by Katie Harmon-McLaughlin
This day is for joy.
It is for delight.
It is for savoring.
It is for saying-
What tastes and feels good
Can also be holy.
This feast day is sacrament.
It is open table and good food.
This day is preparation
For the long days of fasting ahead.
It is for breathing deep and making ready.
It is the last bite for now…
It is the sacred willingness
To give up the things we think we love
To discover more fully the One we love.
This day is the edge of the desert place.
We enter by choice,
Led by the Spirit.
But that comes tomorrow.
This is the day for gazing at what lies ahead
With full hearts and stomachs
Grateful for this abundant life
And the journey that leads
Through emptiness
To an even deeper abundance.