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The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

March 20, 2020

No.369: 2020 Gratitude // 12

A new series for 2020: if I record 20 things every week, I’ll have over 1,000 items by December 31.  
That’s a lot to be grateful for.

slower days
dinners all together around the table
the ability for Mark to work from home
our emergency closet, which is still well stocked (except for TP, but we learned our lesson!)
watching how much the kids love Lucy
a time to really focus on our domestic church
an encouraging video from our former pastor
daily recitation of the Rosary
nature walks after breakfast
dreaming with the kids about hammocks and treehouses
starting schoolwork after lunch, just to change things up
art supplies out and being used
the calming effect of cleaning
how far we can stretch one pork shoulder
waking up to bird calls
celebrating St. Joseph’s feast day with cake
that the postal service is still up and running
messaging with family to check in
doctors and nurses and people who bravely still show up to work each day
this writing from C.S. Lewis, which is perfect for these uncertain times: 

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.
This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.
— “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

_________________________________
P.S. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or struggling during this crazy time, I would be honored to pray for you and send you a little sunshine in your mailbox.  You can add your information here.  

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Posted In: Uncategorized · Tagged: year of gratitude

Comments

  1. Tabitha Studer says

    March 20, 2020 at 10:47 am

    That CS Lewis quote is perfection. Thank you for sharing it. Sending love and health to you and your crew!

    • Ashley says

      March 20, 2020 at 4:00 pm

      It really spoke to me after this week of unknowns and craziness. I feel like I have a "plan" now – I'm just going to live my life here at home doing the most ordinary things, even if everything out in the world feels like the opposite. What will be, will be.

  2. Laura M says

    March 20, 2020 at 8:49 pm

    These posts are specially relevant these days, thank you

  3. Torrie says

    March 27, 2020 at 2:27 pm

    Oh man, I love this quote! Thanks for sharing it!

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