The Life That Is Waiting For Us

Around 8:15 am, I went outside to take a picture of some flowers and noticed that the area around the statue of Our Lady of Fatima needed to be hoed. I thought I’d better tackle that job while it was still cool, and then I noticed that weeds were growing up around Sr. Dolores’ gooseberry bushes and that bunches of dried leaves had collected around a rose bush. Two hours later I came inside, got cleaned up, and found a new e-mail message that required some research before I could respond. This is not at all what I had planned for my morning!

It is easy to become overwhelmed by all the tasks calling for our attention. Some people respond by making a “To Do” list and methodically working through it so they can accomplish as much as they can as efficiently as possible. This approach is effective, but it can prevent us from responding to needs and opportunities when they arise. As Joseph Campbell said, “We must be willing to give up the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Perhaps the life waiting for us is to listen to a friend who is distressed or to take a walk on the first sunny day in two weeks.

The good news is that, as St. Benedict said, “The Divine presence is everywhere.” Thus, no matter what we attend to throughout the day, we can be assured that we will be walking humbly with our God. Why, then, should we worry about how our day unfolds? Regardless of what we do, God is present, and it can’t get any better than that.