The Morning Bus Stop

Typically, my morning begins with me reluctantly waking up from one of the nine alarms I've set the night before. Eventually, I'll crawl out of bed, put on my gym clothes, brush my teeth and drag myself out of my apartment to the gym.

Sunday night, I decided that I was not going to the gym Monday morning. I have a weird cyst on my eye that I did not want to make any worse, and I still had some reading to do for my morning seminar. But like every other day, I woke up at 6:00-ish from one of the nine alarms I set. Like planned I did not go to the gym, but headed to Starbucks. 

As I was driving to campus from Starbucks, I realized I was hungry. I dug through my bag hoping that I had a Luna Bar hidden in one of the many pockets, yet I was out of luck. Knowing the food I had in my apartment was limited, I continued to campus. It was going to be easier to park on campus and walk to Speedy Mart, a small corner store near campus, to pick up a just-in-case snack for class than to scavenge my apartment. 

As I was walking to Speedy, I heard my name. I knew that voice. It was Isaiah, a member at one of the congregations I serve with, yelling, 'Sandy!' He was taking part of his normal morning ritual of waiting for the city bus at Speedy to take him to school. 

As I was instructed to cross the street by the local student crossing patrol, I was greeted by Isaiah and his young sister, who was also waiting for the bus.  I was greeted  with a genuine welcome.  I am not aware of what the emotion on my face showed, but I can also assume it was happiness. I continued to be filled with simple joy as we stood there and engaged one another in conversation.

This was not part of my morning schedule, nor did I expect anything like this to be part of my day. And  I may have ended up running back to campus as I feared being late for class, but I did not care. I needed those ten minutes that morning. I needed that simplicity of human connection. I needed the  welcome in the ordinary. And more than anything else, I needed that experience of grace in my everyday life.