My daughter and her husband had just returned to Germany after visiting us for Christmas, and I know I needed to getting my house back in order. You know, the routine of cleaning and laundry and organizing and putting things away and planning meals and getting my home life back together.
You know how it is while you have company for an extended stay, you pretty much stop life and forget the house and the cleaning and the usual daily routines, and instead you go out and play and go on walks and hikes, and you get coffee and walk to the park, and you drive to the beach and visit friends and relatives, all while your house is getting messier and the clothes are piling up in the clothes baskets and the dishes are stacking up in the sink, and you know you will get back to your routine once your company leaves.
So, the day after my daughter left, I knew I had to be a taskmaster and get my act together.
But who wants to return to the routine of cleaning and straightening the house when there is writing to be done? Yep, something inside me told me to write. That feeling, maybe the Holy Spirit, whispered to me, “Cornelia, write about the time you just had with your daughter.”
The housework could wait.
Instead, I get out my computer and proceed to pen a blog post about my little girl, who is of course not so little anymore; she is married with dreams of her own that she is fulfilling. She is passionate, kind, loyal, loving, adventurous, deep, outside the box; she loves her family fiercely and makes us all a priority. So, I wrote about this in a blog post and the priorities we create when my Sunshine Wildflower Girl visits us:
We stop life and focus on one another, on slowing down, on playing board games and on taking long walks in our neighborhood and stopping at the coffee shop for mochas.
And we go to the beach and cook homemade meals and laugh and we are present with one another; we focus on God and one another and being right here, right now. Because, as I wrote, I only get to see my daughter every few months and I do not know when the next time will be when I get to see her; and we don’t know how long we will be on this earth in general; I don’t know how long I will be on this earth.
I ended up titling my blog post, “Having a Mary Mindset in a Martha World” referencing the bible passage where Martha complains to Jesus that Mary is not her share of the work to help with the routine of preparing the house for guests but instead she is sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him teach, being present, because Mary figuratively doesn’t know the next time that she will see Jesus.
I hit publish at 4:34 pm Friday January 9, 2015 and posted it on my Facebook page at 4:49 pm that same day.
Then, my husband and I decide to walk to Happy Hour at the local Linn City Pub. It was a clear dusk evening, and we were on the sidewalk just about to cross the street at the crosswalk and, moments after stepping into the crosswalk, my husband and I were hit by an SUV. But, I don’t remember as I was unconscious.
As I mentioned in a previous blog post, two hours later I wake up in the emergency room at OHSU hospital. Remember that blog post that I titled, “Having a Mary Mindset in a Martha World” that I published an hour before being hit, the one I penned instead of cleaning and straightening my house? The local newspaper wrote a cover story about us surviving the accident, and they quoted that very Mary-Martha blog post, and focused on the timing of when I published the post and the last few words:
“You never know how long you have on this earth. I don’t know how long I have on this earth.”
Sometimes we need to interrupt the routine — or wait to return to it — when we feel that inner nudge to do something more pressing.
Like writing.
[I’m linking up with the folks over at Five Minute Friday focusing on the word ROUTINE this week – You can find other posts here:
Such a powerful message! One we all hear over and over,
never truly believing my time is …..like a vapor;
and that saying yes to that still small voice
will show up in the newspaper.:)
Thank you for that reminder.
Dear Leslie: this: “like a vapor…” such a great way to word it. . . thank you for joining me here and I hoped onto your space online-
Oh, boy! How amazing! Yes, routine has its place, but staying in tune to the Holy Spirit’s nudgings is even more important! I can relate to not seeing family very often. I live in AZ and one daughter lives in AK and the other in WA. I cherish every moment I have with them!
Anita – thank you so much and yes indeed, routine, in its own place and you got it- it’s listening to the nudging of the Holy Spirit that matters-Sounds like you too know about having a daughter who lives out of state and cherish every moment with her. Thanks for reading and engaging in this space.