Did you ever wake from your day with a start? Did you ever find that you have been so caught up in the urgency and buzz that you were only responding, not really living – not even really aware? It’s like a hiccup, or, for those of us old enough to remember, it’s like a skip in a record.

You happen to notice a cloud, nestled in a blue, blue sky. You hear the tail end of a song, stirring your soul with its fading echo. Or you walk through an oasis of shade and the cool brushes across your face like a curtain. Someone’s hello holds more than the perfunctory greeting. There is a real question in the ‘how’s your day?’  You actually encounter a person, and not just a shadow. And in that moment, you realize that you are a person, too.

At those moments, when life breaks into existence and my soul sighs, I find a smile upon my lips.

I thank God for hiccups.

[photo I took this week, during a hiccup]