Arghhh! I'm locked out of my house! The frantic search for a key began. I returned from a hike and thought my sons would still be home. They were not and the house was locked. The realization came that there would be no frantic pickle project today. The cucumbers would have to wait. Knowing my son would return in two hours, I settled in on the bench by the front door to make a new plan.
The smells and sounds and sights of a warm summer day enveloped me. The clear blue sky with puffy white clouds provided the unending peaceful backdrop for the bending roses, lavender, yarrow and rose of sharon flowers. The garden is full of ripening tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, corn and beans. The near hush of the summer air was almost imperceptibly accompanied with occasional insects and distant city noises. Nature doesn't hurry. Nature doesn't frantically do anything! If the pickles are not going to get done today, what IS going to get done and what matters now today?
And what a needed lesson. I have no trouble making endless lists of what I'm sure are "very important things," It’s rather easy to be busy. but am troubled by the sometimes unsatisfactory feeling that the frantic attempts to accomplish this list sometimes gives me.
President Uchtdorf said: "There is a beauty and clarity that comes from simplicity..." and he taught that those who unnecessarily complicate their lives "often feel increased
frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their
lives." Then he said, "It
is said that any virtue when taken to an extreme can become a vice. Overscheduling our days would certainly qualify for this. There comes a
point where milestones can become millstones and ambitions, albatrosses
around our necks." ... "We
would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for
our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly
see the things that matter most."
I see the peaceful blue sky trying to teach me doing the things that matter most, will always bring us to the Savior who brings comfort, peace, help, joy, meaning, and life. Some things must go to make room for Him.
Perhaps I should arrange to regularly be locked out of the house.
