Wholeheartedness
WRITING THIS ARTICLE in the midst of the 10-day mourning period after the death of dear Queen Elizabeth II has set my mind and heart in many directions.
The media coverage of her 96 years on earth and her 70-year reign as queen of the United Kingdom brings to mind the many stresses and times of exhaustion that must have been part of her life as daughter, mother, and queen. The word wholeheartedness jumped out at me from the folder of quotations I keep to spark ideas for my writing.
Brother David Steindl-Rast’s suggestion that the exhaustion that many of us feel these days may be remedied by wholeheartedness rather than rest really got me thinking about just why so many of us are tired all the time. I do know that when the task isn’t just busyness, when it’s something I put my heart and soul into, I can keep at it for a long time and I don’t feel tired when it’s over. It seems that that’s when a central core of wholeheartedness is active in my life.
When I think of Queen Elizabeth becoming the ruler of her country at the age of 25 and experiencing some of the most difficult personal and global situations in her lifetime, I can only imagine how exhausted she may have become, and it seems that she survived it all by what must have been her ability to find and use the central core of wholeheartedness in her life. Her life seems to me to be a marvelous example of what wholeheartedness can look like in what could have been just a very busy 70 years as she served her family and country.
I hope and pray that as the world leaders attend her funeral and listen to the many words of praise and admiration the queen will receive, that they themselves will reflect on just how they govern their own countries. Are they weary from the busyness of their responsibilities, or are they energized because they go about their daily tasks with a spirit of wholeheartedness? I hope they are able to see the unique and special leadership abilities of Queen Elizabeth and take them into their own leadership style.
I hope and pray that we, each of us as individuals, reflect on what made Queen Elizabeth so beloved in the many countries that were part of the United Kingdom. She certainly had her naysayers, but I think that her ability to hold such diverse people and nations together is something to be studied, admired, and imitated. We all could learn a thing or two from her through her example of integrity, reconciliation, forgiveness, wit, humor, and boundless belief in God and country. God bless the queen! Sister Mary Thill is a Sylvania Franciscan Sister. She can be reached at mthill@sistersosf.org.
✲
The antidote to exhaustion may not be rest. It may be wholeheartedness. You are exhausted because all of the things you are doing are just busyness. There’s a central core of wholeheartedness totally missing from what you’re doing. +Brother David Steindl-Rast
