A Question to Start the Day
July 2019A hush came over the room as she spoke. Soft piano music accompanied her words, covered by the sound of fan noise — a welcome breeze on a warm summer night.
It was Thursday evening, the last day of Music and Worship Arts Week at Lake Junaluska. We were gathered in the chapel, the open stained-glass windows ushering in the night air.
“I’m learning as I get older that it’s simpler and simpler day by day,” she said with a smile. Her voice was kind and inviting.
“There’s a flow of love that started when the stars began, and every morning we get a chance to decide to live into that love and then ask, ‘What's mine to do?’”
What’s mine to do?
I jotted the words down in a note on my phone. A simple question, a simple practice.
But how often do we stop to ask this question? It's easier to think we have to do it all: We've grown accustomed to a baseline of busyness — a constant hum of information and noise and instant gratification. We fill our waking moments with tasks and assignments and our work is never done (especially if you're a freelancer, like I talk about here).
But this is not just another thing to check off our to-do lists (show kindness to someone — check!).
Instead, I think it's an invitation to cultivate something deeper, a new way of living. Learning how to look and listen for the opportunities we’re given to participate in this holy work each day (like this book talks about—part of my summer reading recommendations list).
It's about learning to pay attention; choosing to live with intention, to open our eyes and our hands, to be ready; reminding ourselves of the power of being fully present and fully awake, and living like it matters.
Today is a new day and you get to decide how to live it. What’s yours to do?
*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
