Finding Go(o)d in Everyday
This post is a bit of a throwback. It is a witness talk I wrote for a retreat I led in November 2019. The draft of this blog has been sitting and waiting for awhile; I figure now is a time in which we all need to take a moment to recall the blessings God has bestowed upon us.
The next day was not normal. I woke up to discover school had been canceled. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the only displeasing thing about the day was the slight autumn chill. I checked my email: “Today October 23rd, 2013 Danvers Public Schools have been canceled due to a homicide investigation.” Homicide investigation? I figured someone must have died of an overdose on the rail trail behind the high school. As the day went on, I learned my assumption was very wrong.
I cannot recall how I learned about the series of events that took place next. Everything is hazy for me. That afternoon we discovered that freshmen math teacher, Colleen Ritzer had been murdered at Danvers High School by her 14-year-old student. The boy who missed soccer practice. I cannot begin to describe the dread that coursed throughout my body, the fear I had, knowing it happened in my high school, the guilt I felt for tweeting to find this boy, who murdered such an incredible young woman. How could this happen? I wondered. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen in Danvers.
Ms. Ritzer’s death was a tragedy. Our community was devastated. But, during sorrow we joined together. We adopted a quote commonly used by Ms. Ritzer, "every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day." Although my community was grieving, we clung to this idea. We found goodness in each other, we found goodness in the world and we found goodness within ourselves. If we could find goodness during such a horrific tragedy, I know that anyone can. I know that there is good in every day, even if you have to search a little harder for it on some days.
Now at the time this quote had no relation to my faith. In all honesty I didn’t have much of a relationship with my faith. I believed in God, but I wasn’t really sure what that meant, or what to do about it. Jump ahead to my junior year of college. There were three experiences that simultaneously solidified and informed my faith. First, I was taking Christian Spirituality where we explored different spiritual sects of Catholicism. We learned about Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection and St. Francis of Assisi. We learned about “practicing the presence of God,” which was Br. Lawrence’s simple method of prayer, in which he learned to commune with God continuously, not only in church or personal devotions, but also as he worked in the kitchen, ran errands, or listened to people. Through Br. Lawrence I realized that God is not some unreachable, unattainable entity. He is always there for us. It made me realize that there is no one level of holiness we have to strive for. We also learned about St. Francis. He became renowned for his love, simplicity, and practice of poverty. Through his works I realized that we are able to do God’s work through loving acts of service. Second, I got a job working as the communication and marketing intern in campus ministry. Although my role did not require me to participate in Campus Min’s offerings I got involved, so I could do my job as the social media coordinator better. That’s how I wound up at St. Francis Inn, being the third experience.
St. Francis Inn is a soup kitchen in one of the poorest parts of Philadelphia, run by Franciscan missionaries. Rather than being cafeteria style like most soup kitchens, it is like a restaurant where the volunteers serve the guests. My first role was waitress. I tied my apron around my waist, grabbed my tray and waited for the people to come flooding through the door. My first patrons make me work fast. Asking for course after course. Demanding bag after bag, and I thought, “God, I can’t do this.” But soon I fell into the rhythm of the Inn, and it felt as if I’d been doing this for my entire life. I collected tickets, dished out sandwiches, carried tray after tray and I begin to fall in love with it. After the meal I was exhausted. My muscles were sore, and I just wanted to sleep, but I was the happiest I’ve ever been. In my Christian Spirituality class, we talk about a concept called Kenosis. Kenosis is emptying yourself by serving others, and the more you give yourself away the more you are able to love. I felt this at St. Francis Inn. As I was serving, I gave all of me. I put all my heart and soul into serving, and all I felt was love. Christian Spirituality taught me the ways of God, Campus Ministry showed me how to put God’s love into action and St. Francis Inn opened my heart to God’s love.
Now, even today I can’t say that I’ve had a single powerful encounter with God. However, hese experiences weren’t just three moments, but rather a million little moments that created something much bigger. Small moments began to fit together like pieces of a puzzle. At first, I couldn’t see the picture, but as I put together more and more of the pieces, I was able to see what all these moments created.
