A Saturday Morning…

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Just another Saturday morning…nothing of note, nothing special.  The sun shines brightly over Monterrey…but then, it shines brightly almost every day.  And, according to the weather forecast, we’re in for a warm one—mid-90’s.

This morning, I make pancakes for my son and me—some sort of multi-grain concoction that I’ve put together.  And, I made some syrup as well…home-made, with maple flavoring.  The butter is getting soft.  In just a bit, I’ll go start putting it all together so Andrew and I can enjoy a hearty breakfast.

As I look out over the mountains south of our city—the sparse, rugged mountains, I long to escape the people, the sounds, the press of the city.  Sharing this small bit of earth with some 5,000,000 others gets a sort of tedious at times…and I hear the vast emptiness of desert, forest, wasteland calling to me, asking me to step away for a while.

I believe it’s not by chance that Jesus, Moses, Abraham, John the Baptizer…even Paul…had some of their most intense spiritual experiences in the wilderness.  It’s not by chance that the early Christians moved into the desert (“the Desert Fathers).  And, it’s not by chance that when we find ourselves in great wastelands that we feel so small, God so large…and we find a clarity of thought that often escapes us in the busyness, clamor and stresses of the city.

Perhaps this year I can find an escape, a place to get away to…far from the sprawl and screech of city life, a place where I can go for a day or two or three to escape from it all and find that seemingly illusive clarity that my heart and soul so craves.

Meanwhile, it’s Saturday morning…and the pancakes beg to be made.  So, I press on in the grueling realities of life here and now.  Well, perhaps not “grueling”…but certainly the realities of this present life.  Chao.

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