About Face

Life becomes a matter of showing up and saying yes.

~ Richard Rohr

Two days after Thanksgiving I was up early before most of the others tucked into every nook and cranny of our home were awake. Throwing on my coat and boots I headed out into the cold and still dark morning because Gracie-the-chocolate labradoodle needed to go outside. Truthfully, I needed to go ousidet too. Every day for the past couple of weeks seemed to have required everything I had to give, the day that lay before me did too, and frankly, I wasn’t sure that I was up to the task. Not, at least, as the kind of person I like to bring to the party on any given day. I was tired and spent, and when I get like that grace, joy, and gratitude aren’t my forte’.

Standing out facing the pines, the house behind me, I waited for the dog to take care of her morning business, pondering the day ahead. I dreaded it, unable to imagine anything other than making it through. I wanted to turn my back on the day and pretend it wasn’t waiting for me when I walked back inside.

And then In the morning stillness, these words rose up:

How you go back into the house will determine the kind of day you have.

In that moment I knew that it was up to me. I could show up and say ‘yes’ to the day before me or not. It was my choice. It’s always my choice. A truth that is rarely convenient is that we have far more choice over who we want to be in any given moment than we give ourselves credit for.

Turning around to face the house, and the day before me, I headed back inside.

It was a good day.

The Plague Upon Our House

Sometimes things happen over which we have no control. Okay, when it comes right down to it, most things are not under our control. A couple of things that are? The mindset we choose, and our response to what life brings our way.

A few weeks ago, life delivered right to our doorstep an example of just how little control we have, in the form of millions if not billions of grasshoppers. I’m talking a plague of locusts of biblical proportions.

Before they arrived, the field out in front of our home was a beautiful array of greens, golds, and reds. Today, it is a pale memory of what it was, and fading fast at that. And there’s nothing we can do about it.

Before they arrived, our lawn, while not ever a thing of beauty, was at least green and easy on the eyes. Today it is turning into a mini dustbowl right before our eyes. And there’s nothing we can do about it.

Before they arrived, we loved taking a walk down our road any time of the day. Today, we are relegated to first thing in the morning or after the sun starts to set. And there’s nothing we can do about it.

Thankfully, these swarming hoards don’t come through our valley every year, but this year they have, and we will most likely have to live with them for a few more weeks. And there’s nothing we can do about it. In the meantime, we are reading up on grasshopper mitigation efforts that we might implement in the future, enjoying our walks when we can, and relishing our early morning coffee before the little devils wake up and our evening glass of wine after they’ve turned in for the night. Anything else would eat away at our spirits like the grasshoppers are eating away the grass.

As the Dali Lama reminds us…

“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”