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God gave me a gift today.
It was subtle, yet unmistaken, and came in the sound of my daughter’s laughter as we played chess on our back patio in the shade of the silver maple tree.
It trickled into my worry-weary veins like the dappled sunshine streaming through the leaves.
Suddenly, my heart was gladdened by that laughter carried on the breeze, by the sun that warmed our backs, by the sleepy hum of cicadas lulling us with their incessant sound of summer.
The gift of the moment
It was the gift of living in the present moment — something I’d forgotten to do for a long time.
Sometimes our prayers are answered definitively. Sometimes they are not. And sometimes — perhaps our deepest prayers and needs we cannot even express in words — are answered with small gifts — like today — if we notice.
The beauty of these gifts is that, once you recognize them for what they are, you begin to notice them in other places and times of your life.
Overlooked gifts
Take, for instance, the time when I was overcome with anxiety and lonesomeness — a friend whom I hadn’t heard from in a year called out of the blue, lifting my spirits as we reconnected.
At another time of my life during which I realized that changing jobs was imperative, another job opportunity presented itself almost instantly.
Millions of gifts have been bestowed on me in the form of my children’s smiles, my husband’s reassuring hand, our parents’ generosity. Not to mention the greatest gift of God Himself in the Eucharist.
God has been sprinkling my life with gifts large and small all along. And when you can recognize this with gratitude even during times of your greatest struggles, that is a gift in itself.
Who am I that God should shower me with so many gifts in my lifetime? I am a mere speck on this earth, and yet I am also His child for whom He gave His life so that I might be with Him in heaven one day.
Do not worry
Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Luke: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!” (Luke 12: 22-24).
“And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying,” he continues. “For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well” (Luke 12: 29-31).
St. Josemaria Escriva says, “Let us say again, in word and in action: ‘Lord, I trust in you; your ordinary providence, your help each day, is all I need.’ We do not have to ask God to perform great miracles. Rather, we have to beg him to increase our faith, to enlighten our intellect, and strengthen our will. Jesus always stays by our side and is always himself” (Christ is Passing By, p. 360).
With the gift of today in my heart — living in the present moment — I do not have to ask God for great gifts, just for grace enough to help me get through each day according to His will.
He will take care of the rest.
Julianne Nornberg, mother of four young children, is a member of St. John the Baptist Parish, Waunakee.