On Duties

"How necessary it is to cultivate a spirit of joy. It is a psychological truth that the physical acts of reverence and devotion make one feel devout. The courteous gesture increases one's respect for others. To act lovingly is to begin to feel loving, and certainly to act joyfully brings joy to others which in turn makes one feel joyful. I believe we are called to the duty of delight." -Dorothy Day

It's spring. I itch to dig in the earth, to get my hands dirty, to labor for the life of some beautiful or useful plant. To weed. To prune. To nourish. To protect. I hope to help my little seedlings not only live, but thrive. And that's what I want for myself. I want not only to live, but to thrive.

As Dorothy Day points out, we must cultivate joy. I think that means dig for it. Weed around it. Prune it. Nourish it and protect it. Get in there and get our hands dirty in helping it along. Perhaps joy is tied much more closely to work than we ever realized - hard, break a sweat, task by task accomplishment- our duties. Dishes, laundry, dusting, bills... can we find delight in these duties? Can we look at them as acts of loving service for our family? as prayers of gratitude to our Father in Heaven? As we "serve" our home, won't we come to love it all the more? Won't our contentment grow?

The work our mind has to do is no less arduous, even if we won't break a sweat. Dorothy Day's words illuminate one of our mental duties. It is to choose to act. Today we have largley forgotten that the doing precedes the feeling. We must act to sow seeds of reverence, courtesy, love, and joy with faith that they will grow. We must act joyful when we feel the farthest from it and yearn for it the most. If we understood the power of acting, of choosing what it is we long to feel or be, we would already be harvesting delight.

Happy New Year

A new year, a new beginning. I love new beginings. They are so full of hope -the hope that is a part of all good things. The hope, of course, is that it's not too late, that we haven't blown it, wasted it, ruined it, or let it slip through our fingers. The hope is that we can start from here and move forward, and not just forward, but upward. The hope is that we can improve, grow, reach a little higher, do a little better, or just hold on a little longer. The hope is that our past mistakes may somehow be erased, forgotten, overcome. The hope, at its very core, is in the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We hope that perhaps God will find our offering acceptable when laid along side the offering of our Redeemer.
I hear hope's song in the ringing in of the new year. I catch its scent on the tender petals of spring. I feel it in the freedom and release of summer. I see it in the fall's crayon colors. I taste it in the first floating flakes of winter's snow. It is in each new month. It comes every Sabbath as I fill my thirsty soul with living waters. And daily it dawns upon me.

A new day,
a new start,
another chance,
a step towards where?
It is mine to decide.
I cannot stop my journey, but I can plot its course.
I can get home.