One of the many things I like about doing a deep clean is the gems you find amidst all the stuff. Last week during our break I was going through some book shelves and I found a book that my husband had brought home from a conference. Well, actually there were three of these books that he brought home because he had met the author and she gave him some to give away. Let's just say that two or three years later I'm 1. getting around to reading it myself and 2. finally going to give away those other two copies at our Free 4 All event coming up this week.
The book is called, "Generous Faith; Stories to Inspire Abundant Living" by Sr. Bridget Haase, OSU. I'm always a sucker for a good "stories to inspire" kind of story so I sat down to read, eager to soak something up that might help me bring more joy to my life.
Sister breaks the book into three sections: Living in the moment, Trusting in divine care and Experiencing God's presence. Each section is ripe with stories about how she and others have been able to do each of these things in their lives. She suggests that when you read the book, you do it slowly and ponder each story. Well, as far as I'm concerned, she just wasted some valuable page space because I just can't read that way. I sat down and dug in and pondered each section as a whole.
I liked the book. It was an uplifting and easy read. I've read books on these topics before, so it was a good reminder to put these things into practice. In fact, I had an opportunity to do that this weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it until the weekend was over!
As is typical around here, we had many things to do and places to go this weekend. It started Friday and ended Sunday evening. While I didn't dread the things I had to do, I certainly wasn't looking forward to the back-to-back fashion in which they were to be done. It wasn't until later Sunday night while I was winding things down that it hit me. If I had been Living in the Moment, I might not have been so worried about getting from one event to another, and while I did enjoy each thing immensely, it wasn't till I thought about it afterward that I saw what a gift each event was, how many wonderful people I got to spend time with, and how many memories were made. Oh, why can't I remember this going into things?? Why not have that attitude before hand? Maybe then I would truly savor each moment for what it is - a great gift.
Living in the moment is hard. It is hard not to multi-task. It is hard not to have your mind on things other than what is in front of you! I think what Sister was trying to remind us of was that if we live in the moment and trust in God's care at all times, we will truly experience His presence and have a very abundant life!
God Bless!
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