Bam!
Out of the corner of your eye, you sensed the truck was going to run the red light. In the nanosecond you froze before stepping on the gas—BAM!
You thought things were getting serious . . . in a good way. Love or something like it was in the air. Time to take the next step. Time to make your move. Except. In a hidden corner of your heart, you thought you might have heard a barely audible hissing sound. Probably your imagination. Until after the last sip of the house wine you were both drinking, someone said—BAM-- “I’m leaving.”
You worked long and hard for the promotion, leaving no doubt you had traveled the extra mile more than once. You deserved it. Everyone said so. Until the boss flicked a sidewise glance toward Nancy before announcing his decision. It was—BAM-- the flaming flick of a dream-busting arsonist who burned you to the ground.
More than once, in one way or another, the big BAM sneaks up when we’re not looking and blindsides us, leaving a broken heap of next to nothing. Where do we go then? Where do we take our Humpty Dumpty selves to be put back together?
Strange as it may seem, sometimes we have to be broken in order to become open.
Open to something else, something different, something we didn’t expect.
Our friends can comfort us. Counselors can counsel us. Our pastors can pray for us. And physicians can even medicate us.
All of these can be good and worthy things, but in the end, still not enough.
Leaving us issues to face and personal work to do.
No one else can fill the hole we or someone else dug for us.
Sometimes we have to walk the lonesome valley of life all by ourselves—at least part of the way.
Our loved ones may complement the qualities that make us who we are, but they can’t complete us.
Completion, not perfection. Going inside, not looking outside.
We can start by being honest. Taking our masks off one by one.
And not pretending to be someone else.
We can quit hiding the lies that live in our closets until they take up all the room in our lives.
In the end, nobody cares. Why should they? Why should we?
We can learn to let go of what we think others think about us.
We can even learn to let go of what we think about ourselves.
We open our eyes, heart, and mind – leaving the fast lane, and entering the vast lane.
We take a different fork in the road.
Even if we are afraid, we take it anyway.
Sure thing. No thing. Some thing.
The thing-ness of whatever it is passes in time.
We don’t have to go along for the ride.
We can stay put.
The Universe knows more than we do.
We can rest in the quiet of a timeless moment.
Clouds of misperception and confusion don’t have to carry us away.
The sky remains when storms pass.
We can remain with it.
And let the big Mystery live within us.
We can see and feel more widely and deeply.
Holding on with a light touch and learning to let go,
We can trust something greater than ourselves.
We can breathe.
We can be.
Previously published in Gracious Plenty
© Michael Braswell
 |
| Michael Braswell |
Michael Braswell has published books on ethics, justice issues, and the spiritual journey, as well as four short story collections. His poems and stories have appeared in several publications, including Foreshadow, Mobius, and Literary Heist. His most recent books are When Jesus Came to the Cracker Barrel (2024) and Gracious Plenty (2025).
Follow Feed the Holy
.jpg)
.jpeg)
