Today is the feast of Therese of Lisieux, the "little flower." As a cloistered Carmelite, her spirituality and her personal disposition fostered an instinct for living in the moment, for doing one thing well, and for appreciating how each creature in creation has its own unique part to play-- however humble. She was wrote once, "The splendor of the rose and the whitness of the lily do not rob the little violet of it’s scent nor the daisy of its simple charm. If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.”
Have we discovered the inner peace, passion, and groundedness that come from finding our own unique voice in the big scheme of things? Just as living in the present moment demands letting go of the past and surrendering control over the future, it also involves letting go of our grandiosity and/or our excessive modesty. By this I mean, am I able to accept the task or duty that the present moment is presenting to me, no matter how great or small that task may be? It may be as simple as pushing my chair in after I have finished eating, or as great as surrendering my life on behalf of another. More likely, it is somewhere in between. Therese' insight is that simple things done with great love, thoughtfulness, and self-forgetfulness are a path to holiness.
Could it be so simple? Yes!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment