Now I'm kinda used to the daily commuting between my house and my office.
Traveling for one hour, gives me not only chance to sleep again *oops*, but also a chance to read novels, work on a little bit of translation, and to think.
It also means that there are moments when I really need to stop because I am down with sore throat and cough (like today).
At these moments, life seems extraordinarily ordinary. You 'just' wake up, eat, work, eat, go home, eat, sleep, etc. Before you can do extraordinary things like let's say...doing parchment craft? The time has shown that it's 10 or 11pm and you'll find yourself 'rushing' to sleep again to make sure you can be 100% awake tomorrow.
Nevertheless, isn't it the reality of this life? That we spend most of our time to do ordinary things, and that the most heroic things to do is to do our ordinary duty extraordinarily well. These are not my words, but the words of many great saints. In the book Mary of Nazareth, the author explained that if most of us do not have chance to do extraordinary things and we don't strive to do our ordinary things well, what's left behind as an offering for God? Thus, our offering is precisely in these ordinary things.
Everyone wakes up in the morning. How about waking up 'on the dot', promptly when the alarm rings? Well, not everyone can do it or at least strive to do it. Thus, it's not an easy sacrifice to wake up on time day after day, month after month.
Most of us go to work every day. How about working without creating distractions for ourselves (e.g., messaging or browsing)? That's the struggle for most of us.
Thus, today's sick leave is a good reminder for me. At times my duty is exactly to rest (even though I don't want to!). At times God's will for me is to stay at home and put order in my room rather than meeting up with a friend and doing apostolate. On another day, God wants me to have dinner with my friend rather than hanging out with my boyfriend.
The constant awareness of presence of God is needed every day, and I need to ask God how I can struggle better in many areas of my ordinary life this year. =)
Traveling for one hour, gives me not only chance to sleep again *oops*, but also a chance to read novels, work on a little bit of translation, and to think.
It also means that there are moments when I really need to stop because I am down with sore throat and cough (like today).
At these moments, life seems extraordinarily ordinary. You 'just' wake up, eat, work, eat, go home, eat, sleep, etc. Before you can do extraordinary things like let's say...doing parchment craft? The time has shown that it's 10 or 11pm and you'll find yourself 'rushing' to sleep again to make sure you can be 100% awake tomorrow.
Nevertheless, isn't it the reality of this life? That we spend most of our time to do ordinary things, and that the most heroic things to do is to do our ordinary duty extraordinarily well. These are not my words, but the words of many great saints. In the book Mary of Nazareth, the author explained that if most of us do not have chance to do extraordinary things and we don't strive to do our ordinary things well, what's left behind as an offering for God? Thus, our offering is precisely in these ordinary things.
Everyone wakes up in the morning. How about waking up 'on the dot', promptly when the alarm rings? Well, not everyone can do it or at least strive to do it. Thus, it's not an easy sacrifice to wake up on time day after day, month after month.
Most of us go to work every day. How about working without creating distractions for ourselves (e.g., messaging or browsing)? That's the struggle for most of us.
Thus, today's sick leave is a good reminder for me. At times my duty is exactly to rest (even though I don't want to!). At times God's will for me is to stay at home and put order in my room rather than meeting up with a friend and doing apostolate. On another day, God wants me to have dinner with my friend rather than hanging out with my boyfriend.
The constant awareness of presence of God is needed every day, and I need to ask God how I can struggle better in many areas of my ordinary life this year. =)
I'm finally starting work and I've been looking forward for it for so long - not only for monetary reasons, but also for the order and routine that a proper workday gives (at NUS I didn't get this). But part of me is quite sorry to lose the flexibility I've enjoyed thus far. And the time to try other skills. The early morning treks and the early bed time seems to stretch monotonously before me haha. This post is a good reminder to cherish and sanctify the ordinary.
ReplyDeleteYa..and let's cherish the long journey to office too. Hahaha.
ReplyDelete