“I thank you for letting me guide you this morning” she says gently at 8:59am. “The divine light in me recognizes the divine light in you. Namaste.”

I am lying in a puddle of my own sweat, eyes stinging from salt and tears that are threatening to spill over and join the river of steamy wet on the floor.

At 8:01am, I had sprinted across the parking lot wailing “Wait!  Hold the door! I’m comiiiiiing!” Breathless, huffing and puffing with exasperation, I’d slapped my purple mat on the floor with a heavy sigh. I’m sure everyone there was just delighted to have me in class – I was providing such positive energy and divine light.

Is there any divine in hurry?

I remember when I had little ones in pre-school.  Up before dawn, those wiggly, hungry, always wrestling boys had flat. worn. me. out.  Despite my best attempts, I could never seem to leave the house on time to actually be present at the preschool by 9am chapel.  There was the inevitable bloody emergency, or poop catastrophe, or losing-my-blankie type of  affair that I couldn’t ever account for.

I remember once stumbling through the church parking lot, lugging lunch pails and packs, my hat pulled waaay low and  muttering “…please don’t stop and talk to me….please don’t stop and talk to me…”  Have you been there?

Is there any divine in hurry?

Actually, no.

One of my favorite authors, Eugene Peterson, was once asked how he did it all. Eugene Peterson was a beloved pastor of a large church for over 30 years, and is now a prolific author and speaker, a husband, father, and – oh yeah – recently translated the whole Bible directly from Hebrew and Greek texts into a modern American reading bible: The Message. Can you imagine?

How does he do it all? His answer? “I try to be leisurely with people.”

He might work hard, his schedule might be full, his days may be long, but the divine light in him recognizes the divine light of those in his presence.  So much so, that when he is with someone, he is leisurely, attentive, and can listen well.

Oh – such lavish grace!

When I hurry, people are a blur. They are a distraction to my mission of me, a bump in my road, an obstacle to be hurdled or detoured. They are not divine.

It’s a problem, saints, when people (big and small) are the problem.

Jesus Christ, light of the world, was the most excellent example of this on earth.  He was leisurely with people when he had every right to be mentally elsewhere. He was lavish with his attention and his compassion on the most annoying and the most needy.  He did not rush – because he knew, at all times, what he was about.

“For this reason I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.”

His purpose never wavered.  Testify to the truth. Do the will of my father (God). Thy (God’s) kingdom come.  Thy (God’s) will be done. On earth, as it is in heaven.

What is my purpose in this life?

I rush because I forget my purpose.  I rush people because I don’t see them as divine.  I rush because I am not seeing God in it at all .  There is no divine purpose in hurry.

Go in peace, friends.

“The divine light in me recognizes the divine light in you, today”

Kim