Notes to Myself is a much loved column by Marlane Noster. Her warm and flowing style is like looking over a shoulder into a journal, and her wit and wisdom is appreciated by all. Write to her at marlane@wisdomhomeschooling.com.
Celebrate
Well, what an interesting topic for this month! What is there to celebrate after all the celebrations of December? I’m looking forward to, as my brother-in-law says, “old clothes and porridge.”
O.K., maybe I’m starting to see the picture. I get the sense that there is a difference between ‘a celebration’ and ‘to celebrate’. Let me just look it up to see if it becomes clearer. Hmm……it seems the only definition that applies is “to demonstrate grateful and happy satisfaction in…. and ...to proclaim it.” That seems to fit in with what I had in mind, ‘to lift up’.
What am I going to lift up this month? What have I overlooked in the greater celebrations of the past month? What are the ordinary moments, and the people? What else do I take for granted?
I love the quiet moments and want to ensure that my children each have the opportunity to share in the quiet moments.
I love my home and want to celebrate different areas of the house in ways that they are not normally used.
I love my faith and want to take an ordinary aspect of the faith and lift up the prayer or the practice to high-light its beauty.
I love my family and each individual member and I want to celebrate the gift, the individuality of each member and how they fit into the whole of the family unit.
How do I do all this without it becoming more overwhelming ‘celebrations’?
I usually spend a half-hour to one hour in quiet reading or meditation first thing in the morning. While I maintain this schedule, I can invite each child individually to join me in the quiet with a cup of tea while I have my coffee.
Sandwiches and fruit for lunch can just as easily be served picnic style in the living room with a blanket thrown down on the floor… and this could be offset by gazing out at an incredible winter scene.
As for the faith element, something like a passage of scripture read in one room, then moving to another room to display a photo or painting that represents the theme of that scripture verse, and finally moving to yet another room to read (or tell) a story that applies the scripture passage to daily life. If I add quiet classical music as backdrop for it all, does this start becoming an epic?
I love my family, yet I SO easily demand more of them than I do of most adults, I presume upon them and take them for granted, and I forget to truly love them as they are (not that it doesn’t happen right back at me). So… we are generally together for at least two meals a day and since many of us tend to be more cognizant at the dinner hour, I propose to have an honouring of and gratitude for one child per week at a designated meal with all prepared to ‘celebrate’ that person’s ordinariness—the gift they are to us all. I can do this in one month since I only have 4 children left at home. Perhaps I’ll end the month with a formal written statement from each member of the family stating why they are grateful to the Lord for placing us in this family — at our particular birth order.
This is great, I’ve got my personal agenda all prepared—just from writing these notes to myself.
We will CELEBRATE the gift of the ordinary.