The Life You Have Been Given

Your life is not happening somewhere else. You are already standing in it.

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This week’s post is a reminder to myself, but maybe it’s for you, too.

The Life You Have Been Given

I have wasted an embarrassing amount of time waiting for my real life to begin. I keep thinking it will arrive once I get everything in order. But everything will never be in order. I think that someday I’ll wake up as the sort of person who makes the bed, moves through the day without feeling behind, and buys fresh flowers simply because they’re beautiful. But most days, I feel like I’m arriving late to my own life, answering emails I forgot to answer yesterday while trying to remember if I moved the laundry into the dryer. This, apparently, is the life I have been given.

We are tempted to overlook it. We tell ourselves the important parts are still ahead: the breakthrough, the calling, the version of us who finally gets organized and stops reheating the same cup of coffee throughout the day. Meanwhile, the ordinary keeps showing up. The neighbor waves. Someone you love asks how your day was. The dog wants out. The trash gets picked up. You buy toothpaste and paper towels and wonder how adulthood became mostly noticing that you’re out of things.

I don’t think every mundane moment is hiding a profound spiritual lesson. Sometimes a grocery list is just a grocery list. But I do think fullness requires presence. Not awe. Not squeezing significance from every inconvenience until you’re too exhausted to enjoy your own existence. Just presence. Leaning into the moment. Answer the phone call. Take the walk. Listen to the story you’ve heard before. Not looking at your phone just because you’re bored. Eat dinner at the table, or over the sink if that’s the kind of day it’s been. Laugh when something ridiculous happens. Apologize quickly. Notice the stars in the sky.

Your life is not happening somewhere else. It isn’t waiting in a bigger house or a more disciplined prayer life or a more interesting personality. It is here. In the errands and interruptions. In the people who know your middle name. In the routines that quietly shape you. This beautiful, unfinished, ordinary life. Don’t ignore it while searching for something more alive. You are already standing in it.

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A page from my book, Getting Through What You’re Going Through.
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