Do Only One Thing
The cab ride to Burbank airport wouldn't be long, and Jesse
felt like making small talk with the driver.
"So, how long have you been driving cabs?" Jesse
asked to kick things off.
"Three year now." His English was broken, but
his voice smiled so she continued.
"Do you enjoy it?"
"Is okay. It feed my family so my wife can go
school, then she graduate and I finis school."
"Good for you. How long have you been in this
country?"
"Almos four year. My son born here, my daughter born
back home."
"How old are your children?"
"My son is two and my little girl will be six nex
month." Jesse could see him beaming in the rearview mirror.
"You are very brave to come here and bring your family.
That must have taken a lot of courage."
He chuckled. "No courage. No home, back home.
No choice but here. Is okay. More oppotunity here, anyway.
My wife is learning nursing. She was a nurse back home. She
good nurse. Bery kind."
"Do you like living in this country?"
"Freedom is good here. People too much in hurry.
I don't undestand the hurry. Back home it can take all day to make
the food or clean the clothes or fix one tire. What to hurry for? You
here, where else to be?"
"I don't know. You're right, we hurry too much.
I suppose we think we have a lot to take care of, but it seems silly
sometimes."
"Only one thing to do." He looked at her
steadily in the mirror.
"What's the one thing to do?" Jesse asked
curiously.
"Whatever you are doing." His words came out
unbroken when he said this, as though he said it so often his dialect vanished.
"Amen." Jesse replied.
"God is great. When we wake up, we pray; before we
eat, we pray; before we leave the home, we pray; when we come back to the home,
we pray; before we go to sleep, we pray. Praying is good. God is
great."
"Yes, God is great. You are very disciplined to be
so prayerful."
"God does not care that I pray. My praying serves
me. It make me do only one thing." They both smiled at this and
Jesse felt honored to have met this soulful person. They continued talking
about his homeland, and Jesse told him about her family and where she was going
today. The ride was over too quickly and soon they were pulling up in
front of the terminal.
"I enjoyed meeting you and talking to you. I wish
you and your family many blessings." Jesse extended her hand to him
and he gently held it.
"Thank you. I like talking you, too, and many
blessings to come for you, also. Remember, do only one thing." They
both laughed and simultaneously put their palms together in front of their
hearts, and bowed slightly to one another. Jesse had never done that
before.
"God bless you. Thank you. Good bye."
She picked up her bags as he hopped into his cab. He waved one more
time as he sped off into the maze of airport traffic, and Jesse stood watching,
smiling. Jesse didn't know how she felt about omens or signs, but
this was certainly a good way to start an uncertain voyage. She didn't
mind feeling uncertain. About certain things, she laughed. Control
is a primary factor in dealing with life where she grew up, and its antithesis,
surrender, has been a main theme in Jesse's personal explorations in the past
few years. Only recently has she begun to witness the incredible peace and
power this quality elicits. She read something by Jung that she committed
to memory:
Man is never helped in his suffering by what he thinks for
himself, but only by revelation of a wisdom greater than his own. It is
this which lifts him out of his distress.
Jesse's mind wandered as she entered the terminal and made her
way to the boarding gate. Surrender. Lose the fight over control in
my life. To surrender, the darkness must be brought to the light. Why
can't the light come to the darkness? Good question, and one that Jesse
asked repeatedly. Wouldn't it speed things up a bit if the light would
seek and cast out the darkness? Jesse thought it had something to do with
that pesky little point of free will. God won't break His own law. We
have to want it, ask for it, exercise our will on its behalf. She recalled
a story she'd read about a master teaching his disciple about desire:
The teacher and student waded into the cool water of a pond,
and when they were about waist deep the master reached over and plunged his
student under the water. He held him there. And he held him.
He continued his hold. He held him under water to the point that
when he let loose his hold the disciple rushed to the surface gasping and
gulping for air. The master said calmly, "When you desire God
as much as you wanted air, then you shall be free."
©2004 StoriesByEmail.com
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