Some days are simply too much–too overwhelming with too many meetings and not enough time to do more than throw down one set of files and papers and pick up another to rush off to the next meeting. I am challenged by days like this one because I am barely able to take a quick break, to light long enough for a nice, long exhale. Sitting here in my bed, laptop propped on my lap, I am hoping to “whip out” this blog real quick so I can get on to making some Powerpoint slides for a training presentation my team is doing. Somehow I took on responsibility for making the slides each week for our five-week program and folks seem to be getting the materials to me later and later each week. They have to be ready by Thursday morning. I am tempted to spin the wheel, but I am going to resist temptation. I am grateful this evening for simple things:
- For the morning meditations I’ve been doing at before I start work each morning. I sit at my computer with my headphones on and spend 20 minutes in uplifting and inspiring meditations from a 21-day series. I’ve partially participated in these meditations in the past, but never managed to get past the first few days before falling behind. And with these online meditations, if you get out of sync, the meditations are not available after five days. This time I was determined to make my way through all 21 days, and though I’ve gotten a little behind (day 21 was on Sunday and I am on day 19), it is close enough to very nearly be finished. The meditations, with centering theme and mantras each day, were exactly what I needed to hear right now, and I am grateful for the messages and food for thought that they have provided me up to this point. The old saying goes that, “the teacher will appear when the student is ready.” Well, this student was ready for this message at this time and am receiving it and walking in it on a daily basis.
- I am grateful for being in the right place at the right time. I have my moments–and have had many over my lifetime–when I have wondered, “What am I doing? How did I get to this place and what am I doing here?” I have felt frustrated, stuck, and out of place with where I’ve wanted to be, not doing what I wanted to do. At this moment, just now, I know that I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am supposed to be doing. And while it doesn’t mean that I am 100% content with my life the way it is at the moment, I nevertheless feel like I am in the right place for my life right now. I have written before about my GPS metaphor: in life you’re cruising along headed in a particular direction on your road of life. Even if you take a “wrong” turn–taking a left when you should have taken a right, the Universal GPS recalculates and readjusts your route so that you’re still headed toward your destination. There are no wrong turns, but the occasional detour or times when we’ve turned in the opposite direction where we were supposed to go, it’ll take us a little longer to get where we’re going but in the end we arrive at our destination. I’ve taken quite a few detours on my life path, and yet in this moment, I know that I am where I am supposed to be for this time in my life.
- I am grateful for the fact that I wake up each day with a fresh set of mercy and compassions–they are new every morning. There is an inexhaustible supply of love, mercy, and compassion: according to the book of Lamentations, God’s compassions do not fail. I have tested this and know it to be true. No matter how difficult or challenging a day might have been, when I wake up in the morning, I have new compassions, new mercies, and an opportunity to have a good day. Sometimes I wake up tired and a little cranky, but I almost always wake up knowing that I have a new set of downs and new opportunities to walk in my life purpose. This is a beautiful thing.
I still have work I did not yet accomplish. I have to decide how much energy I have to work on things yet this evening before I take my rest. I will at least start, but allow myself time to take my rest at a semi-reasonable hour. I am grateful for this day and all that transpired in it, whether it felt easy and fun or not. It was a good day; one in which I showed up as best I could for the meetings and activities in which I was involved. I gave of my time, energy, thoughts and ideas, expertise, etc. today. And at the end of the day, I did exactly what I was supposed to do. For that I am quietly and solidly grateful.
