Peace Of Mind

Speakers at some goal-setting workshops that I have attended in the past often posed the question: If money was no object, what would you do with your life? In other words, if I did not have to concern myself with making a living, how would I spend my time, what would I want to accomplish, where would I choose to focus my energies. This question was designed to help get in touch with deep-seated dreams, desires and longings so that they could begin to become reality.

As I reflect on that question in light of the past year and where we are today, I see it all from a different perspective. What a difference a year makes!

Last November, My Love's sister, Annette, and her husband, Jim, moved from their home in Larrabee to Maryhill. They put their home on the market. We prayed. It did not sell. Now they are joyfully fixing up the house and this weekend will be moving back into it. God heard our prayer by not letting the house sell, thereby making this comfortable return possible.

We continue to spend time with My Love's parents as we navigate the process of her Dad's deteriorating dementia. However now other members of the family are becoming involved with the care-giving by being present for a few days or even a week at a time. What a gift it is for all concerned to have this time together, to support one another, and to build even more family memories. As I've stated before, the general direction of this whole process is rather clear, but the particular steps of the journey have yet to be worked out.

What has become clear to me in these processes is that peace and contentment have been very deep so long as I am living in the present moment. As long as I am just being open to God's presence and action in each day and whatever it brings, I can remain undisturbed. Insofar as I can accept whatever each situation presents to me, I then move through it with equanimity.

Only if I begin to focus on how I want things to be other than they are do I start to become upset or dissatisfied. Only when my will gets at cross purposes with God's will does my life begin to unravel around the edges, and sometimes in the middle. Want and desire, when not in conformity with Divine Purposes, are the seeds of destruction. At that point chaos takes over.

How do you see the relationship between your own wants/desires and your peace of mind? Does your equanimity depend on the circumstances of your life, or the focus of your heart?