What makes you stop?

Readers,

What makes you stop? Whether you are driving, at school, work, the dog park, or even at Starbucks?
What makes you stop and just sit back and bask in the glory of God? What are those moments that make you just thankful to be alive? To be in love? What are the moments that just make you simply smile? Is it a memory? A song? Your dogs, cat, hamster or goldfish?


For me, there are a few moments... These moments make me realize that I am closer to Christ than I think I am, and these moments make me think about my life, and how lucky I am to be alive.

George Harrison wrote a song called, "My Sweet Lord", and this is where I want to start my moment of stopping. I was driving to Whole Foods, getting groceries for the next few days, and as I was driving I was replaying the days events in my head. Admittedly, it wasn't my best day. I just wanted the day to be over, I wanted to go in my room and just cry. Well, as I was pulling into the parking lot of Whole Foods, finding a parking spot, I decided that I would go through the radio stations on FM2 just to see what was on before I set off into the drab, cold, store. As I shift over to FM2, I hear the opening cords of this song. As I park, I stop. I put my car in park, turn off the lights, turn the car off- but not the radio. As I hear George Harrison sweetly start singing, "My sweet Lord, ooh My Lord, oh My Lord . . ." I knew at that point, that my problems, my worries, my problems with school, weren't important. That night, I felt that my life was ending; I felt that everything that I had done up until that point was just collapsing on itself, imploding. I felt at that moment that I was just failing at everything.

But, the truth was. . . I wasn't. Sure, I was struggling to keep my head above water with school, with friends, with family, with my dogs... With everything.

At that moment, as I sat in the parking lot. . . I found myself not only crying, but also praying. At that moment I felt God had spoken to me, and put his arm around me and told me that it would all be fine. At that moment, as the song ended, I wiped my eyes, grabbed my purse and went into the store.

It was like the light had returned to my life. No, it was the light returning to my life. I don't know what I was asking for, but all I know is that I was so depressed. . . I just wasn't sure where to turn. I am happy that night, I just stopped. I stopped and prayed.

So, dear readers, what makes you stop?