Friday, July 18, 2008

The blessings of the ordinary

"Still Life with Simple Things"

I want to give you two quotations today because they are so very connected in my mind:

The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things of life.

-Robert Louis Stevenson

And here's the other one:

Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.

-Abraham Heschel

Learning to be ordinary and to appreciate it was a spiritual breakthrough for me because I was brought up with the expectation that I would be special, exceptional. As one of my meditation teachers used to say, "Not necessary!"

Let it be okay to be. Just to be. How wonderful!

1 comment:

  1. This is lovely Ellie. It's difficult to remember that an ordinary life is still a gift from God in a society that places expectations of grandeur on everyone, but especially the youth. Thanks.

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