Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Reflection on sweating away


image: Jack Taylor puts up a three point shot against a defender from Faith Baptist Bible College on Tuesday night in Grinnell, Iowa.
Jack Taylor of Grinnell College.

I was doing my usual daily 5:30 morning workout, which pays some penance for my sins of gluttony. I am not there alone in the pre-dawn hours, for there is a couple who are usually in the gym at the same time sweating along with me on the elliptical and weight machines. We are pleasant with each other and exchange some information but when you are working out meaningful conversation is limited. The high point was a mutual sharing of a reaction to the news story on the tube that a 5’10’’ basketball player, a guard!!,  had scored 138 points, on an average of 3 shots per minute. We laughed in admiration but continued on our own agendas.

Today was different. As they were finishing up, the husband asked me if I knew that his wife had been diagnosed with cancer and was to begin chemo the next week. This led to a change in paying attention. I listened as they talked about the discovery and the planned treatment. I listened without trying to fix what was outside my competence and allowed the space between us to become filled with a non-anxious presence. The simple courteous facade slipped away and we got into the real important things of life. They, who are not parishioners, asked me to keep her in my prayers –which can be a standard way of ending conversation with a clerical type. To which I, in my usual response, agreed. But something had changed and I asked if they would be offended if we prayed together right now. So, three standing, sweating, vulnerable people, in a public place, held hands drawing near to the throne of Grace and prayed quietly - I did the talking but the words were less important than the sacred space.  Then we hugged and they left, and I went back to the machines. praying hands :) hands_praying.jpg

There are so many people walking around in our lives filled with so many concerns. It is special when we spiritually bump into each other discovering common ground.

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