I’m sitting at the orthodontist waiting for William (he gets braces next week!) so I thought I would take the opportunity to write while I wait.
Last week, I did a “scavenger hunt” with my class. I divided them up into teams and I had them find 3 discussion questions in the “wilderness,” discuss, and come back – full circle – to the picnic bench where we began. I didn’t tell them it was a race, but some of them did feel a little rushed, though they did try to answer the questions as well as they could, despite the rushed feeling.
We then discussed how it can be hard to learn, or to take things in, when we are feeling rushed. Everyone got a treat regardless of how long they took and everyone came back to the same spot in which they started.
I related this to this mortal life. We all are going back to the presence of God – full circle – to where we were before this mortal experience. So why do we rush and exhaust ourselves? Especially when we know that it is hard to take things in and really learn when we are rushing?
We are supposed to be diligent in life, so what is the difference between diligence and rushing?
Every morning I start my day the same place where I end my day. Did I rush to get there? Or did I take things in and feed my soul as I diligentely went about “my Father’s buisness?
Turn, turn, turn. I can’t find balance when things are going too quickly. I just numb the dizzy feeling and keep right on spinning.
I want to slow my mind down and joyfully go about doing good, loving, nurturing, creating.
—–Left the Orthodontist and continued this writing this morning——-
But I have felt rushed lately. I know it would help to get to bed earlier and wake up earlier. I don’t know why we are all staying up so late these days, but it hasn’t been good for us and contributes to feeling “behind” each morning. And I need to prayerfully decide what I am doing during the day and then do it with my whole heart (a priority list and prayer has been very helpful for this in the past so I will keep at it today).
From Patricia Holland (one of my favorite people) in The Soul’s Center:
One woman not of our faith but whose writings I love is Anne Morrow Lindbergh. In commenting on the female despair and general torment of our times she writes:
The Feminists did not look . . . far [enough] ahead; they laid down no rules of conduct. For them it was enough to demand the privileges. . . . And [so] woman today is still searching. We are aware of our hunger and needs, but still ignorant of what will satisfy them. With our garnered free time, we are more apt to drain our creative springs than to refill them. With our pitchers [in hand], we attempt . . . to water a field, [instead of] a garden. We throw ourselves indiscriminately into committees and causes. Not knowing how to feed the spirit, we try to muffle its demands in distractions. Instead of stilling the center, the axis of the wheel, we add more centrifugal activities to our lives—which tend to throw us [yet more] off balance.
Mechanically we have gained, in the last generation, but spiritually we have . . . lost. [Gift from the Sea, p. 52]
[For women] the problem is [still] how to feed the soul. [p. 51]
I have pondered long and hard about the feeding of our inner self. It is no coincidence that we speak of “feeding the spirit” just as we would speak of feeding the body. We need constant nourishment for both. The root word hale (as in hale and hearty) is the common root to words like whole, health, heal, and holy. Our health and our wholeness are unquestionably linked with our holiness. We need very much for body, mind, and spirit to come together, to unite in one healthy, stable soul.
I think I will take some time to study that talk today.
On Monday, we did family presentations by my Great Works class about what they’d learned Winter semester. I am so grateful for those beautiful, diligent, inspiring youth.
Here are some more gratitude highlights from the last few days…
I am grateful for the right to vote and the beautiful system of government we have been gifted.
My kids helping their friends at the Caucus last night.
We met my parents, my brother and sis-in-law at the capital on Sunday before heading to Memorial Park for a picnic before an Easter concert.
I am so grateful for my incredible parents who have the biggest hearts and have always believed in me and taught me that I can do whatever I set my heart to.
I am grateful for brothers that I feel close to and love spending time with -who I can talk to for hours when we get to see each other and who love me as I am.
I am also grateful they all married amazing, good, caring, intelligent, strong women that I love as sisters.
I also loved the Spirit I felt that Sunday at the Provo temple dedication in the morning and at the Easter concert that evening.
I am thankful for my goofy kids and Spring picnics.
I am also glad I live near the mountains and can go on spontaneous hikes whenever I want.
Saturday hike with Bill and Cassia
And for Frosties after the park
Saturday (where I took the pictures of the merry-go-round above)
I love the bundles my little kids make after they take a bath
So I took a little while finishing this post this morning and now I feel “behind” in my day. So I will have to consciously decide not to feel rushed and to be grateful for each moment and each “interruption” and every opportunity to love a little more today. Off I go!
Learning Love - My Story 