The Everyday Sacred

Yesterday, while intently counting down my required laps in the pool, my husband interrupted my OCD counting to bring my attention to a visitor in our oasis of a yard. A hummingbird was gracing us with her presence. Over the following 30 minutes she darted in and out of our yard, over the fence, to sip at the nectar of one of our flowering bushes. I resumed my laps in-between her visits, but stopped every time she arrived again. Had he not pointed her out, I would have missed something that always brings me joy.

I have lived an absolutely ridiculously busy life the last 3 years. So busy, in fact, that I abdicated from everything doing with our home, and almost every pleasurable activity I had nurtured over the previous years since the children flew the nest. Because of my inability to keep a balance I have gardens full of weeds, a disorganized home that frustrates me, missing pieces of furniture that I need to complete my decorating, adult children that could occasionally use a little maternal attention, and 2 closets full of quilting fabric waiting to be made into something or other. Because of this inability to maintain a balance when work or school intercedes, I ended up ill, in the hospital, and struggling to put one foot in front of the other. I am not sure about the personalities of men, but women often do this.

One of my pre-busyness routines was to clean up my kitchen counters every morning after cleaning up myself. Somehow, the act of cleaning up and organizing my kitchen counters gives me a Zen-like feeling of calm that is an everyday sacred act. Doing computer work to the singing of the mockingbirds outside my window in the morning (no TV or music on) is another sacred experience. Rocking a sleeping baby achieves the same feeling.

Having finished school at the end of 2012, and finishing my 9 years serving my professional association, I am changing the first item listed on my bucket list to taking time each day to savor the everyday sacred. My ego-driven ways need to be moderated so that the everyday sacred is welcomed to inhabit my life again. And that welcome will never be shown the door with a goodbye. Let me not be so busy that I cannot make quiet moments in my day to see the beauty, feel the richness, rock a baby and savor the goodness of the everyday sacred in my day.