because I start to remember

what I'm supposed to remember 

and forget

What I'm supposed to forget~

And I pray

for the healing water to wash me clean

to clear my slate for one more day

one more week...

to make me new again~

Because that is the point

behind the Madness...

The reason I do it again and again

week after week

crying toddlers, sleepy teenagers

and all~

Because...I Need to be reminded 

of what I Never...Ever...want to forget~

And I start to see with 

the eyes of a man so pure...

he died for me~

 With renewed vision, I can see beyond

the Betty Crockers

and the Cindy Crawfords

The Cleavers..the Achievers

The scholars and the silent~

I see people just like me

wanting~striving~searching

To be so much more~

I see a "peculiar people"

The people of my father 

and his father

and his father's father~

whose faith was deeper than the river's

they crossed, so that I may sit on a chair

or a bench each week~

~and it will not be in vein~

People

laying down their weaknesses, their

mishaps and their clumsy mistakes

at the Saviors feet...

And I love them for it~

And I am proud and humble

in the same breath 

to sit among these people

Bench or no bench~

I remember that it is within the walls

of this school where

the hopeless find hope

The proud make peace with their pride...

and the sinner in all Of us

remembers the way home~

Home to him that gives me hope...

That one day

I'll get myself a bench~