Daily Signet

Long travels, long delays, layovers and standbys.  A day full of getting there.
Long storms, long nights, late freezes and standbys.  A winter full of getting there.
Long illness, long suffering, surgery and standbys.  A year full of getting there.
Long injustice, long hunger, sanctions and standbys.  A decade of getting there.
Long separation, long sleeps, sacrifices and standbys.  An eternity of getting there.
In between grief and getting-there, is standing by. In standby time we anguish
with the unknown.  The worst is over but the birth has not yet happened.
The Jews have set out Elijah’s cup for thousands of years now,
Waiting for the birth.
Did the three days after Jesus’ crucifixion seem like thousands of years?
In celestial time?
What if his followers had all turned against him
because the resurrection did not come at once?
There is no standard gestation time for a birth that follows death.
No direct correlation of death time to rebirth.
The only promise is that it will come,
maybe in this lifetime, or the next.
In this Holy Week I pray for strength in the standby times.

Jamie Ziegler

On This Day…

Joshi-no-Sekku, Shinto festival of dolls and Girls’ Day: Families pray for the good health and well-being of their girls. Every household beautifully decorates a multi-level podium, covered in red, on which various symbolic dolls are nested, and to them various offerings such as rice cakes and peach blossoms are made.

Edward Thomas born 1878 in London, died 1917: prominent among the nature and World War I poets. Though he was older, married and had children, Thomas enlisted and went to France, where he was killed.
Works: In Pursuit of Spring, The South Country, The Heart of England
Quotes: “The simple lack of her is more to me than others’ presence.” “How nice it would be to be dead if only we could know we were dead. That is what I hate, the not being able to turn round in the grave and to say it is over.” “Verse is the natural speech of men, as singing is of birds’.”