Finding Delight in Our Slippers

Available for over a year

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Hope Lonergan Good morning. Twice a week I care for people with learning disabilities. And during my time caring for them I’ve realised there’s both an immediacy to the way some of them operate – and a way of inhabiting the present moment that cancels out past and future considerations – and a liberatory quality to some of their social conduct. For instance, there’s a gentleman who loves to show off “new shoes” or “new slippers” or get us to touch his watch every time he’s dressed. And he puts a lot of emphasis on this morning procedure – whereas a lot of us mindlessly breeze through such routines and take them for granted. (I mean, who cares? I’ve worn shoes loads of times, nothing to brag about.) But – and I mean this without a hint of condescension - seeing him get satisfaction from a normal daily activity elevates the everyday. It pushes it closer to the threshold of the mystical. This same gentleman is also unaware of any “social graces” when it comes to eating. So much so that when we’re at a restaurant, and he’s really enjoying his meal, he’ll pull the table towards him and suck the table. But rather than being “put off” by this, I love the purity of following an instinct to its logical conclusion, regardless of whether you’re breaching polite standards: I’m enjoying my meal so much that I’ll go beyond licking the plate and suck the entire table. So today, I pray for people who help keep us anchored to the present, and remind us to follow our own compass, even if it’s something as small as finding delight in our own slippers. Amen.