The Wile E. Coyotes

My wife and I have been packing up our home in preparation for our move to Connecticut. I don’t enjoy moving. It is stressful and expensive. There is a silver lining. It is an opportunity to purge all the junk we have been accumulating over the years. This past Friday, I packed up the garage and attic. I don’t know about you, but these are the two places where the most junk seems to get stuffed away and forgotten about. 

In the attic, I found an old, misshapen cardboard box my parents sent me years ago. It was filled with childhood memorabilia. Stuffed animals, old school art projects, pictures, and a very small AYSO soccer trophy from the mediocre 1993 Wile E. Coyotes. As I held the small gold plastic trophy in my hands, memories from my childhood flooded my mind, including my time on the field with my fellow Wild E. Coyote teammates. Some memories were happy, some were sad, and some I was not sure were real or not. After a few moments of getting lost in the past, I shook my head and came back to the moment. 

I had a choice to make: do I stick the trophy back in the box, only to be stored away for several more years in some other dusty attic or cold basement, or do I let it go? In that moment, I felt God inviting me to let go of the trophy. God was inviting me to let go of my past, the good and bad. God was doing more than inviting me to let go of the past. 

God was inviting me to be present to his presence.  

I invite you to take a PAUSE with me. Take a few breaths in and out. In and out. Ask the Holy Spirit to quiet your body, mind, and soul. 

Now wait. 

Be still. 

Allow yourself to slow down to God’s pace and presence. 

When you feel yourself slowing down, ask God to bring to mind anything from your past that you have been holding on to, good or bad, that has distracted you from his presence. It could be emotionally, spiritually, or even physically. 

Ask God for the grace to imagine what life could look like if you let that thing go, trusting that God alone can fill the void of that thing, whatever it may be. 

Ask God to show you what steps you need to take to let that thing go and begin to experience presence. Perhaps it involves talking to a trusted friend, pastor, counselor, or spiritual director. 

Sit with God for a few more moments before you move on from this PAUSE. Is there anything else you’d like to say to him? Is there anything else he’d like to say to you? 

Speak and listen.

Now, go in peace, friend. Trusting that God alone is enough. God is with you. 

Grace and Peace.

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