"To live today well we also should remember that God only asks for one thing at a time, never two. It doesn't matter whether the job we have in hand is sweeping the kitchen floor or giving a speech to forty thousand people. We must put our hearts into it, simply and calmly, and not try to solve more than one problem at a time. Even when what we're doing is genuinely trifling, it's a mistake to rush through it as though we felt we were wasting our time. If something, no matter how ordinary, needs to be done and is part of our lives, it's worth doing for its own sake, and worth putting our hearts into."
- Fr. Jacques Philippe, from Magnificat, October 2019
that's really lovely and encouraging!
ReplyDeleteI ought to have this quote in front of me all day long! One of my greatest faults is putting off unpleasant (to me) jobs for too long then having to rush them, feeling guilty! I always worry about the list of jobs I have yet to do and don't concentrate fully on the work in hand; unless I enjoy it then I might spend more time than I ought! :D
ReplyDeleteI do the same, Clare. Maybe there is hope for us, though. :)
DeleteThis is the secret to a good life!
ReplyDeleteGoodness, that is what I need to learn, am trying to learn!! The hardest lesson is to accept that when my priest tells me, "Don't multitask," he even means not to read while eating my meals.
ReplyDeleteYes! If one could read slowly and quietly while chewing carefully and tasting everything fully, that would be fine, I think. But how likely is that, at least on a regular basis? We don't seem to realize that God is in the here and now. So that's where we need to be. Poor God! How few keep him company!
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