Five Years' Thanksgiving

On January 30th, 2011, the 13 RSCJ from the probation group "Vivir y Amar con Alegria Profunda" (Live and Love with Deep Joy) professed final vows.

The poem below is my way of marking this year's anniversary.

Five Years' Thanksgiving

I am surrounded

by journey and love;

Love that is

forever freeing

and coming round

to whole,

to home,

to you;

You, my Yes,

my beckon and courage;

You, the adventure
of awe and becoming.

You, my strength,

and what grace I know.

You, the large,
the little, and all.

The sigh, the song,
the dance, the struggle,

The question, the laugh,
the hand that I hold

before rising again,
and saying again,

AMEN.

Kimberly M. King, RSCJ

Snapshot of a Sigh

Preparing dinner tonight was such a simple joy.

I brought in music I enjoy and chopped away to a favorite playlist that includes Carrie Newcomer, Anonymous 4's folk aspect, and Natalie Merchant. I reveled in the warm swath of alto voices and the sometimes harmonies that inclined my ear toward a nearness of sweet noted grace.

We were going to try a new recipe that someone in the house had found and said "Kim, this sounds like your kind of recipe! Would you try it?" It was on a Jamie Oliver card picked up from a local supermarket: Pan baked chicken from Save with Jamie.

My community member was right...it is exactly the sort of recipe I love. Obviously, there are instructions and there are ingredients... but it isn't too rigid and it isn't too fussy and is more about bringing together flavors that play nicely with one another and understanding enough to help them do their thing.

I love that process of bringing together simple things that stay simple but somehow become more....a more that satisfies the senses and fills the stomach...a more that speaks of care and love...a more that is honest and uncomplicated and delicious.

It is my sort of recipe too because it is roomy... Toward the end of its time in the oven, I added fresh spinach to the pan of chicken and roasting red peppers, tomatoes, onions, and garlic that were wading in thyme and paprika laced balsamic vinegar and olive oil. And next time, I plan on tossing in mushrooms too.

Between the music and the textures of the ingredients and the chopping and the smells coming from the oven...glory and sigh, it was a full delight for the senses...for the heart.

To rest in that feeling for a while is worthy of thanksgiving...and I suppose that's why I am writing tonight.

Sometimes the fullness overflows.

 

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