June 13, 2007
Ever have that passing moment when someone comes to your mind, maybe a friend you have not seen in a while? What do you do with that moment? Dismiss it or follow it?
I followed it this morning and called my friend, the most holy Rev. Brian Burton (fyi--that's my title for him, not his). Brian shared a story with me of something that happened to him yesterday at his job at The Wilkinson Center, an east-Dallas cooperative parish serving the working poor. Returning from lunch, he crossed paths with a woman on the sidewalk outside of the Center. She had several grocery bags given to her at the food pantry. Brian saw her sorting through her bags and asked her, "Did you get everything you need today?"
She looked at him, and with a deep intensity as if she had come to the Center that day at the end of her rope, she said, "Thank God."
Brian said her desperation combined with her praising God for literally this daily bread reminded him of the very real presence of God wanting to meet us in our daily needs, as in the verse from Lamentations, "morning by morning new mercies I see..." Yet, we work so hard to structure our lives so that we don't need anything.
Can you imagine at the end of your day today, God coming to you, and asking, "Did you get everything you need today?"
"Don't understand the question."
-You know, need, did you get what you needed today."
"Hmmm...I got what I wanted today: a good breakfast, gas for my car, talked to friends on my cellphone, scheduled a mover, met a friend for lunch, cleaned the house and had dinner with my husband."
-What did you need today, though?
"Need?" Hmmm...
-Hmmm...
Wow. Thank God.
2 comments:
After a near-death illness, I created this simple (ok, pretty lame) prayer. Yet, it says it all
to me.
Thank you, Lord, for this day
Thank you, Lord, in every way
For every breath I take
For every step I make
Thank you, Lord.
~ A friend
Did I get everything I need today? Let me think--in my my yard I found the sweetest newborn bird, eyes not yet open, making the very calmest of peeps, knowing I would not hurt the little baby. I picked him/her up, wrapped it up in a towel and took it to a bird rescue house and gave them some money to help with food for all the birds that have been brougt in the past two weeks. At that moment I realized I had gotten all I needed for the day. God led me to the spot where the bird was before any other animal could get it and deep down a quiet calm took over my soul. Love and peace, my mother's child.
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