I had a dream this morning, sometime around 5am-6:45am, that I was running really late to catch a flight. Like REALLY late. I had about an hour to get from somewhere else, to my house, get my bags, and get to DFW. If you know where I live, you know that all of that is physically impossible in an hour. So, I woke up this morning feeling so stressed and rushed. On any other morning I would have used that as an excuse to hit the snooze button and try to wake up without those feelings (which usually just resulted in my going back to the same dream!). Well, I'm trying for the 3rd year in a row to give up my snooze button for Lent, so that was not an option.
I'm also trying to go to daily Mass for Lent. I decided today that I would go to 8am Mass then head into work. I set my alarm for 6:45 thinking that would give me plenty of time to get ready and get out the door. However, after I spent a few minutes to wake up, made coffee and lunch, I realized I was running late and started rushing around. I hopped in the car and headed to church.
On my way, in my stressed, rushed state, I realized I had left my phone at home. I thought "its ok, I can go the day without my security blanket." I was about half-way to church when 8:00 appeared on my clock. I thought, "I'll just go to 12:10 Mass at Holy Trinity (where I work), and now I can turn around and go home to get my phone." I suddenly felt a feeling of peace and calm come over me as I was no longer being rushed. I breathed a big sigh, took a sip of my coffee that was originally going to be waiting for me until after Mass and I made a u-turn to head home.
Two things happened after this decision. One, I got home and found no cell phone. I realized that it had been in my purse all along (of course I did not check that before turning around!!). Then, I was stuck in really thick traffic on 75 heading to work.
Normally, both of these things would have REALLY frustrated me and turned a bad morning worse. However, despite those 2 "inconveniences," I was so happy about my decision. It gave me a chance to enjoy my coffee while I was moving at 5 miles an hour. I was able to listen to a local Catholic Radio show that comes on 8-9am on Mondays by my buddy Dave Palmer that I did not was on the air (I hadn't really been getting up early enough to pay attention to the radio at that hour…). I learned all about the seminary system in Texas and a little bit about those seminarian guys in one of my classes at UD. And I enjoyed the pause in the day and was able to offer my time and the things I had planned today to God.
I wanted to write more about my daily pauses and the retreat from last weekend, but this entry is already too long, so I guess you'll just have to wait for the next installment…
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