A friend of mine told me in a response to one of my recent blog posts that I should be sent outside the country more often so I would write more. I take that as a compliment.
But I also thought about how easily we live in our own culture and take so much for granted. We lose the awe of what life is and how interesting are the people around us. Even as followers of Jesus we begin to presume on grace and leave God outside our thinking unless there is a crisis or an unexpected blessing.
About 15 years ago Kathleen Norris gave a lecture that was then produced as a short book entitled, Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and “Women's Work.” (I had to look up the word quotidian. It means “of or occurring every day; daily”) It is what I have often referred to as the daily-ness of life. It is where we spend the vast majority of our time. In this lecture, Norris points women (her audience but certainly it applies equally to men) to the divine mystery of life in the ordinary. She contends that if we miss living in the daily-ness of life we miss most of the opportunities God gives us since daily is that of which our lives are primarily comprised.
One of the many things this trip has reminded me of is the variety of life and culture even in my own area. It is far too easy for me to simply put my head down and get through the day instead of savoring the people and places that are near to me. I value family and I value friends and I value place. Yet far too many days I blitz through a day with little thought to any of those people and places I value.
So my challenge, thanks to my friend Ken, is to live my life at home as if I were living abroad. To open my eyes to the people and places that should elicit wonder from me instead of ennui. To revel in quotidian mysteries.
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