Like Peter in our gospel for today, we sometimes need a friend to point out that "It is the Lord!" that we are experiencing at the time. When we are not looking for nor expecting an encounter with the Beloved in our everyday lives, we may miss noticing what is going on right here, right now. When our experiences with the Holy One often have been similar, perhaps with the same ribbon tied around them, we tend to forget God is full of surprises and comes when and where and how we may least expect it.

That is when it is helpful to have an anam cara, a spiritual friend with whom we can share our spiritual journey in all its ups and downs. We may realize that something is going on deep within our hearts, but the question is what. An anam cara can listen to our stories and help us recognize the divine pattern unfolding before us. Anam caras may affirm us, challenge us, encourage us. They can open our eyes to see where we are stuck in a deep rut and show us how we may begin to move forward in deepening our relationship with the Holy One, or perhaps suggest alternative ways of opening ourselves to receive what God has prepared for us no matter how it may come.

Once we are ready to accept the experience, as E.E. Cummings put in in his Easter poem, "i thank You God for most this amazing day", ("now that the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened.), we come to recognize that it is the Lord on the beach cooking breakfast for us. It may seem like awakening from a dream; we don't know where we are, what is going on. What a joy and delight to know it is the Lord who comes to help us through the confusion!