Follow The Leader

Have you seen him? Has he entered your private space unexpectedly, delightfully, surprisingly?Does the first glistening star in the inky sky remind you of him? Have you met him? So often I've flipped through my Bible, skimming past the two words that rock my world. They scare me. They make me sweat. And I don't always know what they mean. Follow me. Follow you where? To the heavy-set guy at the gym you prompted me to encourage, even though I really wanted to pretend I didn't feel the nudge. To the homeless shelter on a cold rainy day, or the dirty and ragged homeless on the street corner. To the nasty customer on the other end of the telephone, on whom I would rather slam the receiver down hard. Twice. Even though, with considerate listening, I might actually hear between the lines. I ask myself these questions from time to time. Especially when life throws a glitch in my carefully crafted plans, and my day-planner looks more like an etch-a-sketch than a blueprint for the next twenty-four hours. But I ask nonetheless, because when I gaze up at the illuminated stars, their dazzling brilliance cause my breath to hitch at the base of my throat. And on a good day, the fragile breath escapes, liberated, freely, into the unknown. Then I am reminded of the times I allowed him to lead. Life gets so much sweeter when I follow the leader.