We started our Monday morning with patriotic pancakes, of course, but it seemed that our maple syrup supply was running low (perhaps also of course.) So the Spouse popped across the street to the grocery shop. He came back with the astonishing news that the shop is now keeping the good stuff behind the counter. Golden syrup and fake syrup you can find on the shelf, but the 100% stuff? You need to ask specifically. Too many bottle thefts, it seems. Happy Canada Day, eh?
Despite that unsettling news, we were all in a pretty good mood this morning – partially maple-fueled and partially because we’re just happy to have the Spouse home again. He’s been away for much of the past ten days for academic conferences. He’s at that stage of his PhD where he needs to be building networks for the next step and enlarging his perspective of the field in general. Important work, but we’ve all been holding our breath a little – it’s getting very close to babytime around here and I really wanted him home in time for labour. And now he is.
He’s taken Beangirl and Blue off to to the library this morning to sign up for a summer reading club. It’s Blue’s first time, but he’s ready and so excited by the prospect. 6 weeks. 6 books to read. And sticker prizes every week! Beangirl has participated several times already and she’s keen to get the thickest novels possible this year.
I’m pleased to have the house to myself on this first real morning of summer holidays.
The lectionary reading this morning isn’t about marriage and partnership, but that’s what I’m reading in it today. Jesus has chosen 70 disciples to go out into the towns and villages on the road ahead.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go your way.”
He sends them in pairs to share news of the Kingdom and to participate in Kingdom hospitality. So they go out, and when they return to him, their hearts are filled with joy. On their way, they have found welcome and warmth, and been filled with the knowledge that God is working with them and through each of them, individually and in pairs. It’s almost like a reversal of Noah’s Ark with the pairs sent on ahead, not gathered in. The flood here isn’t destructive – instead the coming waters are waters of baptism, and the pairs of disciples journey, like Noah, to prepare the land for the new covenant.
I imagine these disciples on the road together, learning to share both the journey and the good news. I imagine them feeling blessed and amazed by the ways that God equips them in these chosen pairs. That’s what I imagine because that’s what I experience. “Go your way” isn’t a Sinatra commandment, but a call to walk the road that has been set before us. We don’t chart that road ahead of time. Instead, we try to walk daily by faith. There’s practical theology for you. Step by step to go your way, as sent forth. Maybe as called forth.
Last weekend, the Spouse and I celebrated our 11th anniversary – though because of all his travels, we couldn’t celebrate together. He sent me sunflowers. I went to the movies. And put my feet up. Waiting for the strawberries to ripen and trying not to have a baby on my own. Not ideal, but that’s what the road held for us this year. And he’s home now, and we’re together for the next bit of the journey.
The baby will come when it comes. And in the meantime, here’s another song to brighten your Canada Day – a little love song for wherever your road may take you.
