Little Reminders

Last night, I was working a night shift in my job as a lab analyst. It can be a pretty solitary job, with a lot of time by myself, especially on night shift (with only one other person in the lab). We always listen to SIRIUS radio while we work, and as I was setting up some samples, I heard the song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day. Something struck me about what they were saying.

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's only me, I walk alone

I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
When the city sleeps
And I'm the only one and I walk alone

I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...

My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'til then I walk alone

This actually reminded me of a poem that my group of friends in Communion and Liberation read a few weeks ago.

When they cry “Man overboard!”

the oceanliner, as big as a house,

stops all at once

and the man they fish out with the ropes.

but when a man’s soul is overboard,

when he drowns

from horror and from desperation

not even his own household

stops

but distances itself.

How many times do we allow ourselves to get this narrow mindset that we are alone, drowning, as the poem expressed? For me, that is a daily struggle, to remember that Christ is always with me, constantly reaching out to me. It is up to my own openness, my own awareness, to be looking for Him each day in the people around me. How can I give my fiat, my yes, to Him today?

I am just so grateful for all the people I have been given to remind me of His presence. Every day, when I am really looking, I have so many people around me that are given to me. From the 45 minute conversation with a fellow parishioner at CVS, to weekly meetings with a group of friends to talk about life, I am constantly being given great experiences that cannot be given to me by anyone but Christ!

Not only do I have Christ walking with me, but also a group of friends (and family) who walk with me and help me to see His presence! Thank you, Green Day, for that little reminder that I don’t walk alone!