Percussion

“Always we begin again.” – St. Benedict

“Invite Wonder What if you bowed before every dandelion you met and wrote love letters to squirrels and pigeons who crossed your path? What if scrubbing the dishes became an act of single reverence for the gift of being washed clean, and what if the rhythmic percussion of chopping carrots became the drumbeat of your dance? What if you stepped into the shower each morning only to be baptized anew and sent forth to serve the grocery bagger, the bank teller, and the bus driver through simple kindness? And what if the things that make your heart dizzy with delight were no longer stuffed into the basement of your being and allowed out to play in the lush and green fields? There are two ways to live in this world: As if everything were enchanted or nothing at all.”― Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within

In this very moment
In the ordinary
In daily tasks
In routine travels
In the details of nature
In the heart of a flower
In each day’s new beginning
In simple kindness extended
The percussion of living resides
Enchantment with a shift of attention and awareness
In the sacred ordinary
Here and now.

“The real enemies of our life are the ‘oughts’ and the ‘ifs.’ They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the here and now.” – Henri Nouwen