Still on rice cereal....

I picked up a hitchhiker on the way to work yesterday. This is a college town, and she looked young and wasn't carrying anything. She looked frazzled, smelled of cigarettes, and said that her car broke down last week--"engine totaled"--and had missed the bus. She also reminded me of an earlier version of myself, although I have never hitchhiked. She had that energy of barely keeping it together that 20-somethings can have before they discover strategies for implementing that "responsibility" that all of the older adults want to drum into them. We talked about surface stuff, where we worked (she at a daycare), I told her about my son, not too much else. There was deeper stuff going on that the short ride could not address, so I said and say a prayer for her and know it's just a matter of time before she gets to where she's going.

That meeting with my former self showed me how far I have come, but later in the day I was reminded that I'm still on rice cereal in a lot of other ways. We are planning our women's retreat at church, and met with the speaker last night. She has such a calm presence and way of ministering to women that came across in our hour-long conversation. I did not have much to offer and left that to the more senior leaders of the women's ministry team. Watching all of these women speak of the way God is working and how they interact with that, the patience, the surrendering, made me realize how much I still have to develop and that "I" (ego-I) have no reason to worry about not being there yet. May anyone who reads this feel cradled by Him!

On the library front: an interesting state history article (may require registration).