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Frederick Buechner, one of my favorite email pastors, writes, "Even the most cursory of diaries can be of incalculable value. What the weather was doing. Who we ran into on the street. The movie we saw. The small boy at the dentist's office. The dream. Just a handful of the barest facts can be enough to rescue an entire day from oblivion—not just what happened in it, but who we were when it happened. Who the others were. What it felt like back then to be us." (info@frederickbuechner.com)
Based on his insights, I would like to extend an invitation to you and your family, these ordinary days of "lockdown" or "stay at home" changes created by coronavirus! Why not start a diary? Each day, a different member of your family could enter her/his account of what that day offered to the writer. Enough to "rescue an entire day from oblivion!" Wow!
Buechner continues: "It is a mark of wisdom to realize how precious our days are, even the most uneventful of them (although none of us would deny the weight of the events in our world in this present situation). If we can keep them alive by only a line or so about each, at least we will know what we're sighing about when the last of the them comes." (Originally published in his Beyond Words).
So, sing with me and then go write about it:
"Day by day
Day by day
Oh, dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day..."
The second stanza is a repetition of this one! We even have the time to sing it again...before putting pen to paper! Twenty-five years from now, others may be interested in reading our diaries! So will our children and grandchildren!
Renée Domeier, OSB
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