The Feast Leading to Love: Day 8

I’m practicing 31 days of writing about Feasting on the Present Moment.  You can find all of them on the Browse All Articles on the left.  Join me for the Journey?

Planet Earth, a 4D experience, the poster had read. We cozied into the Shedd Aquarium theater seats to rest museum-weary feet. The children and I slid red plastic 3D glasses up our noses and made faces at Grandpa and Nana who sat next to us and had laid this present feast.

Emporer penguins hid eggs under folded fur wadled carefully out of a storm and out of the screen toward us and our chairs vibrated with the beat of their march.  A whale jumped out of the water and a spurt of water sprayed our faces causing the children to gasp surprise.

Caedmon’s eyes shined as we left the theater and said it was the best movie he had ever seen though we owned that one at home and had watched that same polar bear slide down the hill countless times.  But, we payed the big bucks to “be there.”

 

An hour later, sitting with my mom and precious daughter in our Chicago hotel, I watched the human parade of art travel through the lobby.  A line of flight attendants pulled hardcover suitcases on wheels, their heals clicking on the marble.  The desk attendant with an Indian accent hovered, teasing my daughter.  And sitting next to us, an old woman with red dyed hair and a Burberry scarf looked as if she had lost someone and was waiting for him to show up.

I was feasting on the present and aware of the great migration of souls with colorful stories and sparkling dreams and shattered lives each wearing those carefully applied masks.  They were beautiful and I wanted to offer each one of them a cup of coffee and have them peel back the layers and tell me their tales.

The music lifted our moods with feel-good top 20, our own shared shoudtrack and for a moment we stepped into and then back out of each other’s lives, a swirl of humans who would never share this tiny square of planet earth again.

I wanted to pray for each one, to lay hands and say a blessing over them, to look into their eyes and tell them not to hurry, that they were not lost because I knew who was looking for them.

Instead, I could just watch the passing art with awe.  This one is made in Your image, Lord, and this one too…and that woman with the long black hair standing behind the coffee cart, You did a beautiful job when You made her…

I sat still and I began to wonder: if I would live unhurried with those nearest me, to take the time to be still and watch and be present,

could I find the door to honor and then to awe and then to accepting love more quickly

and with more grace

and finally, without pushing so hard?

 

Today I am thankful again with Ann:

1. The privilege of watching my parents create bonds and look into the eyes of my children

2. Experiencing the German UBoat submarine at the Museum of Science and Industry with my fascinated father.

3. A daughter full of joy and self-control.  I am in awe.  We traversed the American Girl store without buying a thing and no tantrums!

4. The beautiful press of thousands made in Your image.

5. Sitting at an Italian outdoor cafe with my parents

6. Watching my son’s passion for learning in action

7. A inner healing journey group filling up with such fascinating women – it will be an amazing year and I get to watch You at work once again!

8. The healing of the Anglican world, slow but steady.

9. A home gaining order and I am losing the stress of it!

10. Xavier, jumping up and down, pumping at the ceiling, dancing after preschool
by Summer Gross

also joining with: LL Barkat

and Laura Boggess