Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Dearest God,

What a day! I was asked to do a memorial service for special friends in southern Indiana. Little did I know I would spend a good part of the day learning another life lesson.

I got up early and worked on my meditation. Check! I worked on the downstairs closet. Check! I did laundry and cleaned a bathroom. Check! I took my shower and got dressed. Check! I drove to Plainfield in the morning and went to the wrong funeral home. No check there. I made two calls to cell phones and got voicemail. No check. Five minutes later I got a call with directions and drove straight there. Check, check!

At the last minute I decided to ride in the funeral car with the director. Check, check, check! For the next 2 1/2 hours we drove through southern Indiana, taking first one road, then another. We hit a road closed sign and took a detour. We turned right, then left, then right again. We moved from one country road to another, never feeling quite sure of where we were. A couple of times I took the map while the director made calls. I wondered if we would ever make it especially since I had a growing headache. I conducted the service while my head pain grew. Finally, the service was over but we couldn't find the excavator who we later found smoking a cigarette under a tree across the road and down the way. But before we left someone told us we could travel a shorter route back and take the parallel road next to the closed road. By the time I got home my head was splitting and I felt sick to my stomach. No check.

Today's lesson was about learning to trust when you're lost and going with the flow when things don't turn out the way you think they will. There were times when I felt frustrated today; yet, I felt your challenge to be at peace. I knew I had an important mission and I wanted to meaningfully fulfill it but the detour made us late by more than an hour and it was another 15 to 20 minutes before we began the service. Most of the time I had no idea where we were and what time we were going to get there but we did make it. As the family gathered at the grave they felt the sting of loss and grief and for them time stood still as they remembered with great affection the woman whose absence was apparent.

Learning to let go and trust you is a lesson I continue to learn. Perhaps I am stubborn, resistant and unwilling at times to surrender; therefore, you put me in situations where I need to learn the lesson again. I learned it today. Check!

Loving God,
thank you
for grace
that carries us
through life.
Thank you
for lessons
that refuse
to leave us
where we are.
Thank you
for unfamiliar journeys
that teach.

Love, Andrea