When I pulled into the parking lot of the church a young man in a suit and tie rushed up to the window of my car and said, “Sir I have a twenty-four month old and my wife and I need to get back to New Mexico and I am begging for money. The man over there just gave me some.”
It was fascinating to me, the suit and tie, the stock narrative, the assumption about church, the he-did-so-you-should logic, the questions this raises. I wasn’t sure what to think.
I didn’t give him anything and felt right about that.
He drove off quickly in a nice minivan.
I went out front and began pulling dead leaves off of a plant I had recently replanted. A few leaves had survived the transplant.
A young man and girl walked by. After he passed, he looked back over his shoulder at me and called out, ” Hallelujah!” I wasn’t sure how to take it. Sarcastic? Not? Sincere?
It gets me thinking. What’s spiritual?
Later in the day a friend called me. “She’s yelling,” he said. “This is ridiculous. I can’t stay here.”
“You can’t not,” I replied. I was ticked. Maybe it was the guy in the suit. He had kind of set me off.
“It’s insane here,” he said.
“Yeah but you made it that way when you had all those kids,” I said back.
He said more stuff
So did I.
“Go apologize to your wife,” I said.
He did.
That’s spiritual.
What’s spiritual?
Not “Hallelujah.”
Not begging from the church.
I think spiritual has something to do with taking responsibility for your mouth and the people you live with.
I think that really spiritual is an apology and the peace after.
It’s like a transplant. A few leaves survive.
Thrive! 