Spiritual housekeeping
IT SEEMS TO ME that I’m already thinking about spring even though we are in the throes of winter here in Northwest Ohio. Housekeeping, spring cleaning, and planting flowers come to mind as I plan for spring activities. Planting flowers used to be a favorite ritual of mine in the spring, and now I just watch others put them in.
What do these quotes and thoughts have to do with February, which is supposed to be the month of St. Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day? As I began to try to write this article, I found myself very frustrated with this computer upon which I try to write this monthly article. Last month I experienced a similar frustration when the format for the article decided to do its own thing and made me want to shout at the darn thing…as a matter of fact I did shout!
Computers have been my nemesis since they became popular in the 1980s when I was a college teacher. I actually gave my computer away to one of the faculty members in the Gerontology Department after I lost a 15-page syllabus for the Theology of Aging course I had been working on for several weeks. No one at the time, not even folks in the newly created Computer Department, could find the syllabus that I intended to save when I had finished entering the whole thing into the computer. Big mistake!
I digress. My intention for this article was to see the relationship between apologies or forgiveness and the virtue of patience. It just so happened that after my frustrating experiences I really did have to apologize to the people I shared my frustrations with as I sought help with the computer challenges. I also am still working on my self-forgiveness for getting so upset with this modern technology. I apologized to the folks I shared my frustration with and hope they can forgive me. I really like order in my life, so when I get this frustrated, I definitely sense disorder on a grand scale. I suppose I could blame at least some of this on COVID, and I do, but it has been a pattern in my life when things don’t go well (as evidenced in the 1980s and beyond).
I also find myself shouting at my iPhone, iPad, and computer when I can’t get them to do something I need them to do. I just spoke sternly to the cursor (good name for it) because I couldn’t find it on the screen. See what I mean? Much like the flower that does not bud any faster if I shout at it, these technological marvels don’t react in a helpful way when I shout at them either.
So, I guess the point of all this revealing behavior is that I do indeed need to pray for and practice patience as I try to join the world of technology when I admit I wasn’t born with the technology gene as part of my DNA! I just hope I can find enough patience and willingness to apologize for these bleeps in my life as I really do see them in light of the art of spiritual housekeeping. May you find the virtue of patience in your life as well. And don’t shout at your computer or iPhone because, like the flower buds, they will not “blossom” any better.
Good luck!
Sister Mary Thill is a Sylvania Franciscan Sister. She can be reached at mthill@sistersosf.org.
Apologies are the art of spiritual housekeeping.
They help to put and keep our lives in order.
+Julia Cameron
Shouting at a bud does not make a flower blossom more.
+Christina Feldman
