The Changing of the Hour
A chance to have answers. The ability to know the future without staining your hands on tepid tea and damp, dank leaves.
This is my desire. No one knows for sure what tomorrow will bring or if tomorrow will indeed even arrive. We make plans. We buy a
leather jacket for the big fall party, we pick out dresses for our bridesmaids, we plant tomatoes for the summer harvest, we imagine our
mothers teaching our child nursery rhymes on her knee as we stroke our unborn within our bellies. But,.. no one really knows if the party
will happen, if the wedding will go on, if worms will steal our food from our mouths, if the baby will enter the world already fast asleep.
No one knows. This is why I shall have God over for dinner.
I will host a dinner party for God within the confines of my garden. It seems quite appropriate, as this is where I speak to Him the
most. I also know God to be understanding and non-judgemental, so I do not think He will care if his shoes see a bit of dirt or if the cat
rubs against his linen pant leg. I will set a simple table thrown with white gauze and fresh cut hydrangeas. The breeze will be slight so it
blows the enticing scent of fresh baked baguettes across the lawn. There will be sweet tea,.. because God is Southern. It will be served in
mason jar mugs,.. because it tastes the best that way. A fresh cut watermelon, arugula and citrus salad will rest atop my antique blue and
white plates. All but the citrus will have been grown in that garden by God and I.
We will exchange pleasantries and He will tell me how my Aunt Jean has taken over the Sunday school classes and is the best cook
to enter Heaven this Millennia. He will say she made chocolate pecan pie for His birthday and it tasted so good it was a sin. The leaves will
swirl around the fence of the garden and the chickens will fall silent as it registers in their small bird-brained souls that they are in the
presence of their maker. I will tell Him about how grateful I am to be granted this chance at life and how much I see Him in the everyday
happenings. I will say, "I saw a dragonfly larva pulsing through the koi pond today", and He will say, "Yes, that was I." The time will
pass quickly and the sun will burn amber behind the illuminated trees as the evening waxes in.
God will rise to leave, thanking me for my hospitality and He will pause,..turning in His exit. "Carole, you wish to ask me things.
Things you fear the answers to more than the questions themselves. I know that the past few years have been very hard for you, and I am
proud of the way you have learned and grown. To quote a friend of mine,."your heart grew nine sizes that day",.. you are very much my
child so as your Father it is my duty to protect you and guide you as you grow." "I know you have been angry with me. I know that you do
not understand why things have been the way they have and will be the way they will be, but know that I am all around you. To know joy;
you must know sadness. A tree that grows under the weight of pebbles and the plight of insects will be scarred, but will grow stronger than
it's brother who was raised in a field and was provided it's water rather than having its roots grow deep." Anger and resentment will rise
within me like a deep crimson blood. Tears will pour from my face unbidden. Like a child scolded I will not understand. My unanswered
questions will clog my throat like a swollen wine cork. A woman to the world; yet a child in the shadow of my Guide. The night will seem dark and the stars will mock my cries with their twinkling glow. One day. One day I will understand.
