One Day at a Time
Table Talk
Setting the Table
You are welcome here. Find a quiet place to center down for a time of reflection and prayer. Take a deep breath. Check in with yourself. Allow yourself this moment to sit away from the stresses that surround you, and simply be present.
Take in your surroundings. What do you hear? What do you feel around and within you? Breathe deeply and offer gratitude for the gift of this very moment.
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
- Alice Walker, The Color Purple
“‘And I loved deeper, and I talked sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying,’ … and he said, ‘someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.’”
- Tim McGraw
Mark 14:3-9
While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
Food for Thought
Over the past week, our little corner of the world has had absolutely beautiful weather that has allowed me to spend more time sitting in the sun, noticing the birds, and considering the creation around me. These kinds of days often call to my mind the words and poetry of Mary Oliver. One of my favorite pieces she has authored is called The Summer Day. In it she says,
...I don’t know exactly what prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
What will you do with your one wild and precious life?
I was recently asked to consider what I would do if I found out I had only one day to live. How would I spend it? What would I prioritize? The question got me thinking about a phrase I have heard throughout my life, often tied to times of hardship: “one day at a time”, as in “we’ll get through this - one day at a time,” as if there were any other way to live this life. I’ve said this often myself when overwhelmed or stressed - assuming that this one day of work and life will allow for another - but as I’ve thought more about this question, I realize “one day at a time” is all we actually have.
We are guaranteed nothing but the day we have right now - so how will we live it? What will we prioritize? How will our relationships with one another and with creation shift? While a dramatic shift in life is certainly possible, it is a bit of a luxury for most people. But gradual shifts in attitude and gratitude, in noticing, in celebrating, and in anointing - the conferring of blessing and sacred significance - are accessible to anyone with intention.
So then the question becomes, how will I attribute to that one day the sacredness and attention it merits?
In the Gospel of Mark, disciples focus only on what they think is a waste of a costly ointment - missing completely the most valuable anointing taking place - that of attention and time, of noticing and blessing. The woman has learned the sacredness of one day at a time - of this day - and offers her presence and attentiveness to Jesus as though this day may be his last. Jesus tells the disciples, “...she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.”
What if we moved through life understanding that each interaction, each encounter is an opportunity to afford blessing on a day that might be someone’s last? Our last? The last for some aspect of God’s good creation? What if we truly learned the gift and sacredness of this one day.
Perhaps we would spend our wild and precious life with more attentiveness and intention toward all that is around us - falling down amidst blades of grass in prayerful wonder, noticing the color purple, loving deeper, speaking sweeter, forgiving and being forgiven.
Take some time outside to explore or notice things around you. Choose one thing you would like to remember. It could be an item from nature, or a moment of your time. Study it with your heart and mind and commit it to memory. Notice and attend the details. Thank it for existing as a part of God’s wondrous creation and for its connection to you this day. If you want you can try to draw/sketch it when you get home.
Maybe call a friend or family member you haven’t talked with in a while and tell them something you appreciate about them and that you are celebrating them this day.
Blessing
Good and gracious God,
thank you for the gift of this precious day.
Allow me to appreciate its wonders fully in each moment.
Allow me to know the wonder of myself and to experience
a blessing from within and from you that calls me beloved.
Help me to share that same gift of attentiveness and blessing
with others and with all of creation.
A little Table Talk for your table...
If you were told you had one day to live, how would you spend it? What would you prioritize
What is something that brings you joy? Can you find time for even a small piece of that this day? Every day?
Participate together in a moment of meditative eating.
Try taking it to the Kids Table...
Play “I Spy” as you are going about your day: “I spy something purple!” “I spy something shiny!” “I spy something round.”
When you pass someone on the street, say hello. Say hello to the sun in the morning and the moon at night. Count the stars and count your blessings - don’t forget to be grateful.
Practice some random acts of kindness. Here are a few fun suggestions.