Attending

How do you know when to stop thinking and pay attention? As you may have gathered from the infrequency of posting this year, I've been struggling with this a lot. A weekly routine of teaching and work has helped, as has training for a half marathon, but has left me able to do very little outside of those things.

Today's daily devotional from the United Church of Christ, the church I grew up in, stopped me for a moment of thought, and I wanted to share my response to it. Phiwa Langeni writes,

At a recent meeting, the centering activity snatched my attention. The leader invited attendees to imagine this scenario (greatly paraphrased with some creative liberties): You’re on your way to a long-awaited event that’s been postponed since 2020. You’re quietly enjoying your ride to the venue when a fiery red Japanese maple in someone’s front yard catches your attention. You suddenly realize you forgot to prepare the event’s opening reflection entitled “Barefooted Blessings” based on Exodus 3:5! Your ridesharing app says you’re two minutes away....Set a two-minute timer and ponder. What will you say?

My first thought is that I would take at least thirty seconds of the time to explain my situation to the driver, and ask them to take the long way around and drop me off at the far end of the block, to give me a bit more time to scramble an answer.

My second thought is that I would open my reflection by saying that I had forgotten to give it, and then speaking the truth that I came to when I set my two-minute timer, and bowed my head, and thought about it: sometimes we don't know when we're in the presence of something sacred. We don't know, or we can't see. We need someone, or something--like our gods, if we have them; like a beautiful tree--to tell us to stop and pay attention.