Meaning in the Mundane

As a babbling brook ripples over smooth pebbles so language runs over my tongue. The stones are set free by the waters to tumble and roll as they travel downstream. And my tongue rolls freely through icy cold waters refreshed as they splash all about it. In the water the stones can express themselves through motion. The current allows them to brush against others - bumping a friendly hello as they glide through the crisp cold creek. Without it they're stuck in the dusty dry earth. Lifeless and dull they're abandoned by silence. The wind cannot blow them toward neighboring stones. But when the dam breaks and the waters rush through, the pebbles come alive to once more dance in the stream.

Routine seems to loom like a dark cloud over my Sunday evenings. A sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach reminds me that Monday is coming. My anxieties start to bubble up along with my self-doubt. Will I be able to handle everything that Monday throws at me? Where will the energy to face Monday's challenges come from? And the voices in my head curse routine and its monotony. Its bland and mundane gray existence. "What does it mean?" the voices scream out, "All this trudging around day in and day out." In the panic, I forget that routine is my friend. That with each passing week, as my Mondays become more and more routine, they also require less and less energy. Less and less thought. Less and less panic. They become second nature. A tool in my toolbox, routine empowers me to glide through tasks that I once stumbled over. I can rest in routine. Suddenly, routine is no longer the cause of my Sunday freak-out, but the antidote to my Sunday self-doubt.

Wind. Exemplary of the way in which two opposing things can both simultaneously be true.  Comforting as it cools off hot humid days.  Beautiful as it swishes through our hair, blows fall leaves about, sways through the branches of the trees.  Gentle as it brushes our cheeks and glides across lakes.  Invisible to the naked eye, though it can be felt and heard.  Empowering, allowing kites to fly and flags to wave proudly. Inconvenient as it blows sand in our faces and turns umbrellas inside-out.  Commanding as it directs the clouds and dictates the course of the sailboat. Powerful, knocking down trees and ripping the roofs off of houses.  Beautiful and Invisible. Comforting and Terrifying.  Empowering and Inconvenient. Gentle and Powerful.  Wind.