Thursday, January 2, 2014

A Good Enough Year









Happy New Year!

Did you have a good enough Christmas? Did you have a good enough New Years?

Last night at dinner our family sat at the dinner table and talked about the best and worst parts of 2013.

Lows? The hail storm. The roofing debackle. The kidney ER trips. Garfield missing.

Highs? Hawaii with Savannah and my mom. Anniversary trip to Austin with Bill. Celebrating Bill's folk's 50th. My mom's surprise party last summer. Camping with friends. Finding Garfield.

Julie, a spiritual director from from our church and a Facebook friend of mine was encouraging us to contemplate a word for 2014. My word for 2013 was sabbath which I think was a fail. The word that is. Taking time off last summer did not turn out to be restful at all. Oh well. We are all here and as Pastor Paul has often said--heaven is not a place of leisure.

I think my word for 2014 is actually two words. . . .GOOD ENOUGH.

Perhaps my exercise routine is GOOD ENOUGH. Perhaps my diet--gluten, sugar, butter and all is GOOD ENOUGH. Perhaps my piano playing is. . . perhaps my teaching and my students are. . . perhaps my parenting is. . . perhaps the upstairs carpet. . . my garden. . .

Yes, I have some personal goals and goals for the kids at piano. I want to start the teacher trainer application process. I want to be more consistent practicing piano with Mary. I want to expose Calvin to some other fine local teachers and highly committed piano kids.

Yet, I want to approach these things and this year without some pie in the sky thing that needs to be fixed, just because my brain tends to look for those things in order to stay stimulated and awake. I want to have A.P.T.S.--automatic positive thought syndrome and not A.N.T.S., the negative version.

Then again, maybe even that doesn't need to be fixed. See how hard it is?

It's so hard to just be. To just be good enough. A.G.E.T.S.? Automatic good enough thought syndrome. It doesn't really have a ring to it.

Well, I could wish you a wonderful, peaceful, joyful, musical, enlightened, mindful, organized, healthy, disciplined, focused, meet all your goals and observe every resolution while still taking time to rest. . . all the way to December year. . .

But, maybe instead, I'll wish you one moment. . . to just be GOOD ENOUGH.

Happy New Year!






1 comment:

  1. Sara, I hope that you are saving these blogs somewhere in cyber space. When I am retired I am going to go through them a lot more carefully. I've missed so much of your precious writing. I really mean that. I only catch it in glimpses and pieces but even that much means so much.

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