Here, Now

I was in a business, helping.

There was a gated area into which I wanted access.

I had gone there before and it worked well for me.

I went back and found a cart, simple in design, with an odd cloth reaching from its center up onto the gate, right in front of my entrance.

I couldn’t get in.  It was vitally important that I get in, and the pusher of the cart was not going to move.

A man who was in charge, and who was also my father, came along.  I started to tell him that I needed to get into the gated area.  His words overcame mine and he explained, for what seemed five whole minutes, why I 

could not go into the gated area. 

I was growing increasingly frustrated as each moment passed, his voice in the background, creating anxiety where he meant to restore order.  The words blurred as my vision turned red.

Finally, he asked me to his office to discuss the matter.

By this time, I was so annoyed that he wouldn’t listen to me that I laughed at the idea of a discussion.  Why, I thought, do I need to meet with him?!  If only, he would just listen to me!

En-route to his office, we passed another woman, pregnant and trying to carry a large sink.  I told her that if she waited a moment, I would help her.  The man who was in charge, and who was also my father, scolded her, saying, ‘Take it away!’  The words, I thought were harsh, given the woman was pregnant after all and the sink huge.

She asked what he was doing, to which he replied he was going to meet with me for about an hour and a half.    I laughed, saying, ‘I think not!’  The conversation, I thought, could have taken three minutes if he only would have listened to me!  I intended not to spend an hour and a half talking with him!!

I entered the office, small and crowded, to wait while he instructed the pregnant woman on what to do with the sink.

-----------------------------

I awoke in a full state of frustration!  The answer was so obvious and so simple! 

‘Had the man who was in charge and who was also my father just listened to me, I would not be so damn aggravated!’

‘If only he would just have listened!’

‘If only you had just listened.’

‘I could have told him what needed to be done in 30 seconds and be done with it!’

‘But, what was he saying?’

‘What?’

‘What was he saying?’

‘I, uhhh, I don’t know.  I didn’t hear him.’

‘But why?  He was speaking clearly.  He was trying to communicate with you.’

‘I didn’t hear him…I was so frustrated…I wasn’t listening.’

'………….'

‘I wanted things to be different.  I had an idea.  It worked.’

‘But, it wasn’t your shop.  Could you see the big picture?  Did you know everything involved in how the universe operated through that shop and those people?’

‘………..no.’

‘Could you then be prescient about the role you were being asked to play?  Is it possible that they needed something different than you were trying to push?’

‘…………’

‘Why must you get to the other side always?  Can you just be here, now?  Can you take the time to see, really see, just exactly where you are?  To hear the words, spoken and unspoken?  To look into the eyes and take in the souls?’