In the present moment
“Hurry is an unpleasant thing in itself but also very unpleasant for whoever is around it. Some people came into my room and rushed in and rushed out and even when they were there they were not there - they were in the moment ahead or the moment behind. Some people who came in just for a moment were all there, completely in that moment.
Live from day to day, just from day to day. If you do so, you worry less and live more richly. If you let yourself be absorbed completely, if you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.”
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
HonC! , like many stay and play groups, is usually a busy place to be! I arrived one time to set up as usual and my mind was in overdrive. I found myself rushing, rushing to thoughts ahead, rushing to thoughts behind. A friend stopped me and said "you look like you need to just take a few deep breaths", I tried, it didn't help. I was struggling to be in the moment.
And then a new family arrived, with a 7-week-old baby and a two year old who was needing time with her mummy that was all hers, away from the presence of her sister, whom had arrived abruptly, changing her world forever.
So I took Freda* in my arms and sat down. What to do? Well of course I needed to be in the moment, to be fully present. Freda was asking nothing from me, other than to be there, holding her safely, with no expectations, worries or rushed thoughts. I surrendered. I sat. Thoughts vanished from my mind and I was able to live more richly in this moment.
Freda, someone whom we might think is helpless and totally dependent, was able to show me my 'unique call' in this moment. Henri Nouwen writes that the most 'healing response to the illnesses of our time' is 'our faithfulness to a small task'.
Parenting is full of small tasks. Most go unnoticed, unseen and are unremarkable in themselves. May we surrender completely to these moments as they pass, so that we might live more richly in them.
* name changed to protect confidentiality
Helen Bell