Know This Day
When your ten-year-old daughter gets out of the pool, you know. You're not exactly sure WHAT you know, but you know something. Something is definitely known.
What was it, four, five years ago when she rose out of the water with those huge goggles, breathing loudly out of her mouth? She worked her elbows onto the side of the pool and then hooked a heel on the edge, rolling out of the water with her tiny bottom sticking up in the air. There were little fabric pills on the backside of her swimsuit from scooting around on the concrete.
Now she breaks the surface with her head tilted back so her hair will be perfect. She makes an airy "Puh" sound with her lips as she comes out of the water and looks around to see if anyone is watching.
She puts her hands on the edge of the pool, dips, and then springs upward until her arms are straight. She rests there a moment with all her weight on her palms before she turns around and flops to a sitting position with her feet in the water. She lets her head fall to the side as she wrings out her hair; at that moment she catches your eye.
You get a sideways smile.
And then she does that thing. You know, that thing you love so much. She's a little embarrassed so she rounds her shoulders and lowers her chin into her chest while she pushes her hair behind her ear. It's a little girl flirty move, and it is so good.
You're forty-one so you know some things. You know enough to stop everything for this moment. You know enough to watch and wonder.
Here she comes, walking as fast as the lifeguards will allow. She wants to run so badly. There's an invisible line where their authority ends and yours begins. When she hits this line she thinks its okay to run a little so she finishes with seven or eight staccato steps.
"Da-Tee," she says in her little girl voice.
"Hey Pippy, how you doin?" you say, drawing her close.
Receive this gift, father. Now is the time, and all of this you will lose. All of it will be taken away. Little girls are manna from heaven. The Sabbath is coming and all that is kept must be used up. Anything you hoard will be spoiled. Spend no energy trying to hold onto her.
Live well in this moment, for this moment is all you have.
The day will come when the body that emerges from that water will shock you and make you look away. The day will come when she will move toward a man and that man will not be you. That day will come.
But that day is not today. And your gift is to understand what day this is.
Like I said, you know some things.
The Preacher
7:49:28 AM 
|
