I suppose that this was a pretty ordinary Saturday. I mowed. I weed-eated. We live on three acres and so all of that takes a little time. Jamie did some of it yesterday but she now has a job which means that I will probably be doing more mowing this year. By the way–I was weed-eating behind the garage and came across two snakes. They were very small and were just grass snakes. However, they qualify as snakes–one creature that I do not like.
That is a pretty ordinary Saturday, I suppose. I am learning to appreciate average, ordinary, mundane days. No, I don’t want all 7 days during the week to be like the Saturday that I described. However, it does give some relief.
*One day not to think about the embarassing and shameful treatment of those Iraqi prisoners. Those pictures are doing incredible damage to the image of our nation throughout the world.
*One day to “keep it simple.” You know that you are living in a complex world when the new HEB grocery store is built and the week it opens, you are given a map of the grocery store. Not how to get there. A map of where to go once you are inside the store.
*One day to do work and see almost immediate results. In my work, (this is true of a number of vocations), I am not always sure that anything is being accomplished. When I mow, I turn around and see it coming down!
*One day to be home. To enjoy being with my family. To just enjoy being in our house and in our yard.
*One day to do work that is different from what I do every day. It is so easy to get in a rut at work, isn’t it? If we are not careful, we can forget that we are human beings with vocations and not just people with exhausting careers.
*One day to forget about others’ expectations and to just be a human being living under the rule of God. (Hmmmm–I kind of like the thought of that one for more than one day out of the week. I would like to do that one better).
Maybe it would be good to try to build into the work week small moments to enjoy the ordinary. I remember hearing about a person who in the middle of his workday would call a friend of his to talk for a few minutes about an upcoming trip (camping as I recall) that they were going to take together. The conversation lasted probably five minutes. But the guy who made the call said that a break in his day to talk about the trip was so refreshing. Why? The conversation reminded him that there was more to life than the every day routines. (By the way, he said that five minutes later, he returned to his work with just a little more energy for what he was doing that day).
Saturdays are great–but maybe it would be nice just to enjoy ordinary moments throughout the week. Maybe I don’t have to wait until Saturday to appreciate simple moments that are refreshing. Maybe these are gifts of God–to be received if I will just slow down long enough to enjoy.