After a week's vacation at home with my family, it's always a transition to come back to work--even if I love the role and the institution. Are we unique in imagining that we could craft a perfectly good life with all four of us at home? I suppose not....but the shared nature of the experience means no less impact. I actually cried last night as I kissed the kids while they slept in their beds. A week with them was a reminder of all I miss each day as I drive over the mountain to work. And health insurance and mortgage payments aside, I do actually believe we could have a blissful life riding our mountain bikes around the yard and cooking colorful, thoughtfully-prepared meals. And blogging....of course there would have to be blogging!
Recognizing that I was dragging my feet a bit today, driving in on a brilliantly bright and sunny day but living elsewhere in my mind, I decided I should start my day with gratitude. So after changing my voicemail and email to say I've checked back in, here I am.
Thank you, God of breath and creation and light....this is surely a day brought into being by You. Remind me that every day is a gift from You, and that I am a being created by choice and with choices. I can view my responsibilities as opportunities, and the conversations I'll have today as a chance to serve as light to the world. I can pause and breathe and look out my window. I can feel my feet on the earth and lower my shoulders, easing out the tension I hold, both imagined and real. I can see You in every encounter.
I am thankful for....
....my clever, courageous daughter who was weaving her way through a playground thick with bigger kids than she to make her way back to school after her own vacation.
....my usual parking lot being closed this morning. Parking across campus gave me an opportunity to say hello to a dear friend, and to enjoy more of the outside air on my way to the office.
....the gentleman who cleans my building. His wide smile each and every day is a continual reminder that I choose who I am, how I feel and what I present to the world.
....coffee. Enough said.
....all that awaits me at home this evening, made all the more precious by my time away today.
....now, the present, this moment.
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One thing that I've been loving about your blogs is that, for me, it's been serving as a little whisper in my ear to get back to where I need to be. I know this isn't your objective, but your writing never fails to make me THINK, and in today's case to make me realize that I too have so much to be thankful for. Why is is that our human nature tends to go in the other direction, thinking about how it could be, or what we're missing, or longing for things that we can't have? I'm starting to think a daily discipline along the lines of thinking gratefully and positively are definitely in order. It's certainly a discipline, though -- part of the journey, I guess. Thanks for voicing the things that need to be said.
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