“Make sure you take your shoes off today.”
“Pardon me? I didn’t hear you.” (Taking my headphones out of my ears)
“You look busy. Don’t forget to take your shoes off today. It’s a beautiful day. Trust me. Go outside, take your shoes off, and walk around. It’ll connect your chi to the earth and your soul will sing to the sun. We need to celebrate that stuff or we we’ll go crazy.”
“OK, thanks for the tip.”
“EVERYBODY! TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF RIGHT NOW! CONNECT TO MOTHER EARTH!” (She turns and whistles, literally, as she leaves the shop.)
The store erupts into sheepish snickers.
All I wanted was a cup of coffee.
Somehow in the process I must have made the mistake of making eye contact and saying good morning to my advice-giving-homeless-traveller. My mind was on getting to the office and settling in. But this happy-go-lucky woman flashed me out of my insular space to leave every person in the store staring at me.
As I was leaving the shop the owner shouted at me… “Hey, sir! Sir!” I turn around to see his huge smile. “Don’t forget to take off your shoes today, OK? It’s good for your chi.”
Watching the woman walk across the park, happily smiling, skipping, and talking to anyone and everyone– I couldn’t help but chew on this reality:
Life is fragile. People are fragile. I am fragile.
In our innocence we are fragile. In our pain we are fragile. In our addictions we are fragile. In our wonderings we are fragile. God has created us, all of us, as fragile.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
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