you are 23 and your hands hold steady the block of wood you are shaping and the sweet aromatic smell of sawdust is curling around you maybe your mother’s voice floats through an open door to tell you a meal is ready maybe you still have something to learn about carpentry as you work alongside Joseph 30 years is a long time to spend waiting quietly faithful, caring for your mother and your father, for your sisters and your brothers working with your hands ‘til the hands of God are calloused going to the synagogue to hear your words read week upon week you are 23 you are patient building a whole life of not my will but yours, Father
maybe you pick up a nail from the workbench look at it and know 10 years from now rough hands will hold you down and drive a spike through your wrist spilling blood onto rough wood maybe you are already making that sacrifice now quietly faithful maybe you can teach me how to be 23 waiting, quietly faithful caring for my mother and my father, my sisters and my brothers working with the hands God gave me hearing your words week upon week
build in me a whole life of not my will but yours, Jesus
