Do Our Very Best, Everyday!

This time last year, I met my mother in the long and wide corridor of the nursing home in which she and my father lived latterly. She was pushing her rollator and stopping to sit intermittently avidly watching every single person, activity and interaction around her. She was clearly struggling even though smiling. I suggested that I use a wheelchair - to which she said 'Sean (my father) said that we must do our very best every day' making clear that while she needed to move more slowly, that the capacity to move freely was still there and would be used to the very last bit of energy! This attitude of resilience and positivity in the face of any challenge provided them with an amazing quality and experience of life and of people. They both loved every interaction with people giving and gaining lots in each instance.

As we look at the year ahead of us with a broad-brush sweep and consider how many 'things' we have to do in the months ahead, the quality of every moment and of every day can easily be eroded or forgotten. This day, today, will never come our way again! The opportunity to experience people today will be unique in the moment. Look at the friendships that have grown from a small chance encounter! Look at the opportunities that come our way when we are least expecting them! Challenges come in much the same way - how we deal with them makes all the difference. The universe is not out to get any of us, even though it seems like that on some days!

In this crazy, busy month of September, if we were to take five minutes, daily, to stop and interact with someone with whom we don't usually talk or give a few moments of real listening to someone each day - it would make a difference to both ourselves and those with whom we interact! Alternatively, or as well, to take time each day just to evaluate or reconsider what we do or how we are, so that we can be the difference we might need.

Doing the best with every day leads to doing the best with all of life! No regrets!

Cathy Burke,
Catechist in the Lucan Partnership of Parishes