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Before I forget&
I have so much to do today, I need to meditate twice as long. -- Ghandi
All happenings, great and small, are parables whereby God speaks. The art of life is to get the message. --Malcolm Muggeridge
We can let life's troubles grind us down. Or life's troubles can polish us. -- Elderly Woman
He was an original and no man's copy. -- William Penn of George Fox
Every year we get 525,600 minutes. How many minutes are left for 2001? And what are you going to do with them? What was your best day this year? Your worst? It only takes a few minutes to have your very worst day. What are you doing minute after minute with your life, and with your spiritual life? Some days I can spend an hour in prayer and it seems rather dry and uneventful. Some days I catch a minute of prayer and it can be so uplifting for my spirit. Interesting, isn't it, how great a single minute can be. Our lives can change in a few minutes: someone can tell you that they love you very much (wow!); someone you love very much passes from this life and are gone. Our lives are made up of minutes.
Are your minutes really momentous or not? On September 11, 2001, it only took a few minutes to change our world upside down. With the minutes we have left, how can we (you and me) make the world a brighter and more hopeful place to live? How does God fit into that minute by minute living?
Christianity has always taught the importance of living an "inner life", the life of the soul/spirit. At the end of the day, can you or I say "God was here today in my life."? Can you identify (not make up) those moments when God was really present in your life today, yesterday, sometime this past week? Don't look for huge events, just the small minute ones. And try not to compare your minutes to someone else's minutes. Let others have their own special minute, and just enjoy your own special time with God.
What is the "good stuff" in your daily life? Jesus said that the kingdom of God is among us, around us, and within us. Two Golden Retrievers wake me up at 5:30 a.m. with socks and underwear in my face--everyday they bring me a gift. I'm reminded that God and some people love me deeply. I water my plants and I'm reminded of the beauty of creation. I take the old bananas on my counter and make banana bread and the smells are great. Who said that the great things in life are right under our noses?
No two days are ever alike. A friend we haven't heard from in months calls; we hear a funny joke and have a good laugh; we make up with someone after an argument; the day ends with a beautiful sunset. What did you discover yesterday about this ever-changing world? Life isn't on TV or someplace else--life is right here, all around you, inside you. Living a spiritual life is to make every minute count.
A few Sundays ago, I was called to a nursing home during the 7th game of the World Series. An elderly woman was dying. No family members were present. Her eyes were wide open, looking out the window. What or who did she see? I sat with her for about a half-hour. It was really a sense of the divine, of God's presence. It was powerful. An elderly person unable to communicate, near the end of her life, and myself. But I really felt the divine presence. An interruption turned out to be something I could never have created by myself. God speaks and loves us in all sorts of ways! It turned out to be one of the best days of the year. Just thirty minutes, and all I had to do was sit there.
Wishing you some great minutes this week!
Fr. Bill
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