The Harried Mystic

My wife loves craft fairs and is herself a very capable craftsperson with that rare talent to take ordinary things and make them look very grand. She has created many fine pieces of jewelry (necklaces and earings) and all kinds of Holiday items over the years.

As I write this, I am, as I have been so many times, waiting in the car as she explores the wares at a local festival. Countless times I have done the same, not wanting to impede her movement nor her enthusiasm. As I await her return once again, after a quick nap, I find myself wondering about the spiritual dimensions of all this waiting.

I just sit. Maybe I play Pandora on my phone and listen to a little classical music, or perhaps I catch up on a book. But today, I am just sitting: watching dusk come over the day as the Sun drops lower in the Western sky, and I delight at the play of cloud shapes, some dark and hinting of rain with other higher ones seemingly contradicting the lower-lying rain makers. The chill in the air makes it  just slightly too cool for short sleeve shirts and the area is bustling with traffic and craft seekers.

What good is there in all this sitting, all this waiting?

Well, it does no particular good at all and it does nothing particularly bad either, and that’s the beauty of it. It’s blissfully nothing special, totally ordinary. I rest here breathing quietly, without worry or concern, happy that my partner  has a consuming passion, and glad for a few moments with nothing whatsoever to do. I watch the leaves as they betray the march of Fall with the first shifting shades of color. The high cirrus clouds move gracefully by unaffected by all the activity here on the ground.

I have time to kill, time to just sit and watch from the perspective of the clouds all the frenetic action going on here on the ground:  A moment of timelessness. For just a little while, I need not reference time’s passing and the self-imposed pace of vocation, avocation, travel, or consumption.

Enjoy some wasted time, a brief investment in just being, without thought of next steps, goals, or purpose. When finished doing so, you might just feel as I do: a lot Lighter!

© Brother Anthony Thomas and The Harried Mystic, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.