Road Trip

Twelve years ago, I was walking to the polls to vote in the presidential election. It was a sunny, crisp autumn morning. I was struggling with some decisions I had to make and feeling very weighed down by it all. I looked to my side and saw the sun shining on a very dried up plant on the side of the road. The shape of the plant as it was decaying and the way the rays of the sun hit it, stopped me in my tracks.

It looked just like Jesus hanging on the cross. You could almost see a crown of thorns and there were two clumps of dried leaves on either side of the “body” that reminded me of the ugliness and the weight of our sins. I pulled the plant out of the ground and have kept it as a reminder of how God comes to us in very ordinary places and in very extraordinary ways. We just have to be open to it.

I carried this gift with me each week to a bible study I was involved in, and one day one of the women in the group said the plant looked so fragile she was afraid it would break, so she talked to her husband who was very handy and he said he could make a display box for it and voila! My Jesus plant had a permanent home.

I take it with me when I give talks on seeing the divine in our ordinary lives. I was honored to be asked to give that talk to a newly-formed women’s group at St. Joseph Parish in Grafton this morning.

My Firstfruits partner, Mary, accompanies me when I give a talk. I give her a list of what I need to bring and she packs the car. This morning when I opened the back door of her car to put my bag in, I saw something that just made me smile. (See the picture above.)

Jesus was all strapped in, ready for a road trip.

I like that visual of Jesus all safely strapped in behind me. Accompanying me as I hit the road each day on my journey through life. My traveling companion.

That visual also reminded me of how beautifully strange our lives become when we give them over to God. How different and set apart we become from many around us. Our thoughts and our desires shift to a deeper level. What used to fill the void for us doesn’t do it anymore. God draws us gently but powerfully into a love relationship with Him that fills the void permanently.

That love makes us do crazy things, like buckling a Jesus plant in our backseat.

Crazy in love,

Joan