Mar 20 - Gifts, Regardless

Incline your ear to me; *
when I call make haste to answer me,
For my days drift away like smoke, *
and my bones are hot as burning coals.
Psalm 102:2-3

Similarly, they should so regulate and arrange all matters that souls may be saved and the members may go about their activities without justifiable grumbling.
Benedict's Rule 41:5 (Chittister, Pg. 191)

It is so easy to go through life looking feverishly for special ways to find God when God is most of all to be found in doing common things with uncommon conscientiousness.
Chittister, Pg. 194

How often do I look only for the "special" rather than the realistic and common? Do I complain that the weather gets in my way, or do I look to the dark raining morning as the special and individual celebration of "Today"? What about the third, fifth, or tenth rainy morning in a row?

Can I see each encounter with the world, or people in the world, as a unique and special gift? Gifts regardless of my understanding, gifts regardless of how I feel after the encounter, gifts even when I grumble and cannot see the goodness in my day?

Lord, help me. I don't like it when I can't see joy, or when I fail and close my mind to all. Help me see your love, forgiveness, and guidance in every encounter.

A Note To Readers:

This entry is part of a series that is developing as I read The Rule of Benedict, A Spirituality for the 21st Century, Joan Chittister, OSB, Crossroads, 2010. I am offering this both to those at St. George's Episcopal Church, Arlington VA, that may be reading this book and to anyone that is interested.

Unless stated otherwise quotes from St. Benedict's Rule are from the translation in this same book. Psalms are from The Book of Common Prayer, The Episcopal Church, 1979 unless otherwise noted.