Last night, I lay in bed, thinking worrying about the letter I received in the mail this weekend. Jury duty. Two months of calling the jury call-in line early every morning to check if my service would be required. Although it was unlikely I’d serve more than a few days during this time, I wouldn’t be able to schedule anything firm for December or January.
At 10:30 p.m., I slipped out of bed and scribbled a note: reschedule appointment with Corie, notify Lisa that I might not be at WriterHouse on Thursdays, ask Vicki to take notes at Tuesday morning’s Bible Study in case I’m not there. And so forth.
I returned to bed and thought worried about my checklist until overcome by fatigue.
The moon shone bright, a supermoon that occurs when the moon is full and in orbit close to the earth. This supermoon was the closest the moon had been to the earth since 1948, a phenomenon that would not happen again until November 2034.
At 2:55 a.m., I rose again, made a trip to the bathroom then donned socks, warm-up pants, slip-ons, and fleece. The dogs stirred in their beds. I unlocked the kitchen door and stepped onto the deck and into the chill night air.
I wasn’t able to take a decent picture of the large, bright moon in the dark but tried anyway. Then I heard a rustling in the woods, nocturnal creatures stirring, maybe daytime critters, too, fooled by the moonlight. I zipped into the house.
Keith had slid his leg across my side of the bed, waiting for me to return. He snuggled and warmed me in the bright moonlight. The windows in our house at Vanaprastha are copious and unfettered by shades, blinds, curtains, or any other window treatments.
I lay in bed, worrying thinking. How blessed I am with a loving husband, three adult children, extended family, friends, and neighbors, shelter, warm bed, good food, and a mission.
How did I know what God had planned for me? With whom might I come into contact; who might need something from me? Wasn’t jury duty service to my community, an opportunity to serve God?
I opened the palms of my hands, gazed at the moonlight gracing our planet, and rested peacefully for the remainder of the night.
Yes, that is what jury duty is, but it is also annoying, no doubt. Beautiful thoughts by the end here though. I also tried to photograph the moon, which was huge and had such a well-defined man-in-the-moon face. It looked like images from my childhood–books and pictures of the moon. But my iPhone really let me down.
Ah yes, how I struggle to see the beauty in jury duty–so much easier to see beauty in the moon, until we try to photograph it with our phones:-) Thanks so much for your comment, Luanne. -C.D.