The Remains of the Day

2:41 pm
It's Monday afternoon in a church office.
Everyone's gone except me, and I'm feeling like there will be little productive work done for the rest of the afternoon.  It's not that I'm stuck or out of gas either, it's just that it's so quiet and lovely right now with the windows open to a beautiful spring day.
It would probably be insulting to God for me to try and fill this particular moment of silence with something useful.  So I just listen to the mockingbirds imitating the delighted shrieks of the children who were playing at the school next door a few hours ago.  I let myself go quiet and listen.
Every once in a while my fingers tip-tap on the keyboard, but I'm not doing anything really important, just writing these random thoughts.
You might think I'm wasting my time.
After all there are probably some "important" things I could be doing...
Even this blog could be better thought out, I could have had some sort of plan for how it was going to turn out, but I didn't... I don't... not even now... I don't know how long it's going to be, I don't really know where it's going, I'm just letting the tip-tapping of the keys mix with the silence.
There is plenty of time for plans and phone calls and preparation and going out into the world.
We need more time to just listen...
Listen, I tell you a mystery: God speaks to us.
I don't know why, I've been trying to figure that out for years.
With all of the wonderful things there are in the universe, why does God take the time, when there are so many other things to do, to spend time in an empty and silent office on a Monday afternoon with a pastor who is idly wasting his time.
Like I said, I don't know why, but I know that it happens.
In fact, I suppose listening to God is technically part of my job description.
As a matter of fact, I  just caught myself praying...
Now I'm really working...
This is a very peculiar job.