the after Christmas miseries

"Come to me, all of you who are frustrated and have had a bellyful, and I will give you zest. Get in the harness with me and let me teach you, for I am trained and have a cooperative spirit, and you will find zest for your lives. For my harness is practical and my assignment is joyful." Clarence Jordan’s Cotton Patch Gospel of Matthew Chapter 7, verse 28
Life after the Christmas extravaganza always deflates quickly like a balloon full of air set loose to spin around the room. Anticipation gives way to fear and trembling. Joy leaves and resignation sets in. Waiting for becomes plain waiting. The light of the Epiphany Star seems distant and drained in comparison to the angel light over the shepherd’s heads. We get what the old timers in my part of the world call the "miseries". We are spent and nothing tastes or feels or sounds or looks good enough to fill up the hole left by Christmas Past.
So when I read this passage in Clarence Jordan’s interpretation of the Matthew gospel, I laughed out loud. Jesus’ words in the southern vernacular help me hear them again for the first time. This version of the Sacred Text in the language of my region gives me new room to roam as I savor the words and their meaning.
"Come to me, all of you who are frustrated and have had a bellyful, and I will give you zest." This January I have had a belly full... a belly full of greedy developers next door, a belly full of taxes looming, a belly full of illness and death and confusion, a belly full of drought and hard scrabble times for those who love and live on the land. I am weary of sitting in four hour meetings with the Board of Adjustment listening to an attorney argue that his clients should be allowed to place 160 "park model" small trailers on a steep fifty acre plot of ground for weekend vacationers without having to play by the rules. I am weary of watching my daughter struggle to find the care her son needs in our educational system, a system that does not tend to the least but honors those who achieve. Those who have financial resources can pay the big bucks to provide private quality care but those who can’t have to push and shove and complain to get a toehold. I am weary of seeing those I love in hospital rooms and nursing home rooms. I am in need of some zest.
"Get in the harness with me and let me teach you..." When Daddy Vance had a green mule to train, he would harness it with Big Pet. She was a gentle soul who knew what to do and how to do it. It was always amazing to me to watch this process. Big Pet would stand quietly, dipping her head to receive the collar and be harnessed. Her calmness encouraged the other mule to be calm also. As Big Pet moved out pulling the tobacco sled behind, Blue would settle down and match his gait to hers as she responded to the verbal cues... gee, haw, up, up, up or whoa. Man and mules would move easily to the tobacco field to begin working as a team. The job was too large for just man alone but the cooperation between Big Pet, Blue and the driver was fun even when the work was hard. I need the Big Pets in my life to learn from, to be harnessed with, to help me find zest in my bellyful days. I have them. I just need to call them and get in harness.
"For my harness is practical and my assignment is joyful." The assignment is joyful, not ponderous or solemn or a call to action. Joyful, joy full... to work with the son of man is a joy and the load is lightened by the zest of cooperative spirits. The beloved community, a gathering of zesty joyful folks on a mission to be salt and light in a world that is in desperate need of both challenge and vision.
One of my favorite zesty old hymns always brings out the joy in my soul. It is sweet to sing the old words, hear Cara in the first soprano section singing a descant as I sing the chorus. "What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness, what a peace is mine, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread, what have I to fear, leaning on the everlasting arms, I have blessed peace with my Lord so near, leaning on the everlasting arms."
Today I choose to be harnessed with Jesus, learning, laughing and singing as I move through the work that awaits me, leaning on the everlasting arms of the One who gets a kick out of my creation. Bellyful blessed bright beautiful beloved becoming soul work to be done with zest and joy. Thanks be to the God who I believe laughs out loud with us when we enjoy the gift of life in its fullness.