Here and Now

In my busyness today, I was short tempered and rushed. I did all kinds of things on the computer and the phone kept ringing with people asking questions--interrupting my trains of thought. Very distracting. I came home tired and sort of achy, lower back stressed to the max, shoulders tight. I was probably seeing double by the time I got home and changed clothes.

Usually I open my e-mail as a part of my "coming home and decompressing" routine and check to see who sent me things, who is asking for money, who is reminding me of my civic duty. But today I got an e-mail from a friend with no explanation in the subject line. She has a little boy, so her time is tight. I thought she probably had a busier day than mine in some ways. I opened the e-mail and there was a quick hello and an internet address to go to. I need to explain that we were talking yesterday about the fact that her father passed away two years ago and she was feeling melancholy, reminiscing as we tend to do when we miss someone. I shared that even though my own father had died almost 20 years ago, I still have those waves of feeling wash over me. Then I told her I would send something I wrote about my dad, hoping that it would help her to know someone else felt the same. She called me today, in the midst of my pandemonium and said she appreciated what I had wrote. End of story--so I thought.

So back to the e-mail...I opened the url and it showed a 1954 juke box. I guess it was supposed to be a testament to those dinosaurs of long ago, showing how they worked with 45's, how you had to select the songs to play, how the needle played the actual record. But the most amazing thing, was that the song she had found, was the song which played a prominent part in what I wrote about my dad. I was stunned to hear the song come out of that Youtube video as clear as a bell. And then I thought, what a wonderful gift to give me! It is rare that someone takes the time to hear another person's murmurings, their ramblings, their "important to them" facts, but especially today, it was humbling to believe that someone in her own sadness, could bring me such a gift on such a day.

The Lord puts people in our paths all the time. We stumble over them, we fail to acknowledge their contributions to our lives, we blatantly ignore them. But today, I was so gifted and blessed by this person's unselfish sharing, I hardly knew how to accept such generosity. I wrote her back, of course, using the words "thank you" probably too much. But it was such a gift, so open-hearted and well-amazing-that thank you didn't seem big enough. But I will thank the Lord, too. For his placing this person in my life, in my path. I may have stumbled upon her in the dark, but the light from her spirit and from God's gift will remind me that the path doesn't need to be dark and moody. As long as we have those willing to share the light.

I hope you share your light with someone today. I'll work on tomorrow.