Today I’m hosting a meeting of people from Loyola Press at my house so I got up extra early so that I’d have time to say hello to God, make myself presentable and still have enough time to clean the living room and dining room to make them presentable for my guests. I was just about to head downstairs to start tidying up when the phone rang. It was an old friend from Ireland, full of the joys of, er, summer, and ready for a long chat. Panic. What to do? I took a deep breath and decided that concentrating on people was much more important than clean surfaces. I had a great talk with my friend and the result is that I’m sitting here writing this as the meeting begins… No big deal. It’s important to stay focused on what really matters.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Marg 07.27.09 at 9:28 am
Staying focused is hard in this world. Focusing on the bigger or greater things in life like family and friends often gets tossed into the pile of “have to’s” and it becomes hard to sort it out.
As for cleaning up, a friend told me that 20 minutes after everyone has arrived, neither you nor anyone else will know if you’ve straigtened up or not. So I try to remember that, especially at holiday time, when it is really about the people, not the dust bunnies.
M.
Eric 07.27.09 at 11:01 am
Being ill does have its blessings. I know that people are a priority for the time I have left. Also, I cannot do the cleanup (Thank you Lord, for Ruth, Robyn, and Mike). I am free to focus on the people.
Maura 07.27.09 at 2:25 pm
I didn’t grow up in a magazine perfect home (truthfully how many people do?). My mother always told people that they would recognize our house because it “looked lived in”. Yet people of all sorts always felt comfortable in our home. Our house was where all the neighborhood kids hung out and all the adults felt free to stop by with our calling ahead. My mother has such a sense of hospitality that she would even offer the door to door missionaries, a chance to enjoy a glass of lemonade on the front porch and listen politely while firmly explaining that no she wasn’t looking for a new religion.
I’ve always thought of it as her way of exerting her royal calling. It is easy to explain what it means to be a priestly and prophetic people but sometimes our royal calling is hard to wrap our minds around. I often use my mom as an example of someone who is working at bringing about the Kingdom of God in her own unique way by being attentive to the needs of all who enter her sphere of influence.
I think that attentiveness is way more important than attending to dust bunnies. It is after all what Jesus did first to each person he met. Meeting them first where they were, listened to them and inviting them into deeper relationship.
So relish your royal role today and enjoy your guests and don’t worry about a white glove inspection. Having met a few of those folks you work with I’m quite sure they’ll be relishing your company not commenting on the decor
Tom 07.28.09 at 8:55 am
Maura, I love your story about your mom and how she exercised her “royal calling.” I had never thought about breaking it down that way–priest, prophet, and king (sovereign)–in specific actions we might take during the day. But it’s a great insight. So many children’s storybooks have the line, “The King will see you now.” We all want to be seen and blessed. That’s what the royal archetype energy is all about–seeing and blessing. Attentiveness is not a virtue I heard much about growing up, but it sure seems like it’s a gift the world greatly needs. Thanks for bringing that out in the conversation, and thanks, Paul, for sparking new thinking about small choices that have major impact.
Maura 07.30.09 at 7:59 pm
I remember studying the middle ages in college and being struck at the time that the royal sence of nobles oblige (I know I’m probably not spelling it correctly) was key to understanding what it meant to be annointed as “kings.” I know the term is sometimes interpreted as a condecention especially here in the U.S. but really it was more the sense that those who have been mightily blessed are obliged to care for those less fortunate. Today we might call it the fundamental option for the poor.
It really is an art form that suits family living. That sense that we need to learn to protect and promote each family member’s dignity, and to focus on the person whose needs are the greatest and help them. One of the things that my parents taught all 6 of us was that in a family it isn’t all about my needs, my space, my “me” time. Rather it is about coming together to supporting eachother and striving to bring out the best in eachother so we can all eventually be together in our eternal home.