promptings

When we were newly married we lived in a little town in Germany called Asperg. Our apartment was the main floor of a quaint house at #1 Monrepostrasse. An Englishman had the basement apartment and our landlady and landlord lived upstairs with their grown son. It was a lovely place. I liked to walk across the bridge over the train tracks next to our house and browse the shops downtown. One morning when I was out on a stroll I had the sense that something wasn’t quite right, that I was being followed. I casually glanced at my surroundings and noticed a man across the street. I paid close attention to him and noticed that he walked at the same pace as I, the same direction as I, and when I stopped to look at a window display, he would also stop to look at a window display. When I changed direction, he, too, changed direction. He was following me. I casually headed for home and he followed. What was I to do; how was I going to get out of this? When I saw the bridge the answer came to me. As soon as I crested the bridge I took off running. He was just far enough behind me that by the time he crested the bridge I was safe in my apartment. I watched from my window as he came over the bridge and looked around for me, wondering where I’d gone. He stood at the intersection, searching each direction for several minutes, but I had vanished!

I can only imagine what might have happened without the promptings that tuned me in to the situation and then helped me out of it. We all receive promptings every day; they are sometimes almost afterthoughts: I’d better grab the keys, check the lock, make sure the stove is off… Sometimes the promptings don’t make sense: take a different route home, go check on so-and-so, bring such-and-such with you. Sometimes they nag at you with an urgency that won’t let you rest until you’ve listened and followed. Sometimes they are given in a clear voice, sometimes they are only impressions, but they should never be dismissed. Far too often I have neglected a prompting and later caught myself saying, “I knew I should have…” “I thought about it, but…” “If only I’d…” “Why didn’t I listen?” Promptings are guidance from above and I, for one, am mighty grateful for it.