Aug 10
13
Centering Moments
For reasons I deeply question, I have my alarm set to wake me up with the news. Wafting over my consciousness gloomy reports on the state of economic conditions bid me to wake. It’s on everybody’s mind demanding attention declaring that it is the most important thing and deserves to be the center of our attention. The realized losses and the potential losses both reported and predicted constantly on our news, telling us that this is our current reality. We continue to focus and listen not realizing the effect it is having on us.
Apparently, calling me awake wasn’t enough. I listened to the news as I drove to the church. I got out of the car and took a breath looking around I saw our children’s school. I walked over and went and visited the kindergarten class. Children working in different stations turn and look at me when I entered. I received big smiles and acknowledgement of my advent. Some came up and greeted me immediately and walked with me as I went from station to station. What I witnessed was children creating art. One boy at the easel his attention fixed considered with care his next color choice and then with a sweeping motion drew the brush down with great control.
One little girl came close looked up and said, “LOOK!” she pointed with her finger to her lower mouth and the gapping hole where two of her front teeth had been. “MY TEETH ARE GONE!” she declared. Within seconds I am surrounded by children all with their mouths open showing me the holes where teeth once were. Like sunflowers fixed on the sun their faces beam up at me and follow me. I felt my body relax, here was something to center my attention on. I was reminded of another kind of loss, one that made me a nickel when I was young, one that makes way for something new, a loss worth celebrating. I wondered later if after time had past and people reflected on the losses if there would be anything redemptive about it. Would it cause some of us to redirect and reprioritize how we have been living our lives? I wondered if we would find that the losses caused us to think in a way that, otherwise, we never would have considered.
It’s too soon to reflect on that sort of thing. But, thanks to the children, I remembered that there is more than one reality going on at a time and I have the choice on which to center my day. I was reminded that life, while not particularly easy, is a wonder and a gift. As hard as it tried to demand my attention, the face of the economy pales next to the face of a child. I changed the station.
