Good morning…
Our scheduled 8:30 walk-and-talk actually began after 9:00 am. I savored the breathing room before my friend’s arrival. Sip my coffee. Respond to emails. Enjoy our dogs. Walking outside to greet my friend, I noticed my tire. Sitting in the driveway, it was flat, flat, flat.
“Tire is flat,” I texted my husband the photo above. “What do you recommend? Can I come get your car and I go on with my day?”
Hearing no immediate response, I left my phone at home to be fully present to my friend. Walk to and from the horse farm. Debrief from her retreat. Find a handful of feathers. Discuss a book we may study together. Returning home after just over an hour, I still had no text response. So I called my husband to verbally process our options. This or that or maybe another.
My full day was scheduled away from our home. Three meetings. 10:30. 12:00. 2:30 or 3:00. I concocted an elaborate game plan to still do it all. Just before my friend left I wondered out loud, “Might this flat tire be God saying, ‘Cut free?'”
Opening to new possibilities, I brainstormed great options with the people on my calendar. Together we sensed, “Still do it all, but just do it all differently.” Quietly. Creatively. Centered at home.
“My day slowed down so delightfully,” I later texted my walking buddy. “My 10:30 person came here instead of us meeting at her home, and we shared a great talk. My 12:00 pm planning time shifted naturally until tomorrow, giving everyone special “found time.” Amid emails and text strings, I received an important phone call from our younger son. Then I was home, fully available, for a surprise visit with our older son who needed to process some challenging thoughts. So my flat tire day is a huge blessing, slowing me down to the pace of God’s Spirit. I am grateful you witnessed this ‘Cut free.’ shift in me.”
“I absolutely love and treasure that I was able to see your unexpected hiccup slowly unfold,” my friend texted back. “How you gently and gracefully handled it, so patient, waiting, no frustration or anger. It was a lovely experience for me dear friend. I deeply need to see that kind of Life practically lived out. It’s rare. Such a gift to me! I am finally sitting down with a cup of coffee looking at your book. I think it’s going to be just right for me and for us.”
“Oh I love that we are both sitting down today, learning about Life directly from God,” I replied.
To round out our conversation, she sent me this thoughtful reflection.
In God’s amazing way, my flat tire created the gift of an unexpected day, leading me to live the question, “Is this the path of love?” I adore this six word compass. Might it become our true north? Again and again each day, “Is this the path of love?”
My scheduled 2:30 walk-and-talk gradually drifted to a 4:00 pm start. Arriving at the perfect moment, this longtime friend generously shared with me a large can of “Fix a Flat” spray she keeps in her car. (I had never heard of such a thing!) Her random “Fix a Flat” spray will get me safely to the tire store when the moment is right.
Look at God’s hilarious path of love! We blaze the path by walking step by step with the Spirit.
May the Master take you by the hand and lead you along the path of God’s love and Christ’s endurance (2 Thessalonians 3:5, MSG).
…Sue…
