Honey

{I share my writing exercise this eve}

I open my new Writer's Book of Days and 9/25 saith, "Write about a simple pleasure."

Do I believe in predestination or what? I sit at our desk. The apartment is hushed. Still. A French vanilla candle whispers scent, the petite flame swaying to the silence. One of our beloved Paste-colored coffee cups sits empty. Just ten minutes before it held chamomile tea

in tandem
honey.

I love the pool of honey at the end of the cup ~ a lovely dessert. The simple pleasures keep on comin' tonight: red wine, reading, and rest. Sleep. 86 the alarm clock.

The summation of my enjoyable simplicity is peace. Not "peace, dude" but the peace which sure does pass my feeble understanding of life all the while grace drips over me. Chamomile and vanilla light are symbolic reminders of peace only possible from Jesus: "God of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God."

I partake of such pleasures after a frenetic day at work. I think of the author I watched on C-Span's Book-TV while I ate my sushi dinner. The author is Melba Patillo Beals; her book is "Warriors Don't Cry: Searing Memoir of Battle to Integrate Little Rock." In 1957 Melba was one of nine black students chosen to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, AR. Needless to say she and the other eight were cruelly harrassed and tortured. We're talking acid-filled water guns shot into their eyes. Yet Melba's grandmother-sage would impart at the end of each day, "What was your blessing today? Who smiled at you? Who was kind to you?"

The chaos of my job does not compare to Melba's suffering but I choose to answer her grandmother, "I did not have to work in the dreaded Buy Area - God heard my prayer this morning as my eyes first opened and I prayed before ever I moved my lips. My boss smiled at me while he opened the back door as I arrived. Co-worker Cristin brought bagels for everyone ~ ah, a cinnamon & sugar half spread with cream cheese. A customer was gracious when I did not know the answer to her question, is this Peter Pan paperback abridged or no?

If Melba can do it, so can I, by golly. Indulging in simple pleasures is a homebound liturgy to remind me of God's peace and grace ~ evil has not conquered nor ever will do so. Jesus Christ reigneth, I say as I lick a spoon clean of natural peanut butter and clover honey. Jesus enjoyed honey! By His blood I now and shall dwell in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Tonight's reading in Psalm 119 contains verse 103: "O how sweet are thy words unto my throat: yea, sweeter than honey unto my mouth."