I have hurry sickness. We all have it. It is that inability to stop. To wait. To be still. It is the “gift” of our society. I have had the honor of going to France and training with the grandmaster of my martial art style. I love France, the country side (Southern France), the people and most of all, the pace of life. They just don’t seem to hurry. Lunch is at least a 2 hour affair. Meals are a mini-celebration, a social event. The French find fast food places, like McDonald’s (yes, they have those) to be a novelty, but even there, people come and take your order at a table.
Why do we eat in the car? Where is it we are in such a hurry to get to? And, what would happen if we were late, or didn’t go at all? Would the world end? I read a great deal, both personal and professional readings. Lately, it seems that all of the spiritual reading I do is about being in the moment, paying attention to the here and now and living mindfully.
The wonderful writer and minister, Frederick Bueckner tells of a drive he was on to a speaking engagement, when suddenly he noticed the trees were waving at him. Now, before you worry about this now 89 year old, blessed minister and writer, think about the notion. He writes about suddenly noticing that the living Eternal was present in all that he was seeing in the world as he drove the car. I have had moments like that. I used to drive 45 minutes to work through the beautiful pine forest of Deep East Texas and there were days when I felt the overwhelming presence of the Eternal, alive and vibrating in that forest. I have felt it on long walks at my beloved Abbey of Gethsemani in the knobs of Kentucky.
The Eternal will not let me go on this point. It keeps coming up, to be and live mindfully. To take a lesson from trees and French friends: this moment is full of possibility, be absorbed in it. Give yourself to it. Let it overwhelm you and surround you. Bueckner makes a great point: all that we see is the Kingdom Jesus kept talking about. We are called to be mindful of that kingdom. We are called to seek that kingdom, to be still and “know that I am God”.
It comes home to me when I realize that I am the kingdom. That what we seek the most, to live in the kingdom of God, as the model prayer speaks of it, we have but to turn inward. What we seek the most, the Beloved, is in us. To find the kingdom of God is truly to turn inside, where the Beloved indwells us. Come on, you already knew that! You have those moments where you are filled to bursting with a fierce love of God. Imagine if we each lived mindfully of the Beloved in us, in all living things around us.
Come on, you know you want to: slow down, drink in all that is the Eternal, the deep lover of your soul. Practice the presence. Wash dishes to the joy of the Eternal. Work, garden, eat your meal, drink your coffee, drive your car, all in the total awareness of the moment. Oh my, what would each day be like? We would all live longer, happier and healthier lives. We would most certainly slow down and we would KNOW.
TMM