Feel Better Flowers

On the way back from my most recent road trip, my dear friend, Alex Lasota and I entertained ourselves in part by reading Fr. Alek Schrenk's Twitter account. He was listing a number of things that he dislikes. The list of pet peeves included things like when people capitalize all of the letters in Gothic fonts, clip art, making small talk, and one of my favorites: how awkward it is to say the word "rural." (Really, try it.)

We then decided to make our own list of life's annoyances which included the following:

*Ketchup packets because they are too small and there is nothing in them.

*Flat soda at expensive restaurants

*When I'm driving and I have to cancel my cruise because somebody pulls in front of me and slows down.

*Roundabouts (seriously, Kennewick!)

*When people try to eat my food without asking first (Do you want fork marks in your hand?)

*When you're getting ready to board a flight and everybody jumps up as if they are all priority seating

*When you're about to get off of a plane and everybody jumps up as if they all have to get to their next plane right away

*When you think you're putting salt on your food but it's actually sugar or vice versa

*Untapped potential

*Copycats and plagiarism

*When you're at a public place sitting by yourself and there are a million other chairs and someone chooses to sit right next to you

*When people give you recommendations and they are awful

*False advertising (Please see #6 in previous post.)

*Unsolicited advice

*People who blow their nose and then try to hold your hand

And my personal favorite (un-favorite?):

*When people squeeze the middle of the toothpaste tube...seriously, people....read the instructions!

And this is just a short list of the things that we came up with!

I was thinking about this compilation a couple of days ago when I got home in a bit of a funk. I had a rough day, not because of what I was going through but because of the things that people I care about were going through. As I listened to my peers pour out their hearts about unfair situations, frustrations and discouragements, I felt a sense of indignance, frustration and discouragement well up inside of me. And then I got even more upset because I had some great things going on in my life that I so badly wanted to share with them. But how was I supposed to do that when they were so clearly not in the mood for celebration?

It hit me later on that this is the reality of our world right now. Whether it's the tiny annoyance of people invading your dental hygiene habits or having to live among unkind people and less than suitable work environments, this world is messy. Things get misordered. We walk with our heads held high, confident in our vocations only to find there is a pebble in our shoes, and although it is small, it becomes our obsession. All of a sudden, it becomes all we can think about, glossing over even the fact that all we need to do is remove our shoe and pluck that pebble out.

I admit that I carried these burdens, and it wasn't until the next day when I was buying a bouquet of peonies that I started to feel better. Disordered things can annoy us, but small, ordered things can bring us out of that chaos. I still look at the peonies that I delicately arranged into vases, and I see how they are tucked into buds whose petals will eventually bloom into beautiful flowers. I am reminded of a piece of advice I got almost immediately after that terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day:

"The most fruit is born out of humble and faithful perseverance amid struggles and discouraging situations."

Now is not the time to be proud. Now is not the time to give up. Now is the time to look to God and what he wants from us. Now is the time to take a step forward, even when it is a small step. Now is the time to trust. When we think about what will come in the future, we remember the eager, willing, compassionate and loving heart of Jesus and realize that the time to feel better is now. The time to embrace the Holy Spirit is now. Because once we realize where we are going, we also realize there is no turning back.