Ice Cream Trucks, Solitude and Being

Lake Opeka, A Sacred Place

Lord, I’ve been sitting here at the lake.
The assignment from my class is to
     “practice solitude” . . . 
     to be quiet
     in Your presence.

I should just be honest and say
I know I should do this assignment.
But I’d really like to get going.
I have a lot to do today.
And just sitting here quietly
     in Your presence
     doesn’t seem very “productive.”
I should be
     reading scripture
          praying
               or at least
                    writing in my journal.
But QUIET? Just BEING?

It doesn’t help that the ice cream truck plays on and on.
Lord, how can I practice solitude and quiet
     with “La Cucaracha”
     playing over and over? ”

Good!  It’s leaving now.
I’ll start over!
But the truck simply drives down the street
     to another location . . .
     And the music begins again?
Lord, what in the world am I to learn from this?

Ahh…quiet once again . . .
And I hear You say,
     “Don’t give up so fast.
No one ever said it was easy
     to just ‘be.'”

1 Reply to “Ice Cream Trucks, Solitude and Being”

  1. Dear Carol,
    I enjoy navigating your beautiful website and reading your wonderful blog entries. Practicing solitude, journaling, praying and just being are particularly important as we engage in so much “busy-ness,” overscheduling and bombardment of music and videomessaging. I believe that we have to make a conscious choice to just be, to quiet our minds and to let the important messages and connections happen.
    Cya, Marguerite

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