Praise Be
“Praise be to the not-nearly-a-girl anymore
clerking at our local grocery outlet
since junior high. Single mom, moved up
after a decade of customer service
to manage four well-ordered aisles
of hairsprays, lipsticks, and youthful glow
in glittering squeeze tubes. Familiar
red-headed, brown-eyed, gap-toothed
smile. Willing to put aside her boxes of chores
to chat with each of us she names by heart.
I forget if she’s Mary or Alice or Jane.
Fine, I answer after she asks, How’s
your day? And driving my sacks
of next week’s meals home, I wonder
why she rises from her labors to greet me,
why she straightens her smock
where it’s pulled up a bit and rides her hips.
Tucks in place a loose wisp of curl.
When I walk by, what does she want to know,
when she asks, How's your day?
I wonder why so seldom I’ve asked it back.”
"Praise Be" by Lowell Jaeger from Or Maybe I Drift Off Alone. © Shabda Press, 2016.
This is where we meet God. In the interruptions of life, often by the most unlikely means or person. Some interruptions by God are more obvious. This interruption by the grocery store employee who calls each by name is one of the more obvious ones. She stops what she is doing to call us by name and ask us how we are doing.
I honestly believe that God does the same for each of us every day. God constantly calls us by name and asks us how we are doing. It is in the brief moment of peace we feel as we walk outside and feel the cool breeze on our arms. It is in the smile from a friend or someone we don’t know. It is in that tug on our shirt by a grandchild. It is early in the morning when we first wake up and hear the birds singing near our bedroom window. It is in stopping to hear our favorite music or read a poem like this. It is in the card or tweet or email or Facebook message or call from a friend or maybe someone we barely know. It is in the book we read that transports us to another world. It is the smell of fresh lavender or rosemary in our garden. You can help me name more.
The next movement of this poem takes us to another place. How often when we get this special interruption message often from the most unlikely person do we look into their eyes and see their face and remember their name and ask them, How are you doing as well? Do we ever ask God, God, how are you doing today?
Joanna joannaseibert.com