In the meantime...
When you’ve spent your whole life focusing on leaving one chapter to get to the next one, what happens when you finish the book?
December 7, 2021 ∙ Feast of St. Ambrose (c. 340 – 397)
Recently, I was talking to a colleague about New Year’s resolutions. She proceeded to say this: January 1 could either be day 1 or day 27.
Put another way: no need to wait to get a new habit or resolution started. After all, there’s no time like the present.
In a strangely poetic way, it spurred this whole writing thing on. I mention in the About page for this publication that, quite simply, I’ve stopped living in the present. It’s an elusive thing that can easily slip by, and I let anticipation, constant preparation, and anxiety take me away from the current moment.
To be clear: there isn’t anything wrong with preparation or anticipation. But it had gotten to a point where I focused on the destination that I forgot about the journey.
After I graduated from school (#COVIDgrad), I found myself in a weird moment of suddenly not having anything to look forward to. On top of that, COVID had taken away any hope of ‘normal’ travel outside Canada’s borders. So no big trips or events to look ahead to, and at the moment, no current need to climb a school ladder (that’s done, for now).
When you’ve spent your whole life focusing on leaving one chapter to get to the next one, what happens when you finish the book?
So this is an opportunity for me to go back and read thoroughly, and also take ownership of the present. God has given me an opportunity — many opportunities, in fact — to co-write this story with Him.
And here we have it: In The Meantime. Again, I noted that I had stopped writing all together, despite my brain overflowing with random thoughts and words in progress. I’d been really scared to put them down on paper, maybe because I was so restless in the present.
One of my New Year’s resolutions was indeed to write more. But since there’s no time like the present, I’m going to start now.
I look forward to sharing more of my writing with you all as time goes on, as well as for you to hold me accountable! Let me know what you think, or if you’ve found something in here that is useful — I’d love to hear it.
In the meantime… on the feast of St. Ambrose, Doctor of the Church and Bishop of Milan:
To be content, to find true love, is what essentially drives us all, but if found, would it be recognized? — St. Ambrose
United in the Eucharist,
Rachel