Sidewalk Mindfulness

Sidewalks can teach you things.

Each panel, different in some way
     Cracked, split open
     Cracked with fillings to prevent further cracking
Pock-marked with holes from the size of dimes to half dollars

Dark tiles
     Cream colored tiles
Smooth
     Rough
      Clean
         Dirty
Some with stones poking through
     Grass growing between the tiles - or maybe a dandelion
Power washed with some missed patches
Littered with stones,
     mowed grass,
            pieces of gum,
                  twigs,
                       bird droppings

A panel with a gutter running across it, smoothly indenting it
     Corners dipping down to make sidewalks accessible
           Sheered tops that make for uneven walking
Dual purpose panels serving as entry ways to driveways
An occasional chalk drawing
     or a pattern for hopscotch etched in cement.

And in the sidewalk, I see pieces of myself
   and metaphors for my life.

This is what sidewalk mindfulness teaches me:
Whatever the stuff is that I walk through day to day,
The path still leads me home.

Whatever the stuff is that I walk through in life,
I am still on the path
    with God
        who is leading me
Home.