pathways of Christmas

posted by K Carter Steeves
I'm in a store waiting in a long line up .So long that Im standing beside the bins of clothing that are here and there around the place with clothes overflowing for the customers.Im chatting with the woman behind me about the time.She is on her lunch hour.Then out of now where these two women saunter past us and cut the corner very quickly.I remember seeing one of them earlier and thinking how lovely her long brown hair looked cascading down over her shoulders.I see then pull out a bag from one of their jackets and start stuffing it with clothes for about 30 seconds.Stuff Stuff Stuff!!!!!
Meanwhile my eyes shift back to the conversation Im having with this woman who is on her lunch hour.She is very patient about the lineup.Im not sure at first my mind takes about 2 minutes to digest the scene in front of me.
Yes you just saw a theft!!I felt the excitement in some way I felt the fear, then i felt level- headed and in mindfulness of how scared they must feel and I felt separated from them."Bless them" I thought for I was still becoming, somewhat insulted, as the emotions shifted I watched my mind do acrobatics, shame blame and the game.Then I thought she the thief she knows I know.This was most interesting,I met her eyes direct on.She made sure we looked at each other a few times. I saw in her eyes a quiet unconsciousness like she was blocked out.No sparkle was in her eyes."I said in my mind God Bless you girl you have an illness".
I still felt the insult for a bit more at one point I wanted to remove myself and go to the back of the store and quietly report the theft.Why? I asked myself.Why would you do this ? For the first time I searched my soul for an answer and found none.My mind circled again and said "This is her path leave her find her own way,pray for her". I then turned again to the woman behind me and we talked about what we were buying others for Christmas three days away, here in this secondhand store run by 21 churches in the area, we call our home, our community, our sanctuary.
Merry Christmas to everyone all over the world and God Bless us ALL .