Something Happened....

 

When I was 12 or 13 years old, “Something happened…and now (after all these years) I know, He…She (God, Jesus, Spirit, A Love at the Heart of things—Something?) touched me and made me….What?  The song says “and made me whole”. But, no, I’m still, even now, at nearly 80 years old, seeking wholeness.  No, He/She touched me and offered a way…a path…His/Her way.  I was to follow. But the nature of the adolescent years is to go “my way” and so I did.

Four years later, Something happened…and now (after all these years) I know, He/She touched me and reminded me of the path.  That second touch was convincing.  I followed as best I knew how, but often wandered off on my own (doing my own thing).

Another four years went by.  Then, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…again!  Unlike the blind man in the Gospel story, who required a “second touch” in order to see…this was my third!  (Or was it?)  I still couldn’t see clearly, but felt an overwhelming urge to enter the Christian ministry, and so I did.  Even so, the “following” was, and always has been a challenge.  

Seven years later, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…again. Another five years went by, and Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me.  Then, ten years later, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…urging me to follow more closely.

How many times has “Something happened…?”  I often think of only those “big moments”—those moments when Something happened that literally changed my life, my path, my journey.  

Something happened,…and now I know (after all these years) what Albert Schweitzer meant when he wrote:

“He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side; He came to those men who knew Him not.  He speaks to us the same word:  ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill in our time.  He commands.  And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn Who He is.”