living prayers......

oh! WHAT a gorgeous morning!
i tell ya, weather TOTALLY affects me.

ohhhhhhhh! it was my morning to take a walk
all alone! yo and i bike on the other mornings,
which i totally love and wouldn't trade for
anything.....but fridays are mine and i love
that too.

ahhhhh and it's gorgeous out.
i had a plan.
i wanted to spend some time all alone thinking
about being a living prayer.

this is the phrase that has caught my mind and
my heart, and this is something i wanted to
really explore.

rubbing my hands together like a kid, i slipped
on my shoes, closed the door behind me and
headed out for my special moment.

i'd barely taken any steps when i heard the
'good morning!'

it was my elderly neighbor sitting on her porch.

i turned into her driveway to say hello, telling
myself, 'it's okay, you have time. say hello.'

she commented on what a lovely morning it was for
a walk and how she'd like to take one too.

'want to go?' i asked her.
and she lit up.

she got right up to go get her walkin' shoes on.

i stood out on her car port thinking about my walk.
feelin' a little bummed that i was about to lose it.
but THIS, ter....THIS can be the living prayer part.

THIS right here.

i looked up at the clouds.
okay. i'll try it.

i thought about what i needed to do.
what do you do to be a prayer?
i didn't know as i hadn't figured any of it out yet!
but i did know a few things......
work from your center, stay in the light.
that much i knew.

and out she came.

we toddled down the road together talking of the
beautiful morning. turning into the new housing
development, i tried to gauge how much she was up
for.

not much.
the street that i wouldn't have noticed was uphill
because the slant was so gentle became very noticeable
as she breathed heavier next to me.

'want to turn around?' i asked.

and so we headed back.

'you probably wanted to go further' she said.

i had to grin.
we hadn't even really gone anywhere.

'nah,' i said. 'just feels good to be out here.'

i asked her what she was gonna do today.
'just sit.' she said.

'have any good thoughts while you're sitting?'
i asked her.

and she told me of the nites that were hard with
her thoughts.

we talked of those thoughts.
i had been thinking of her a lot lately. of how
lonely it must be for her at times. i wanted to
know what her thoughts were. i've been wondering.
she shared a bit...but she brought it back to the
morning.

i followed her and joined in the talk and worked
on making her smile.

as i walked her back up to her bench, i thought
hmmmmm..........'maybe if i head back home,
and keep goin' up the street, she'll never even
notice and i can get a little walk in on my own.'

as if she heard my thoughts she scooted over on
the bench and said 'sit down.'

i sat.

she looked over at me all beaming and said
'wasn't that just wonderful?!'

wow.

yeah.

yeah.

it was.

maybe being a prayer means you stop controlling.
ya know?
maybe you just flow.

maybe i got more of a lesson in this way than wandering
by myself tryin' to figure it out.

whatever i got......i got a moment with this woman who
won't be here forever. and i got the beams from her
face when she looked at me and said 'wasn't that just
wonderful?!'

maybe i wasn't the prayer.
maybe she was.