God at the corner of the street

I came round the corner
and there you were,
standing under the archway
where I've often seen you.

You clutched a pile of magazines
as usual.

You smiled and said 

'Good morning'

as usual.

I smiled back and said

'Good morning'

as usual.

You eyes pleaded as you asked

'Big Issue?'

as usual.

I replied

'Not today, thank you'

as usual.

You smiled again
and your smile warmed me
as I hurried on my way,
shopping to get, things to do,
as usual.

If I come this way again
will you be there?
Standing under the archway,
clutching magazines,
as usual?
And if you are
will I see you?

_______________________________________________

N.B. I wrote this in response to an exercise in the post on the Big Bible Project Praying with a pen (or keypad) in hand. The exercise is as follows:

"Be still. Acknowledge the presence of God with you. If there is anything pressing on your mind – hand it over to God. Ask God to meet you in your writing and be open to the possibility of that. When you are ready, imagine you are walking somewhere – perhaps in a garden, but it could be in the city, the country, near a river, by a lake – wherever your imagination takes you.
In your walk you round a corner and bump into God. What does God look like? What happens between you? Write down your encounter. Don’t censor anything – even if it seems a bit theologically off the wall. Just write, and then leave yourself time to reflect and pray over what comes up. Feel free to post up what you write in response to this blog."

Maybe you could try it too?

Image Credit: Photo by easylocum on Flickr, CC Licence