God Was in the Wind (a poem/walking meditation)

Today I walked around the block,

And God was in the wind.

When I left my doorway walking east,

God came at me from the south,

Constant, warm, fertile, salty, alive,

Saying, “Flow with me.”

I did at the corner, and God came at me

From behind, pushing me forward.

“Don’t stop,” God said.

“Go farther.”

We passed two neighbors talking by a mailbox,

With a dog off the leash, waiting at the front door.

Cardiologist was the only word I heard,

Or needed to hear.

We kept walking with that word,

Holding mercy for everyone everywhere.

Past the pond where the ibises sat,

We turned left and

God came at me from my left,

Blowing all ideas from my mind, or

Maybe blowing all ideas through my mind.

Either way, I remember nothing.

It was a glorious way to be.

At the corner,

I turned left again, into the wind,

Heading home.

I climbed the hill.

The eagle was not there today,

The one who sits sentinel atop the Norway Spruce

With the broken top.

“Walk into me,” God said.

“Withstand me as I oppose you:

A steady flow of pure incoming acceptance.”

My speed encountering God’s speed

Intensified everything.

Crested flycatchers sat on the power line,

Every so often,

Swooping out and back for food I could not see.

I came upon a family of burrowing owls,

Parents and five owlets.

There are no better companions for

Wide-eyed contemplation.

We gazed upon each other

For a while and

Now I am home.