Embrace the Ordinary, 2020 vol. 6
Holiness grows slowly. It grows with intentional pursuit of Truth. It’s watered with loving sacrifice and offering even the tiniest, seemingly insignificant details.
Holiness grows with grace from the Father, who delights in our efforts.
Once again, I realize that my kitchen is perfect for efforts towards holiness. Even—especially— when it’s untidy, my kitchen is fertile ground for my growth in sanctity.
Every morning, I wake before my family and sneak downstairs. It’s taken me years to cultivate the habit of waking earlier. Years of stubbornly hitting the snooze button for a few more minutes of sleep. Holiness starts with sitting up vs snoozing.
Just once, I’d love to wake up to a sparkly, tidy kitchen. And yet, this cluttered space is where the Lord tends my heart while I tend my home.
I placed a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in my window. Her quiet and hidden life remind me that I also am called to a similar hidden life. My vocation is here, quite literally messy and hidden to most of the world. As it should be.
The soil of my heart and of my family is turned and tilled and cultivated here. Few see the work of a gardener or know the hidden work that fills a monk’s day; likewise few see the work of a mother. Here in the kitchen I find the center of my “monastery”, a sacred space to encounter the Lord and be in His service.
I prepare the coffee, and pray for a docile spirit.
While I put away the dishes, I pray in gratitude for my family. Or I send up prayers on their behalf, trusting in the Holy Spirit to help and intercede.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 8:26-27 NRSVCE
So it goes through the day. Not always quiet, and often my prayers are rushed—more like “Lord make haste to help me!” than being physically still in His presence.
Holiness grows. Slowly. Ever so gradually, when I surrender to His will and give Him my day, He reshapes my heart.
Be everyday holy. Be holy everyday. This is the goal.
