February 23, 2012
Be still before the Lord,
and wait patiently for him. Psalm 37:7
The coins for the parking meter are already in one hand as I reach to open the car door. Yet, I pause. Arrested in the moment of moving on to the next thing, I first realize how good it feels to stop. Then I recognize where I am. A thin place.
In that odd half an hour before I need to pick up my daughter, I had thought to run an errand. There was just enough time, maybe, if I kept moving.
But with my hand still on the door I feel the pull of the thin place, a moment, an invitation to enter into the sacred. I let go of the coins, the door, the errand. The silence deepens around me. Outside my car I hear the crows call, see the mother with swift and impatient efficiency usher three kids into a car, sense the failing warmth of the late afternoon sun. In my car I give myself to rest, reflection, tranquility.
I idly wonder if I will be content sitting here in my car for the full half hour. Hitching a ride with that thought comes an edginess and I stir too soon, yearning for the stillness even as I put my car in gear and move on.
copyright © Anne E. Kitch 2012
