My parents had enjoyed moving from one house to another, even within the same city. But, for me, the moves had been traumatic. From grades one to three, I changed schools three times - and then again in grade 8. I hated continually having to make new friends, always feeling like an outsider.
Stability is something we all need (though of course, it means different things to adults and to children).
Stability is one of the basic concepts in Benedictine spirituality: "The workshop where we are to toil faithfully at all these tasks is the enclosure of the monastery and stability in community."
I'm not a monastic, so I personalize this to mean: "The workshop where I am to toil faithfully at the tasks before me is the enclosure of my home (and job) and the stability of my family, friends and faith community."
Stability is not easy. It is easier, at times, to run away - or move away - when problems (or boredom) arise. But we need stability - and (equally important...) others need stability from us.
When my sons were in kindergarten, their teacher used to take the class for a walk in the neighborhood. I would sometimes see them walking past our house two by two, listening intently as she pointed out houses, cars, trees, driveways...
I asked her about it...
It is important, she replied, for children to see patterns in life - stable, recurrent patterns. Knowing that life has predictability is the basis of all learning.
So today, as I look at the day before me (gardening, cooking, blogging, talking to friends). None of these tasks seem all that important in the big picture of life. But perhaps, their true value lies in the stability I provide by simply being here, by simply being me.
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