March 29th: Crying at Taco Time

I was talking to a good friend of mine yesterday and he mentioned that he’d given a talk in church a while back about adversity. Everything he said about it peaked my interest so I asked if he’d be willing to email me a copy of what he said and today I read his remarks.  After the first reading, to myself, I really wanted to share what he’d said with Lynne and so I took my wife to lunch and read his talk to her.  It was upon this second reading, out loud to Lynne, that the words really got to me.  There I was, blubbering away at Taco Time reading my friend’s inspired address about adversity.  It was one of  TWO great M2B:) experiences today.

The first was with the talk itself.  It healed some parts of my heart that have been broken for awhile by inviting me to rearrange my position on suffering; to re-think how I deal with emotional and spiritual pain AND to open myself up to the ways the Healer of All Wounds restores us, nurtures us, teaches us, guides us – loves us.  It also said as much about how we can follow that loving example and help others who are broken.

But after shedding all those tears as I read this talk to Lynne, I realized that these words came from a friend I’ve known for nearly 35 years, and his insight and his wisdom blessed my life today. My friend.  A guy who takes me as I am and shares his journey with me!  I’ve always respected my friend’s considerable artistic abilities and admired the way he’s managed tremendous commercial success and still held on to personal integrity.  But today I was reminded of so many other qualities, spiritual as well as intellectual, that he possesses.  It was a very cool thing and a deeply happy moment thinking that I get to have such a friend. So there it is: The joy in the talk and the double joy in the friend that shared it with me.

Now it just occurred to me that some of my ranchin’ cowboy buddies may think this is all way too Oprah for them so I’ll close with a word to those who see weeping in public as either an embarrassing weakness or a mental illness.  Should you (and you know who you are) decide to share something that’s really touching with someone you love and you think it might make you cry, do it at a Taco Time (or wherever) with a fresh salsa bar.  If you’re caught teary-eyed, no need to panic.  Just disarm whoever is lookin’ at you by staring ‘em down, taking a sip of your soda, pointing to your burrito and saying, “Whoa, THAT’S what I call a JALAPENO!!!”