08.16.2024 | Ordinary Friday

It is cloudy and humid here in the Carondelet Garden on this Friday morning in August.  The storms last night brought some much-needed moisture to South Saint Louis.  Today the heat will return with a high in the mid-90s as the skies clear a bit for the afternoon.  

It's been a week of chores for the old gardener.  While I am busy here in the garden, I have also helped my sweet niece and my chosen family with a few chores they are not comfortable doing themselves.  My skills are nothing to brag about but age and necessity have given me the ability to do a wide variety of things around the house and I love to help when I can.  It is their sincere and humbling gratitude that gets to me so often.  In this world where so many simply expect things my family are effusive in their love and gratitude.  What an incredible feeling.  All is gift.  Meaning abounds.  Yet there is no path to gratitude.  There is no way that does not start without paying attention.  

We can never show gratitude unless we first notice that simple, ordinary gift before us.  It can be a person, an ordinary meal, a few simple fixes here and there, or a bowl of homemade ice cream.  We live and move in a world filled with so many gifts simply waiting to be discovered.

We often forget that paying attention is the one overlooked expression of love.  The Jesuits tell us that God is in all things and all people.  If we truly believe that, then we can appreciate and respond to that divine presence, but we can only respond if we first notice it!

A bit of gratitude today.  Gratitude for the kindness and support I have been given by so many.  Thankfulness for my gardening friends, my family, my neighbors and bosom buddies.  It's a good day for a bit of gratitude.  This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!  That's all the news from here in the Carondelet Garden.