"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of the arts." – Henry David Thoreau (statue of Thoreau, below, before his cabin by Walden Pond)
Sometimes, I discover that I have fallen into the odd notion that it is up to other people to "affect the quality" of my day. Perhaps, this is a carryover from early childhood when we were at the mercy of powerful people who stood above us and did affect the quality of our days.
Adults know that it is up to each of us, as Thoreau also wrote, "to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look…" Yet, we often default to our childhood notions and allow other people's actions to damage the quality of our moments.
My wise friend, Dr. Tom Bagwell, shared with me that he long ago heard a sermon whose message has stayed with him ever since. The minister quoted Pascal as saying that the worst sin was impatience. Impatience is an attitude devoid of God. Impatience suggests that the present moment does not matter. It is only a means of getting to the next moment.
I was startled at the enormous power of this idea – that impatience would actually be a sin. Yet, this thought makes complete sense. Any impatience robs the present of its potential power and sacredness.
We like to think that some day we'll be happy, that sometime out in the future, perhaps a forthcoming weekend, perhaps a vacation, perhaps retirement itself, we will find joy. You and I know people who live their lives dreading work and living for the time when they are free of it. The tragedy of wasted hours is great – and such a negative thought process is stunningly widespread.
Caregiving is such hard work that it is natural to hope that a given hard time will pass. Somehow, every moment has value, even the difficult ones. For these moments are also part of our sacred time here on earth.
What do you think?
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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