Monday, April 14, 2025

You Don't Have That Kind of Time

SOURCE:  https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2025/4/2/anne-lamott-on-how-easter-changed-for-me

KEYWORDS:  Resurrection, Worship, Prayer, Spiritual Disciplines

Anne Lamott writes about Easter...


When I was 38, 

my best friend, Pammy, 

died, and we went shopping 

about two weeks before she died, 

and she was in a wig 

and a wheelchair. 


I was buying a dress 

for this boyfriend I was trying to impress, 

and I bought a tighter, 

shorter dress than I was used to. 

And I said to her, 

“Do you think this makes my hips look big?” 

and she said to me, so calmly, 

“Anne, you don't have that kind of time.” 


And I think Easter has been about 

the resonance of that simple statement; 

and that when I stop, 

when I go into contemplation and meditation, 

when I breathe again and do the sacred action 

of plopping and hanging my head 

and being done with my own agenda, 


I hear that, ‘You don't have that kind of time,’ 

you have time only to cultivate presence 

and authenticity and service, 

praying against all odds 

to get your sense of humor back. 


That's how it has changed for me. 

That was the day my life changed, 

when she said that to me.