To say that I discovered this last year would be false. I only started to realize what these experiences were accumulating to when I started writing this. I realized that God is present to us every day. During our hardest days or when we are serving others, He is constantly showing us His greatness. Every day I look for the good that God gifts me: when the dinning hall is serving my favorite cookies, when I get to share a laugh with a friend, or when I have the chance to steal a few moments by myself in the Abbey Church. I’ve learned that all these moments big or small are a gift from God.
Almost a year later I am able to step back and look at the puzzle. Now, I am able to see that the good moments in the day are from God. Like pieces of a puzzle, the moments create something much bigger. If we are able to assemble the pieces, we are able to see that we are deepening our relationship with Him. My puzzle isn’t finished yet, maybe it never will be, because I will always be growing and falling deeper in love with Him.
Now I want to go back to the story I shared about Ms. Ritzer. This was a moment of evil, of tragedy, of hardship. I cannot say I understand why God took her from this earth, but I know there is goodness in each day. On October 22nd, when Ms. Ritzer passed, I described one of the most beautiful skies I had ever seen. That was something good in a terrible day. Second, it was a sign that Ms. Ritzer made it to heaven. God has a plan; God has a reason. I believe Ms. Ritzer was an angle sent to teach us a lesson; to remind us of the brevity of life and to find the goodness in each and every day. Finding the good and God in these horrific events shows that even in the worst of things God is still good and God is still present.
I encourage you to write down at least one good thing that happens to you every day. I have done that every day for the past year. I will read you some of my favorite entries:
It was Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013. A day I barely remember but
will never forget. It was a seemingly normal day. An early morning blur of
tossing things in my backpack and rushing out to the bus. At school I wandered
from class to class, wishing the day would end. After school I threw on my
soccer gear and clumsily sprinted out to the field. Once I got home my family
celebrated my brothers 6th birthday. I watched some Netflix and sent out
a few tweets to help find a boy who went missing and didn’t show up to soccer
practice. My day ended with purple, blue, pink and yellow painting the sky. It
was one of the most beautiful sunsets I had ever seen, and a wonderful ending
to my day.
The next day was not normal. I woke up to discover school had been canceled. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the only displeasing thing about the day was the slight autumn chill. I checked my email: “Today October 23rd, 2013 Danvers Public Schools have been canceled due to a homicide investigation.” Homicide investigation? I figured someone must have died of an overdose on the rail trail behind the high school. As the day went on, I learned my assumption was very wrong.
I cannot recall how I learned about the series of events that took place next. Everything is hazy for me. That afternoon we discovered that freshmen math teacher, Colleen Ritzer had been murdered at Danvers High School by her 14-year-old student. The boy who missed soccer practice. I cannot begin to describe the dread that coursed throughout my body, the fear I had, knowing it happened in my high school, the guilt I felt for tweeting to find this boy, who murdered such an incredible young woman. How could this happen? I wondered. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen in Danvers.
Ms. Ritzer’s death was a tragedy. Our community was devastated. But, during sorrow we joined together. We adopted a quote commonly used by Ms. Ritzer, "every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day." Although my community was grieving, we clung to this idea. We found goodness in each other, we found goodness in the world and we found goodness within ourselves. If we could find goodness during such a horrific tragedy, I know that anyone can. I know that there is good in every day, even if you have to search a little harder for it on some days.
Now at the time this quote had no relation to my faith. In all honesty I didn’t have much of a relationship with my faith. I believed in God, but I wasn’t really sure what that meant, or what to do about it. Jump ahead to my junior year of college. There were three experiences that simultaneously solidified and informed my faith. First, I was taking Christian Spirituality where we explored different spiritual sects of Catholicism. We learned about Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection and St. Francis of Assisi. We learned about “practicing the presence of God,” which was Br. Lawrence’s simple method of prayer, in which he learned to commune with God continuously, not only in church or personal devotions, but also as he worked in the kitchen, ran errands, or listened to people. Through Br. Lawrence I realized that God is not some unreachable, unattainable entity. He is always there for us. It made me realize that there is no one level of holiness we have to strive for. We also learned about St. Francis. He became renowned for his love, simplicity, and practice of poverty. Through his works I realized that we are able to do God’s work through loving acts of service. Second, I got a job working as the communication and marketing intern in campus ministry. Although my role did not require me to participate in Campus Min’s offerings I got involved, so I could do my job as the social media coordinator better. That’s how I wound up at St. Francis Inn, being the third experience.
