It's Summer!!!

I went down to the chapel to say my night prayers tonight, and it seems I had a lot to say.  The sky was grey; the weather was cold; the pile of snow next to the chapel entrance was still pretty high.  And I was alone there, just me and God.  And so I read my night prayers, said my rosary, told God I’d try to do His will --- if He’d help me figure it out --- and I’d amend my life, Amen.  And then I started home.

I saw the prayer book on the passenger seat of the car that a friend had left the other day, and so I called her and asked if I should stop by and drop it off.  She said no; she’d get it another day.  And so I took the direct route home, through downtown Plymouth. 

It was cold; it was dreary; there weren’t a soul on the street walkin’ around, and you wondered if things would ever get any better.  On the radio, that old moldy tune Alice’s Restaurant was playing, and the hippie just rambled on his tale.  Even the radio seemed dull and dreary.

When all of a sudden my eye caught someone stopped by a store at the side of the road, and the neon sign on the store was lit up: OPEN.  And the billboard out front of the store said: “$1 off during the first week open.”  The Carousel Ice Cream shop was open!!!  No kids were sitting on the horses around the circular building; no people were sitting at the tables and chairs, and there was only that one couple at the ordering window, but my heart leapt up into my throat:  “Thank you, Lord.  It’s Summer!!”

Well, I cut across two lanes of traffic without looking as I turned into the parking lot.  I got me a hot fudge sundae (a small concession to the freezing weather), went back in the car and brought it home, smiling all the way.

And so now I’m eating a cherry from the top, that tastes better than any cherry I’ve ever tasted.  And the whipped cream is so smooth it makes me forget all the potholes I had to bump over to get home.  And the hot fudge and ice cream taste so great it almost makes me forget the huge pile of snow at the end of the driveway.

Looking out the window, I see blue sky (well, there is a little between all those clouds --- really!), and I guess God just arranged all that prayer time and me taking that route home so that he could let me know that He truly does know our deepest yearnings, and hears our prayer.

It’s summer!!!!!  : - )))))