My Saint Teresa Moment - Light Dancing on the River

Today I stumbled quite by accident into a playful Saint Teresa of Avila moment. Oh, I didn’t like it any better when it first happened to me than she did when her moment happened to her. As I recall the story, she was walking along a country road in Spain. By the way, Teresa of Avila was this incredible, Carmelite nun of the 17th Century. She had a frank and easy-going prayer life with the Lord which I’m sure was very agreeable to Him. It certainly endears her to all of us.

Saint Teresa also happened to be good friends with Saint John of the Cross of “The Dark Night of the Soul” fame. They were both a part of the Catholic Revival that followed in the wake of the Protestant Reformation. Both lived in Spain. We tend to bookmark them together in church history like Saint Francis and Sister Clare who founded the Poor Clares. Vulgar minds (and what other kind of minds are there?) always want to make of it something romantic.

Contrary to the cynical imagination there was nothing romantic about their relationship, unless of course you focus on their Divine Romance—the great love they both held in their hearts for our Lord and King. They called themselves “no nadas” which in Spanish means “not nothing” and loved to call Jesus His Majesty which says it all.

Here Comes Her Humbling Moment

So, here was Saint Teresa (before she became “saint”) walking along the country road. Decked out in her finest white habit, she perhaps was thinking a bit more of herself than she ought. Suddenly she tripped and fell headlong into a mud puddle. As she got up, she looked pointedly to heaven and said, “Well, it’s no wonder Lord why you have so few friends. Look how you treat them!” (For more on the Lord’s humor see “The Good Humor Man” at our website for healing: healingstreamsusa.org.)

My moment also came through carelessness. I was leaving McDonald’s with a cup of senior coffee. About to get into my car just as someone opposite me was ready to get out of theirs, I became concerned. Our doors might hit each other and scratch the paint. So I jumped in quickly. (I guess it’s a guy thing.)

As I hastily re-positioned myself the coffee dropped out of my hand. The famously hot McDonald’s coffee fell right into my lap splashing my legs and my brand-new shirt. What?! It burned me in a double sense. Not only was my skin stinging, but so was my temper. I imagined going back inside and saying some stinging things to the girl behind the counter who put the lid on poorly. Since she neglected to push it down securely, the cup collapsed in my fingers when I changed my grip.

Saved from a Greater Blunder

Fortunately, there was enough grace of God about me to laugh at myself and let it go. What helped was realizing how foolish I would look with pants–still wet below the groin–storming into McDonald’s trying to make someone else to blame for my own foolish carelessness.

As I drove away you can imagine that I was asking the Lord, “What in the world that was about?” and “Where were you?” and “Why weren’t you for protecting me better?” I heard a little voice saying, “Well it could have been worse.” I said I didn’t know how it could have been worse. And I repeated Teresa’s words back to Him with mischievous glee.

Then the quiet thought came, “Suppose the coffee-cup had fallen horizontally rather than vertically?” Oops, He sure had a point there! Everything in it would have poured out over me. As it was, I only got splashed a little bit as a fitting consequence of my carelessness. Happily, I was still free to enjoy quite a good cup of coffee and take to heart a lesson learned (yet again) about haste making waste.

That and enjoying a lively bit of repartee with our Great Friend who is ever on the job of saving us from ourselves, even when He doesn’t seem to be…

Enjoying the Lord is all part of “Hacking the Good” as this blog on “Small Is Beautiful” shows, well… beautifully!