Sunday Serenity

Many years ago when my girls were little I was quite active in our church.  I went to the women's group, Bible study, and a group known as the "Serenity Group".  We discussed ways to find serenity and grow closer to God in this crazy world of ours, and in our very busy and stressful lives.  The words of one of the elder members of the group have stuck with me all these years.  Her name was Ann and she had a daughter who had hydrocephalus and had passed away at the age of ten.  If anyone could give me something to hold onto, I figured it would be her.  The gist of her remarks is that one can achieve pockets of serenity to get through life with.  I have taken that advice and learned that I can kind of leap-frog over the toughest parts and land in a serenity pocket when needed.  Of course it's not always easy, but it's a coping technique that's served me well.

Today was a day that had serenity as a theme, at least in my mind.  I awoke early and enjoyed the quiet of the house before anyone else was up, and meditated about the fog which blanketed my world this morning.  This afternoon I slipped out to slouch in the adirondak chair on the patio under a blue sky and strengthening March sunshine.  The unusually warm air with a light breeze to lift my hair and rustle the leaves leftover from last Autumn were the perfect combination for some tranquil contemplation of nothing but the sounds around me.  Closing my eyes I heard the small children in a neighboring yard laughing and playing while their parents' stereo played faintly in the background.  The faint sounds of the traffic on the highway was punctuated by a passing motorcycle.  The flop of footsteps and indiscernable conversation of teenagers walking down the street mingled with the chirping and tweeting of birds and the rustling of the leaves under the bush behind me as a squirrel rooted there looking for hidden acorns.  Later in the afternoon after running an errand I indulged in some people watching at a sidewalk table while sipping a mango smoothie, and gathered some calmness from the routine of baking banana bread.

The tranquil moments of my day today will stay with me, to be called up when I need them most, to give me a mental vacation from the stresses that await me this week.  Hopefully I'll even find a few more moments during the week to store away in one of my pockets of serenity.