We do the best we can to proclaim God's word well. But just as pro athletes fall into slumps, writers get writer's block, and our many great prophets had their dry spells, so does the lector hit these walls.
 
It recently happened to me, and it lasted several months. At times, I wondered if after some 25 years in the ministry, I ought to take some time off or move on to another ministry that might refuel me.
 
But that thought quickly ended this past Ash Wednesday when I was assigned the first reading from the prophet Joel.

Though I proclaimed this reading many times in years past, this time I seemed to break through the old orbit of sameness and into a whole new sphere of zeal and intensity for it.
 
After the Mass, a couple of friends commented on the reading and how I "knocked it out of the park." But I knew that whatever happened had nothing to do with me. It was all about God and his graces. It was his way of reminding me that with him all things are possible.
 
I also believe that through those compliments was God speaking through those friends and encouraging me to "keep on keepin' on" serving him in this ministry.
 
God allows us to blossom at times we may never expect. And when we patiently allow ourselves to germinate on God's time, he'll pick the day for it to happen.