Every now and then I witness or, even rarer, am on the receiving end, of an incredible act of kindness from a stranger. This happened this afternoon. I was standing in line at the local food Dollarama, also known as No Frills, when a woman in the next line invited me to go ahead of her. She had a very full shopping buggy and I was carrying just two items (a box of crackers and a bag of chocolate chips). The thing is, I wasn't even in the same line as her. She actually reached out to me where I was standing and asked me to step out in front of her. Wowie-zowie, that was just really cool! I promised her I would be quick, and I was.
This was a refreshing note on a day that was rather too full of examples of human selfishness and stupidity. There was the belligerent idiot on the bus this morning, the crying baby in the Starbuck's whose parents couldn't imagine taking their kid outside for a minute or two to calm down. When my client and I moved to the patio to escape the child's noise a rather convincing argument for natural selection decided to fill the space with his cigarette smoke. I could go on, but really, why even bother? It's all negative and even though this blog doesn't exactly do censorship or Pollyanna, well, to everything there is a limit.
Things got better. My client wanted only a short visit, leaving me extra time for a walk and a visit in my favourite café for the next hour and a half with my sketchbook. My next client also wanted to finish early, leaving me more than an extra hour (paid for) to take a beautiful long walk through the fabulously wealthy neighbourhoods of Kerrisdale and Shaughnessy. Not that I really think a lot of wealthy people. I was just dumped by a wealthy ex-friend, likely because he came to find my relative poverty to be a bit of an embarrassment. It's just that this is an incredibly lovely area for long walks, full of trees, lovely big houses, gardens and solitude. I stopped at the bank to double check my client card which went through the washer and dryer yesterday along with everything else in my wallet. It seems to be working, sort of. Then I dropped off the month's paperwork in one of the offices where I work out of with opportunities to chat a bit with a colleague and then with a client.
The weather has been incredibly lovely these last five days or so and the clouds and cooler temperatures return tomorrow. I was just listening on the CBC this afternoon to a report on marijuana and adolescents. There is a substantial and very legitimate concern that cannabis use causes brain damage and can induce psychosis in developing brains. The psychosis, among other things, manifests as claiming that God is speaking to you and that you are called to great things.
Hearing this really gives me pause. When I was fourteen I was a light but regular pot smoker for about six months. Then Jesus and I found each other. As I said to a friend yesterday, ever since that day I have had a sense of God's presence and of being called to a higher purpose in life. Naturally I'm going to wonder how much this might have been influenced by the operations of THC in my little teenage brain. Especially given what an academic underachiever I turned into.
I have decided not to worry. My sense of God has never involved hearing voices, rather having a sense of his presence and guidance. This has led me at times into rather scary places but I have also had to accept that my capacity to hear God will always be imperfect and there are going to be risks and mistakes. So we learn. As for being called to a higher purpose, this has never had anything to do with being greater than others nor of having influence or status. Rather this has involved following Jesus' call of unconditional love in my life expression and my interactions with others. Just another sheep in the flock.
I don't think marijuana has had anything at all to do with my life and call as a Christian. It might have created a bit of a shortcut, but hey, I could have done worse.
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