Friday, November 19, 2021https://kuc.org/wp-content/uploads/joy-49.jpg

Katie Snipes Lancaster

Scripture
Suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint us,
because God’s love
has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Romans 5:3–5

A Look at Joy
Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes up her needles
and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
in the oats, to air in the lung
let evening come.

Let it come, as it will, and don’t
be afraid. God does not leave us
comfortless, so let evening come.

(Jane Kenyon, “Let Evening Come” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 2005 by the Estate of Jane Kenyon).

Prayer
Let this day wash over us, O God.
And let our “thank you” be heard for miles round.
Amen.