From the book ′The Power of Stillness:′
“Ever feel like you′re missing out on the most important things in a day? You′re not alone! Sister Sharon Eubank shared: Sometimes I am so pressed with everything I have to do that I don′t even know what the priority is. I′ve started asking the Lord every morning when I wake up, ′What is the one thing you want me do do today?′″
This “just one thing” mentally can be refreshingly simple—and in different ways. Sometimes we like to say out loud in family planning sessions as a reminder, “We have only one thing to do tomorrow—His will. That′s it.” Although that one thing invariably includes lots of different pieces, it feels reassuring to remind ourselves what we′re really trying to do and why we′re trying to do at all.
When approached in this way, our lives can begin to flow out of our moment by moment responsiveness to God′s will rather than complex configurations of competing loyalties to the day′s various tasks. Catholic mindfulness teacher Thomas Keating similarly wrote about scripture′s emphasis “on listening and responding to the Spirit rather than initiating projects that God is expected to back up, even though God had little or nothing to do with them.”
Even compared with whatever Big Exciting Plans we may have been trying to get God on board with, learning to rest in the adventure of seeking His will and receiving each moment with gratitude can open up a life far more exciting than any other glamorous alternative.~ The Power of Stillness (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2019), 100-01
(Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a more general audience, and not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)
