Thick black smoke now pours out of my sort of brand-new pencil sharpener.

O God, be not far from me; come quickly to help me, O my God. Psalm 71:12

Fourth Conversation: He told me, that one hearty renunciation of everything which we are sensible does not lead to GOD; rather that we might accustom ourselves to a continual conversation with Him, with freedom and in simplicity. That we need only to recognize GOD intimately present with us, to address ourselves to Him every moment, that we may beg His assistance for knowing His will in things doubtful, and for rightly performing those which we plainly see He requires of us, offering them to Him before we do them, and giving Him thanks when we have done.

That we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of GOD, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed. That we should not wonder if, in the beginning, we often failed in our endeavors, but that at last we should gain a habit, which will naturally produce its acts in us, without our care, and to our exceeding great delight. Practicing the Presence of God

Ah, developing habits. I dug up yet another old lesson plan, the one about developing a healthy habit in twenty-one days, and am walking the kiddos through the scientific method: Is this true?  And there is no sense of delusional grandeur. On yesterday’s baseline data study, most of the checkmarks fell solidly into the Very Low or Low category.

But this project brings back so many fond memories, so many beloved bright-eyed souls, walking through growth and not-so-much growth with transparency and wonder. So we will see where it leads.

Factoid: My students just went through five more subs when I took off for the cracked rib thing. Not a single one of these hardy adult-types decided a second day with this yowling cat liveliness was worth double pay. So every dawn Subfinder had to wheedle in a new unsuspecting instructor for my stacks of theoretically clever but quite unused lesson plans.

Alas.

I too when stripped of my delusional grandeur, have so much room for growth.

May I, by seeking His assistance when in doubt and acting when His way is clear, do the little things for the love of God without a care, but to my exceeding great delight. 

In freedom and simplicity.

Today. And tomorrow. And maybe even for twenty-one days.