Where Are You

A Statement and a Question

Hello ♡,

These three words - no punctuation - were what one of my older children sent to me recently, as they looked for me.

I didn’t see the message until much later, after we had already talked and hugged and found each other, but it struck me in several ways.

I knew this child was coming home from a big opportunity and a heartbreaking miss, and my heart was aching while I waited. I was off in a random corner crafting with my youngest, and it was just minutes before we found each other - but there was a missed call, and this text.

He was hurting so bad. He was so frustrated, and so disappointed. We worked through all of it together, and also as a family that evening, but in those first moments home he just needed presence. All the times I try to get parenting, or any relationship, just right are not necessarily needed. What we often just need from each other is presence.

“Where are you” is a call and an invitation that crystallized for me something unsurprising - I overcomplicate things.

Of course there is need for complexity in relationships, but at the heart of it all is the need for the presence of the other with you - in your time of heartache, in your time of celebration, and everything mundane and sacred in between.

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash

And so I am reflecting this morning on this as a meditation and a prayer - Where are you. This is something we can pray when trying to understand where God is, or wanting to know where we should go next - Where are you. This is a meditation we can sit with when we feel far from our own selves - Where are you. This is an invitation, or a reminder, when sitting across the table from someone we are trying to be close to, who may be distracted (or on their phone) - Where are you. This is a chance to remember who we want to be in a relationship, present - Where are you.

No question mark needed, no punctuation needed - it is both a question and a statement, an invitation and a need - Where are you.

Let’s create a mindful moment. As we end last week and begin the next, with all of our own individual loads, burdens, worries, hopes, and joys, let’s pause for a moment and inhale….and exhale…..and check in.

Where are we today?

How are we today?

What do we need?

What do we hope?

Inhale

Exhale

Where are you

Be here, just here, right now.

You don’t have to overcomplicate your presence, or your request.

Inhale

Exhale

Be here, whether alone or with others.

And repeat.

I hope you have a lovely week, and if it isn’t lovely, I hope you are met with the sacred presence that will help you through.

Monica