Rev. Michelle Lowery on accepting the broken-down places

Practicing the Presence of Pavement

It is pothole season in Maine, and this year we have a veritable bumper crop. Driving here, there, anywhere has become a cross between a not-so-amusement park and an obstacle course, with roller-coaster-like dips in the road and crater-sized holes hungry for rubber. Unwitting drivers are the easiest prey – and a rich source of revenue for auto repair centers. But even the most seasoned and savvy amongst us, lulled by the familiarity of routine, can fall victim to pothole plunder. I must confess that I am one, having lost two tires and wheel rims last season. So this year I am practicing the presence of pavement.

What I’m talking about here is a road-trip version of mindfulness practice – not road-trip as in vacation escape, but rather as ordinary, day in and day out pavement pounding. Literally speaking, it’s being alert and aware, not only on the road but to the road itself. It’s about noticing the nuance, beholding with wonder every crack and crevice, seeing anew those well-worn but oft taken-for-granted paths. It’s much more than looking out for pavement pitfalls – it’s truly paying attention to all things, which paves the way, if you will, for transformation. Call me crazy, but today I rode the bumpy road like a surfer-dude and saw in her well-etched pavement the wrinkled face of a dear, old friend.

Figuratively speaking, of course, it’s about waking up to life, learning to be fully present in each and every moment – not ruminating on what was, worrying about what might be, fast-forwarding to either what dreams may come or that ever-expanding to-do list du jour. It’s here-and-now focus, not multi-task madness, a socially-accepted addiction to distraction.

More specifically, it’s paying attention to where the proverbial rubber-hits-the-road in our personal and professional lives, those pavement places of foundational realities: long commutes, mountainous bills, administrative expectations, kids’ schedules, project deadlines, relationship demands, illness challenges, and a motley assortment of other issues that we so often mindlessly endure, just try to get through or find some creative way to delay or even side-step. What would happen if we let go of judgments about these inevitable life experiences and lovingly accepted them as conduits of grace? What would it be like to consistently embrace life’s seemingly mundane interruptions, even chaotic intrusions, as blessing?

Such questions can only be lived into, not answered, which is precisely the point – to live everything! So wake up to your life in all its glory and bane. Learn to live in your skin. Lovingly accept the broken-down places. See the road. Be the road. And enjoy the ride!

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