Wayfarers

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

For I am but a sojourner with you,
a wayfarer, as all my forebears were.
Psalm 39:14

I finish my usual prayer time and become aware of the familiar sounds of early morning traffic. The squeak of my neighbor’s gate as she heads out. Passenger cars swishing by my house headed for the main road. A cement truck. Sirens of an emergency vehicle a ways off. Someone who needs a new muffler. The hum of the nearby highway. And beneath all that, within my house, the chords of a mandolin as my husband begins his day.

I get quieter, listen more deeply. What is the invitation here? What else am I to hear? Contained within each of these sounds is a person about their way in the world. Someone on their way to work, or school, or home. A construction worker on their way to repair. An EMT on their way to help. A teacher on their way to care for eager or angsty students. Someone sharing beauty on their way.

I too am about to be on my way, now aware that my way is linked to all these other ways. We are all wayfarers together. None travels in isolation. Whether we pay attention to this or not, we are connected. I might cross paths with any one of these people this day; in fact, I already have. I quiet again, and cast thanksgiving and petition along the lines of connection. My prayer time has just begun.