I’m sitting in my office, the one where I earn the money that enables me to feed and house myself, and I’m watching the sun rise over the mountain tops and wishing I could be spending the day at SAINTS instead of at my paid work. And I know there are times when Carol and Mo and Nicole and many others must have days they feel like this.
Finding balance between paid work and work of the heart is sometimes difficult – many times I have procrastinated on some tasks I should have done for my paid work in order to spend some time at SAINTS. Some are fortunate to love their paid work as much as their volunteer work, but even for those I suspect the demands of paid work, family, home, and volunteerism sometimes feel overwhelming. And so we feel like we are banging our heads against the wall, getting nothing accomplished anywhere.
And then a moment occurs such as just happened for me. In the trees outside my office window I spied a pileated woodpecker – one of those long, colourful Woody Woodpecker types – with his head frantically bobbing back and forth as if banging his head against the tree. But of course he wasn’t – he was foraging for food, doing what has to be done to sustain his life and make his other activities possible.
And so I guess that’s what I’m doing sitting in my office on a crisp, sort-of-sunny morning when I’d rather be at SAINTS. I’m doing what has to be done to make my other activities possible. Even if it sometimes feels like I’m banging my head on a wall.
And now I better get off to class. There’s a bunch of little bugs…er, students…waiting for me.