Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is.
In the boredom and pain of it, no less than the excitement and gladness:
touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it,
because in the last analysis all moments are key moments,
and life itself is pure grace.
    Frederick Buechner, Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation

There has been much transition in the lives of my family lately. As I have moved from unemployment/stay at home parent to full-time employment as the Program and Public Relations Associate here at Spiritual Directors International, the entire household has been forced to adjust. My four year old son could sleep as late as he wanted three days a week with the added bonus of remaining in his pajamas at least through breakfast. Now I wake him at 6:45 a.m. so we can be out the door by 7:15 to drop him at daycare by 7:30 in order that I can arrive at work by 8:00. Chores such as grocery shopping, laundry and cleaning had fit in leisurely amongst trips to the zoo, to the beach, to the park. Now the grocery store, the dry cleaner, the gas station and the drug store are quick trips between picking my son up and arriving home. The leisurely pace of especially mornings and evenings has vanished.

Paradoxically, I find myself sitting in traffic more frequently, allowing me to ponder, among other thoughts, why it is called rush hour. I find myself longing for deliberate quiet moments of sitting, breathing, seeking the sacred. But, as Frederick Buechner reminds us, all of these moments are sacred; all of life is pure grace.

Yesterday was a particularly long day. Due to an appointment and a commitment to be at an ordination council, I did not arrive home until nearly 10:00 p.m. My son had experienced a somewhat traumatic afternoon combined with a lack of a nap. His poor body could not seem to shut itself down. Exhausted, but flailing, he had fallen out of bed three times. I finally asked if he wanted me to lie with him. He sobbed a yes. I placed his covers back over him and crawled in next to him. Within twenty seconds he was sound asleep. Lying, breathing, finding another moment of this sacred, grace filled life.