St. Francis Inn is a soup kitchen in one of the poorest parts of Philadelphia, run by Franciscan missionaries. Rather than being cafeteria style like most soup kitchens, it is like a restaurant where the volunteers serve the guests. My first role was waitress. I tied my apron around my waist, grabbed my tray and waited for the people to come flooding through the door. My first patrons make me work fast. Asking for course after course. Demanding bag after bag, and I thought, “God, I can’t do this.” But soon I fell into the rhythm of the Inn, and it felt as if I’d been doing this for my entire life. I collected tickets, dished out sandwiches, carried tray after tray and I begin to fall in love with it. After the meal I was exhausted. My muscles were sore, and I just wanted to sleep, but I was the happiest I’ve ever been. In my Christian Spirituality class, we talk about a concept called Kenosis. Kenosis is emptying yourself by serving others, and the more you give yourself away the more you are able to love. I felt this at St. Francis Inn. As I was serving, I gave all of me. I put all my heart and soul into serving, and all I felt was love. Christian Spirituality taught me the ways of God, Campus Ministry showed me how to put God’s love into action and St. Francis Inn opened my heart to God’s love.
Now, even today I can’t say that I’ve had a single powerful encounter with God. However, hese experiences weren’t just three moments, but rather a million little moments that created something much bigger. Small moments began to fit together like pieces of a puzzle. At first, I couldn’t see the picture, but as I put together more and more of the pieces, I was able to see what all these moments created.
To say that I discovered this last year would be false. I only started to realize what these experiences were accumulating to when I started writing this. I realized that God is present to us every day. During our hardest days or when we are serving others, He is constantly showing us His greatness. Every day I look for the good that God gifts me: when the dinning hall is serving my favorite cookies, when I get to share a laugh with a friend, or when I have the chance to steal a few moments by myself in the Abbey Church. I’ve learned that all these moments big or small are a gift from God.
Almost a year later I am able to step back and look at the puzzle. Now, I am able to see that the good moments in the day are from God. Like pieces of a puzzle, the moments create something much bigger. If we are able to assemble the pieces, we are able to see that we are deepening our relationship with Him. My puzzle isn’t finished yet, maybe it never will be, because I will always be growing and falling deeper in love with Him.
Now I want to go back to the story I shared about Ms. Ritzer. This was a moment of evil, of tragedy, of hardship. I cannot say I understand why God took her from this earth, but I know there is goodness in each day. On October 22nd, when Ms. Ritzer passed, I described one of the most beautiful skies I had ever seen. That was something good in a terrible day. Second, it was a sign that Ms. Ritzer made it to heaven. God has a plan; God has a reason. I believe Ms. Ritzer was an angle sent to teach us a lesson; to remind us of the brevity of life and to find the goodness in each and every day. Finding the good and God in these horrific events shows that even in the worst of things God is still good and God is still present.
I encourage you to write down at least one good thing that happens to you every day. I have done that every day for the past year. I will read you some of my favorite entries:
· October 24th,
2018: My something good in today was my run. The weather was beautiful, and the
sun was shining. It was nice to do some exercise.
· November 21st,
2018: The good in today is my relationship with God.
· December 4th,
2018: Chipotle.
· February 11th,
2019: My friend Amanda gave me a hug in the hall and told me she missed me
· August 4th,
2019: Went on a date…I think?
· September 19th,
2019: My grace moment was Joycelin saying “hello beautiful” when I walked in
· September 29th,
2019: BOMB BLT from Bagel Café.
· October 22nd,
2019: so much good in my day. I truly feel so blessed. I feel full. I’m
grateful.
Now as you can see, some
of these were bigger moments, and some of them were super small, like just having
chipotle for dinner. But nonetheless they illustrate that goodness can be found
in each and every day, that God gifts us with these moments. Writing down the
good in your day will help you to see the puzzle pieces that God has given you.
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