What Comes to Mind.

Driving in the predawn darkness, meeting car after truck after tractor trailer, up and awake and entering the movement of the day. 

I see a single tree clothed in twinkling lights off by itself.

The cross at the top of the mountain, what it took to get it there, the work and desire that shifted from an idea to a beacon of hope on the mountaintop.

The sudden slowness of coming upon a buggy that tries to shift to the right so I can pass by.  A moment of forced slowing.  Where are they going?  Do they feel the push to move faster?  Do they wish they were in the warm, wind protected space I was, or do they see us and feel pity?

I see the morning gathering of coffee and conversation at the gas station, even the men need the togetherness this provides everyday as they catch up on the local happenings and politics and plans.

Glancing at this home and that home as I pass by, thinking of the loss they must be feeling this time of year, or the loneliness.  Seeing the home I feel jealous of wishing my home had that thing I’m missing.

Seeing the bunny and squirrel jut this way then that way, trying to stay alive in the world that ignores and takes and hurries.

Does anyone stop to ponder?  Where are the thinkers, the dreamers, the long deep conversations, the empaths, the slow downers, the quiet wondering drivers contemplating and feeling and seeing the connectedness of it all? 

Is this the problem we face?  Is the world a machine that can’t be stopped?  Are we losing all that matters, and all that was intended for this life as it becomes fast forward, so much so that we can’t even see it?  And then we miss each other, this is tragedy and sadness. 

The soul is still the same.  Longing for love, longing to be noticed and held.  I hear a collective cry of all the lost ones and lonely ones and damaged ones and neglected ones.  When will we take the care and thoughtfulness it took to string those lights on that lone tree or carry that cross up the mountain and use it for each other?  When?

These are things that come to mind.