Did I mention I got a part time job as a baker? A few mornings a week I get up at 4:00 and head off into the chilly morning, shake off the sleepys on the way, and bake pie for 8 hours.
I walk about 15 minutes to get to my bus stop, and I can't help but be hyper-aware of my surroundings. Not because I think it's really dangerous, but because it is dark and I am alone (Don't worry all you moms and dad out there - in my coat pockets I have my phone in one hand and mace in the other). I don't usually meet anyone on this walk, but the other day there was a man coming slowly towards me as I rounded a corner. I'm walking quickly and purposefully, head down, but he stops me (my radar goes up) and says, "Do you have --". At this moment I automatically jump to the assumption that he wants something from me, and will finish the sentence with: "Do you have a few dollars to spare? A cigarette? A light?" I prepare myself to say, "No, sorry" and hurry by, but he says: "Do you have the time?"
Taken aback, I glance at my phone, say, "quarter to 5:00" (what an ungodly hour!) and as I continue walking I replay these words over and over in my head. "Do you have the time?" Before knowing anything about this man I had prepared myself to have no time for him, and he confronted my selfishness in the simplest way possible. "Do you have the time?" Do I? It is so easy to be about my business, and legitimately there is a lot of business I am always taking care of. But maybe there is something to that question. Maybe I need to be more aware of how I use my time, of allowing myself to have the time more often. Maybe sometimes that is all someone needs of us - our time.
Do you have the time?
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