Here’s the complete Encounter Story. Who do you identify with in this story?

Encounter Story – Hum

“Why is everyone losing their minds?!?” I said to my wife as we drove along. We were headed to the mall to pick up a few gifts for Christmas.

“What?” she asked, looking up from her phone.

“Everyone is losing their minds!” I repeated. “Did you see what that guy did back at the intersection?”

“It’s that time of the year, honey,” she said. “Everyone is pretty wound up.”

“Well, I don’t like it,” I said. “Everyone needs to chill out! It’s driving me crazy!”

I could tell she was looking at me. I kept driving with my eyes on the road pretending not to notice her looking. I pulled into the mall parking lot. It was packed. Rather than drive up and down the rows hoping to find an empty spot, I decided to park farther away from the entrance.

I pulled into an empty spot, put the car in park, and turned off the engine. She was still looking at me.

“Am I sounding crazy?” I finally asked.

“Maybe a little,” she said. “But you’re still cute.”

I smiled a bit and took a breath. I could hear her take a deep breath as well. We just sat there in the car. 

Thinking. Waiting. 

“How do we do this?” I finally said. “How do we…” I couldn’t even put it into words. My wife reached out and took my hand. She didn’t say anything. We continued to sit there for a few moments.

“‘Peace on earth,’” I said with a bit of sarcasm quoting the verse that’s popular this time of year. “I want to know, I want to feel…peace,” I said.

“I do too,” she said quietly. 

“How do we do that?” I asked. I knew the answer, or rather, I knew a bunch of answers that people have said to me over the years. I wasn’t looking for those answers…or maybe I was. It doesn’t seem like those answers have stuck too well inside of me. Maybe they’ve been patched over the areas where I’ve needed peace and the patches have fallen off over time. 

My wife began to hum. 

She does that…she hums when it’s quiet. Personally, I’m not much of a hummer, but I love it when she does. 

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Something about her humming always makes me relax. The deep breath that I had slowly taken in was now ready to be exhaled, so I let it out slowly. I took another deep breath in. I let that one out slowly too. I decided to take one last deep breath in. And as this breath came out of me, I decided to vocalize it a bit. It was a bit of a hum.

My eyes were closed but I could tell that a slight smile was appearing on my wife’s face. She normally does all of the humming duties in our relationship but I feel ok joining her on this occasion. 

We took a few more breaths. Inhaling and humming together. Her humming sounded nicer than mine. More melodious and content. 

Things had settled in me. I turned to look at my wife. Her eyes were closed and the smile was still on her face.

“Peace,” she softly said. “Not the kind this world gives.”

I smiled and took another deep breath. 

—————

“My peace is the legacy I leave to you. I don’t give gifts like those of this world. Do not let your heart be troubled or fearful.”

Jesus 

(John 14:27 – The Voice)