Hey there.
Welcome to a hit of hope.
So almost every morning I go to a local coffee shop and order a coffee and a muffin and I write.
And a couple of days ago,
About half an hour before my coffee shop opened,
Lightning cracked in the dawn dark sky and shimmering rain dropped.
By the time I was getting ready to leave my place to make the 453 step walk to the coffee shop,
The storm didn't have all that much fight in it anymore,
But still enough rain was falling to ensure that I would get wet,
Even on such a short trek.
This got my inner four-year-old pretty excited.
I thought I can wear my new raincoat.
I hadn't bought a new raincoat in 15 years and,
As my sister-in-law puts it,
I'd found a squeal of a deal on a great brand.
I couldn't wait to put it on.
But then I thought about how I might accidentally leave it at the coffee shop and,
Since I'd just bought it,
I didn't want that to happen.
So I grabbed my old raincoat,
The one I never really liked,
The one that had never particularly fit.
And as soon as I put it on,
I thought,
What in the heck am I doing?
Why do I always save the good for someday?
Why not today?
So back to the closet again,
I went to don my new coat.
It fit like a dream.
I stepped out into the gentle rain,
Already planning how I was going to record a meditation about this moment,
About not saving the good for someday because this now is the only moment we are promised.
And as I walk,
I tugged at the zipper because it felt like it was a little tight around my neck and I needed some space.
And it was stuck.
But it's a new coat,
I thought,
A good coat.
I started to tug harder.
Not any movement at all.
I could feel myself starting to panic because I have a thing about my throat.
Thanks to a prank my older brother and cousin pulled on me when I was younger.
So I set down my purse on the wet sidewalk,
Then my bag,
The zipper would not budge.
I was sure that jacket was going to squeeze me to death like a python right there on the sidewalk.
I took a breath.
Unvelcroing the sleeves,
I tried a different tack,
Pulling the coat up and off,
But the opening was too small.
It wouldn't come off.
Oh,
The letter I was going to write to this company.
And suddenly I was free.
It had come off.
I was relieved and drenched and laughing.
Oh my God,
I thought,
Only I could turn a new raincoat into an epic drama.
One of my own creation,
Because I had gotten part of the fabric caught in the zipper.
User error,
Human folly,
An extravagance of foolishness.
Yep,
That about sums me up.
But isn't that what we all do so very much of the time?
We save the good for someday,
Whether that be jeans or underwear or cheese,
Cheese that sits in your drawer and then rots.
So you end up throwing it away rather than enjoying it.
But here's the secret of life that hides in plain sight.
This is it.
This is the only moment we are promised.
So for the love of all that is holy,
What if we bring the good out into the world right here and now?
And more than that,
This merry-go-round of foolishness happens much of the time because we want,
We get,
And still we struggle.
Our past stuff gets stirred up.
We struggle even more.
Sometimes we get free.
Sometimes we end up making matters worse.
And all the while,
Lightning flashes,
Thunder rumbles,
And rain dribbles down our necks.
But you know another secret?
Water will dry,
And no storm has ever held the sky.
And on I went to savor my muffin and my coffee,
To laugh at the me who is so very me,
And to write this for you,
The you that is so very you.
So what if we quit saving the good for someday?
We pull it out for today and enjoy it in this moment,
Here,
Now,
As we live light and shine.
