I had a kind of breakthrough for myself in the middle of the night – I can’t really explain what I experienced, but the short of it is that I had a conversation with Love that brought me a healing of terrible fear.

So anyway. When I left the house this morning I was floating on a cloud of Love. I had Mindy Jostyn’s CD in my car’s CD player, and her version of “I Walk with Love” came singing through the speakers –

“I walk with Love along the way,
And O, it is a holy day;
No more I suffer cruel fear,
I feel God’s presence with me here;
The joy that none can take away
Is mine; I walk with Love today.”

Every car I passed seemed to be moving with me on the cloud of Love. I could feel Love’s choreography as I moved down Burlington Blvd towards Fred Meyers – every light turned green as I approached it, every car moved at the same pace, in harmony.

I moved through Fred’s on my cloud – exchanging smiles with my fellow customers. I told the young man stocking shelves how much joy his purple mohawk brought me. He grinned and thanked me.

On my way home, I stopped at the Starbucks near Cook Road, to get myself a pumpkin spice latte. Starbucks was full of customers, and there was a long line to the drive-thru. The barista who came to the counter to help me looked like he needed a kind word and a good laugh. He went through his script – how can I help you? would you like whip with that? how’s your day going? I told him I was having a great day, and asked him how his day was going. He smiled and said they were pretty busy. He was tired. He asked me for my name. I leaned in and said, in a half-whisper, “Karen,” and waited to see his reaction. He quietly typed my name into his computer, and I thanked him for not laughing at my name. Which – as I’d hoped – got him to start laughing. When it came time to give him a tip, I told him I was giving him the biggest tip for not laughing, and he grinned and thanked me, and wished me a good day.

I went off to the side to await my latte.

A young woman entered the shop and started scanning the faces of the other customers. When she got to my face, she smiled. I smiled back, and she approached me. “Are you a mother?” she asked. I told her yes, I was. “My kids are outside in that car, and I need to use the restroom. Can you go outside and watch them while I use the restroom?” Being recognized as a mother – as someone who could be trusted with her children – was the highlight of my morning. I told the woman it would be my honor.

I went out and stood by her car. I gave a salute to one of the youngsters inside it, and she grinned back at me.

When the mother came out of the shop, she gave me a hug and thanked me. I thanked her for the priviledge of guarding her children.

And I drove with Love all the way home.