Always by Anne Nayer, msw, Coach Paradise

I was in a rush. I’d agreed to pick up my elderly friend Jim and take him to the hospital to see his best friend.  I’d said I’d pick him up at 1 and it wasn’t until I was on my way that I remembered I’d made a lunch date with some friends for 1:30. Figuring I’d be a little late, I hurried Jim along which, given his age and limitations, proved to be an oxymoron – i.e there was no hurrying Jim. I called my lunch date to say go ahead and order, I’d be late and thought ahead to pave the way – wheel chair up to 4^th floor, get him settled and take off.

Pulling my jeep in front of the hospital, I went to the passenger side, opened the door and was about to help Jim to a bench while I went and got a wheel chair, when  a woman approached us and asked if we needed any help.  I looked up.  She look serious so I said, “Sure. We need a wheel chair.”  She looked puzzled until I explained that my passenger was a visitor, not a patient and was on his way to visit a friend on the 4^th floor.  She said,  “I can take him for you.”  Now it was my turn to be puzzled,  “ You really mean you’ll take him all the way up to the 4^th floor to see his friend? “  She said “Yes” and returned a couple of minutes later with a wheel chair and took off, Jim in tow.  

I was beaming and over the top appreciative, thank you thank you – no longer late for lunch.  I called, “I’ll be back in a couple of hours Jim.  Thank you angel lady.”

About to climb into my car I caught the eye of the driver in a car parked behind me.  I smiled and said,  “God is Good. “ She answered.  “Always.”

She didn’t say, “sometimes,” or “just for today” or “if you’re good – or lucky”.  She said ALWAYS and that ALWAYS has been echoing in the caverns of my insides ever since.

I could have said “Well what about how much it sucks that I’m even here, that Tom is deathly ill, that Jim is so old, that things fall apart” but I just nodded and let the always permeate my being and lead me deep to a very peaceful place  where the impulse to rant and rave, complain, bemoan and dive into the drama was faint hearted and short lived. 

Long ago I adopted Byron Katie’s phrases: The world is a friendly place and Everything always happens for my benefit.  Barring moments of depression, imbalance and disconnection from source, I have found that owning these affirmations makes them so – witness the angel appearing to shepherd Jim upstairs allowing me to keep my lunch date –  both friendly and beneficial you’d have to agree and only one small example from the plethora of miracles both big and small that populate my days. 

What if you saw everything that happened to you as a gift basket – – custom made miracles so to speak even if initially you don’t get it, or don’t like it or wish you’d gotten another basket

What if you stopped looking a gift horse in the face and like a child, got excited and curious, started poking around and discovering no end of hidden treasures– some with your very own name on them and when you look around you see signs saying The silver lining, this magic moment and Let it Be.

I am grateful for the gift of seeing through eyes that recognize that all moments are magic and are as plentiful as stars, and, that, like the woman coming up and whisking Jim away, the universe answers our requests. I am getting better too at breathing in the always of acceptance, feeling the blessing of each opportunity and the lesson of every magic moment, even if, or especially when, the way things go down isn’t what I had in mind or pains my heart.   

My friend in the hospital passed away one week ago today – rest in peace Tom St. Vincent di Coio – and his best friend Jim has gone to live with his niece and nephew in the States – an intense transition for all leaving his friends in shock and meditating on final endings, memories and the meaning of it all and here I am still tuned into the echo of “Always.”