Lost Amongst The Potatoes!

Sometimes inspirations don't come like lightning bolts or flashes of fireworks. Sometimes, actually often, they come into our awareness like a feather floating in unexpectedly.

It's that kind of inspiration that came into my life yesterday. It all started out with a coupon for a free (or almost free) roasted chicken. I stopped late morning at the store after church to get my chicken. The discount coupon coupled with the regular Sunday sale meant my chicken would cost a grand total of $.99 plus tax... Not a bad price for a meal, and I was anxious to use my coupon.

But alas, no chickens were available at the grocery. A run on roasted chickens I guess! Anyway, I wandered about the store, grabbed a bite of yummy, chewy sample bread... and left.

Several hours later, I realized I had lost my iphone. UhOh. The set-up to locate the phone using my laptop didn't work. Neither could I hear the phone ring when the number was called. This was quite disconcerting... and I felt the panic beginning to rise. But, reason prevailed (some weird form of reason.) My mother had taught me as a child to "retrace my steps", so I started in...The last time I had used the phone was on the way to the grocery, in the car, when I had called my son to see if we needed anything.

Hm... Detective thinking told me that the likely places for the phone were:- in the house, - in the car, - in the grocery. But inventive thinking found me asking questions like, "If I were an iphone where would I be?" Hmmm, I wondered, would I ever find the answer to that question?

Calm-headedness on the part of my friend and former roomie prevailed. We looked around the house. We looked in the car. Then we drove to the grocery. As I walked around the store, my friend asked the manager if a phone had been turned in... and so it was: the phone had been found amongst the potatoes. (My inventive imagination just wasn't that inventive!)

So, where's the inspiration in this mundane adventure? I was inspired by my friend's calmness in the middle of what could have felt like a crisis. I was inspired by my own ability to employ a new practice, to say aloud, "Peace. Be still." and to really give those words a chance to work.

I was inspired by the kindness of the unknown person who turned in the lost phone. And I was inspired at the lessons we can learn when we take things more lightly.

By the way, on this second trip to the grocery, there were new chickens to be had. We'll be having my $.99 chicken for dinner tonight. I think it may be an "inspired meal." lol