"...My mind races before I climb out of bed each morning. I'm always doing four things at once, not really giving full attention to any one person or thing. If I'm pushing a child on the swing, I'm also opening a letter, on the phone with the pediatrician's office, and burning dinner. Even when it comes to putting my feet up, I get distracted by the sink full of dishes or the pile of mail. Some people call it multitasking, as though it's a skill to be desired and honed, but I know it's really a lack of focus -- a refusal to seek out the important things. To read a book to my kids without making a grocery list and a weekend itinerary at the same time requires me to be fully present -- to stop the spinning wheels racing in my head and pay attention."
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"What matters is that we seek to imitate Christ. That we order our loves so that our hearts better reflect His. Many days, checklists will go untouched, books will go unread, and ducks will not line up in a row, no matter how much we strive.
Cease striving. St Jerome once said, 'It is our part to offer what we can, His to finish what we cannot.'
There is much to be learned in the muddle, and Chesterton tells us that anything worth doing is worth doing badly.
We offer ourselves to God, we introduce our children to beauty and goodness and truth, and cease our anxious striving."
(emphasis mine)
Though I am not one for making resolutions for the new year, I do have new resolve to be more present in all things. To focus on my loved ones. To let our days be filled with calm, and joy, and peace, instead of ceaseless bustling. To focus on beauty and goodness and truth.
Thank you God, for the continual cycle of death & resurrection resounding through all of creation. New beginnings. And new mercies every morning!
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