On Spirituality

I believe that inside each one of us resides the "Spirit."  It's intangible, yet it is observable and palpable in the things that we do, say, how we act, and in the ways we treat one another.  We generally expect that the spirit motivates behavior in families and among friends and that it usually produces charitable behavior and benevolence between people resulting in extraordinary good will and warm feelings between them.  It goes without saying that the greatest passions - both in love and ire - tend to blossom and wan with the familiar - it's easy to offer good will to those who generally return the favor - human nature, I believe, to do good for one another.   The same is true for anger - it flashes quickly but is often easily forgiven and forgotten - among friends.  However, I think there is no purer spirit than that which is revealed in the words and actions of a total stranger.

Today, my husband and I appeared at the USPS to apply for passports.  Our daughter will be traveling abroad next semester to study in Europe during the second semester of her senior year at university.  We are not well-traveled people.  Honestly, we work hard every single day and frankly just enjoy being in our own home in the off hours.  Packing and traveling raises my stress levels to magnanimous proportions.  Anticipating the very idea of traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to visit our daughter in the spring generates indescribable anxiety for both of us - and neither of us is talking about it.

Before we could actually apply for our passports, we needed the infamous "1 inch photos" for the passports themselves, so we stopped at the UPS store to get them taken there.  When we walked in there was an older woman sitting in a chair at the counter - who proudly announced that it was her daughter who would be waiting on us.  She indicated (on the side) to my husband that this daughter was the best one!  Anyway, while we waited for the photos to develop, we chatted with the woman and we told her about our daughter studying abroad and our intent to go visit her.  (I secretly think that if we just talk about this enough, we won't be so stressed out when the time comes to fly over the ocean!)

By the time we walked out the door, we had exchanged enough information to know what each of us did the night before, about how much she liked my hair, etc.  It actually was a very warm exchange.  But what touched me most about this little conversation was this woman's sincere wish for us as we were exiting the store.  She looked at me squarely in the eyes and offered with such seriousness that I likened it to a prayer, "I hope your trip is safe and that you have a marvelous time visiting your daughter."  The sincerity of her wish froze time in my mind and I felt this enormous warmth overtake me at that moment.  I smiled - and I knew - that this trip will be just fine - that it will be safe and wonderful.  This woman, this stranger, had just given me a prayer.  I thanked her profusely and offered her good wishes for the rest of the day.  

Then we continued on to the post office (after delaying the actual application process by several months) with our papers and pictures in hand only to discover that we were exactly six minutes beyond closing for this service.  When the Postal Worker saw our paperwork, however, we were told that we needed some other things and that our applications (downloaded from the web) were the wrong forms and would have to be redone.  We would have to make appointments to return and complete the application process.  Ugh.  It already had taken us several months to get here and several hours today to find my husband's birth certificate - so here we were.  Oh well, what was one more week anyway?  As we both whipped out our calendars and tried to come up with a date that would work for all of us (me, my husband, and this postal clerk) she stopped, looked at us both and said, "Look, go get your copies and complete these applications by 3PM and I will do this today for you."  We were so grateful for the opportunity to take care of the whole thing today that we complied, willingly.  And I thought...another Angel has graced my day.

Twice in one day I was gifted by the spirits of these angels - two perfect strangers - unrelated to each other except through contact with me.  And I thought to myself, how blessed I am today, and how blessed we are to have been in the presence of these two people today who generously and unselfishly offered their time and their prayers to me.  Their spirits were revealed to me through action and word.  I must pass it on.

My Window Friend

I have been afraid of spiders all of my life.  And, when I am fast enough, I erase them from earthly existence with whatever swift method I can utilize at the moment; the flat sole of a shoe typically being the most potent and reliable.  Recently, however, I have allowed one to grace the living space between my bathroom window and the screen.  I don't really know why, except that for some strange reason I feel like I am in control of this one particular arachnid.

I first noticed my little friend about three weeks ago when I observed the 'annoying' appearance of a web right outside my window.  So I reached out one day with a paper towel to swipe away the web and was startled by the sudden movement of my eight legged friend as she scampered to safety in the recesses of the window frame.  At the time, I chuckled to myself thinking I had chased her away by destroying the web.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered a complete return of the structure the very next day.  And so it began - this little 'relationship' between me and the spider.

So each day I check to see if she's still there, and she is - perched upon an ever thickening web of silk softly and deftly woven and attached between the two surfaces.  I play this little game each morning when I greet her - mostly to see just how quick she still is after all these days by ever so quickly cracking and slamming the window - just to remind her who's in charge.  Without fail, she scampers to her safe spot somewhere in the recesses of the window.  And I smugly remain in charge for one more day.

I never have known just how long a spider can live - and so as I experiment with this one, I am wondering about and observing a number of things.  1.  Spiders don't seem to move much.  She seems to be in the same place every single day without fail.  I wonder what she is waiting for.  More importantly, I wonder what her little spider brain thinks about all day long.  2.  She must not have much of an appetite.  I don't know about her, but I couldn't stay in one place without eating - I have never seen anything larger than a dot in her web - which leads me to think she is waiting for something bigger; for what, I don't know.  3.  She must be bored to death.  What on earth could she be doing all day and night long in that same spot?  Whatever it is, it certainly is a mystery.

What I do know about her is that she waits.  She waits a lot.  And from that I could learn some patience.  I see a demonstration of it every day in my little eight legged friend.  I am glad I am watching.

October 9, 2010
My little friend...I have named her Charlotte (after E.B. White's famous character) is still hanging around the web in my window.  The web has grown thicker over time and there seems to be more
'litter' in the web.  Charlotte does not move as quickly as she did in previous weeks if I slam the window...perhaps owing to the trust being developed in our relationship??  I doubt that actually.  Somehow I do not believe Charlotte or any other arachnid is capable of such feelings (as I have projected my own upon her) yet she seems wiser, more settled, somehow in charge of her domain - that silky, soft, tuft of web still suspended between the window and the screen.


I am still glad to be watching.