Snow, Snow... Go Away

When it comes to work, and probably to life in general, I am definitely a type A personality:  a goer, a doer, a list maker.  I love the feeling of satisfaction when I make a checklist of things to do at the beginning of the day and, by the end of the day, each item on the list is marked off. 

Beautiful. 

With that being said, the snow has kind of thrown a kink into what would normally be a "going" and "doing" kind of week.  Instead of home visits and doctors' appointments, my week has consisted of paperwork and phone calls.  Toward about the middle of the day yesterday, these phone calls, and spending minute after minute on the phone with clients began to seem a bit...

Pointless. 

And then, while I was particularly bored during one conversation with a client, I read this, from The Upper Room: 



"LET ME DESCRIBE what it means to be truly present. Being present involves letting go of our constant preoccupations, immersing ourselves in the here and now, and giving ourselves wholeheartedly to whatever is at hand. . . . It’s about becoming more aware, alert, awake to the fullness of the immediate moment. If we are with another person, it means engaging with him or her with all of our heart, our mind, our soul, and our strength. Such wholehearted attention requires patience, time, and disciplined effort. And it is one of the greatest gifts that we can give to those around us."

- Trevor Hudson
A Mile in My Shoes 

 

Wow. Talk about stepping on toes. It was more like punching in the face. If all I am going to be doing for eight hours straight is making phone calls to people whose lives I am supposedly interested in improving, then I ought to be as present as present can be.   

The excerpt above reminded me of a quote from Mother Teresa that reads, ""It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters." - Mother Teresa

Anyone can spend a day making a few phone calls and typing down a few notes regarding anything "important" the person on the other end of the line may have said. But people, no matter their age, can tell when you are really listening. They can tell when you really care, and when you are just counting down the minutes on the clock. They can tell when you love them. And that is what matters.