Finish each day and be done with it.
You have done what you could…
Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Checking things off my list always feels good—especially the days when there are more things checked off than left unchecked. My favorite days are the days when you can actually see the progress. Today was not a seeing, wow-baby kind of day. More like the slow and steady, getter-done kind.
While I am grateful for any kind of forward-motion day, I really prefer the visible bang-for-your-buck kind. But, since most of my days are not the wowie, firecracker sort, I am having to learn how to be patient with myself. Be okay with what isn’t always obviously visible, and what doesn’t get done. I daily have the I-want-it-all-done-NOW mentality, but that rarely happens. Kids get sick, people call, meals need to be cooked, friends stop by, I have to work, I’m chauffeur-mom, and dogs barf (yes, that really did happen today)—i.e. the unexpected, and even the expected, take place.
Instead of getting frustrated, or angry, about what did not happen, I have to remind myself that when I have worked hard doing what I can do—having done it unto the Lord—that that kind of work brings so much more beauty and splendor than the sort with an invisible golden hand patting me on the back. Do I still want va va voom days? You bet. But, I also need to be grateful for all the Lord has brought before me, and learn to find the eucharisto in each and every moment—dazzling or not.
So, where are you today? Content with what you’ve done? Did you do all you can do? Did you do it unto the Lord, or did you do it for the va va voom factor? Are you bitter or angry for what you did not accomplish?
Stop. Give thanks for today—while it’s called today. Be grateful for the tasks you’ve accomplished, and wake up tomorrow, ready to start another day serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
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