I've been up since 5am with my daughter. She decided to start the day at 5am. If she does an early morning wake up, usually I'm able to take her to her play area for an hour after which she promptly goes back to bed.
Today, she wasn't having it. Nor was she going to eat. Or was she going to allow me to rest my head on a pillow next to her as she played.
So at 8:45am, I hastily brought her to my groggy husband, got dressed and ran to 9am mass. I was lectoring today.
I arrived just in time and noticed out of the corner of my eye how bloodshot my eyes looked. Everything was going as usual until during the Act of Confession I noticed smoke shooting out of the lectern. The lighter used to light the candles was somehow still lit and when I put the Prayers of the Faithful down, they ignited. The intentions literally went up to the heavens.
I quietly grabbed the lighter and the flaming prayers, ran to the sacristy and extinguished what was left of the papers.
The cantor and I spent the rest of the mass quietly using damp napkins to wipe the lectern to ensure nothing else was smoldering.
I'm fairly certain that was God talking to me. I'm not quite sure if that was a wake up call or just a friendly reminder to be on my toes or simply a reminder that sometimes you just have smile, laugh and go with the punches.
I'd like to think it was the later.
