Did I Say Ordinary in Suburbia?

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will recount all your wonders. I will rejoice in you and be glad, and sing psalms to your name, O Most High. (psalm 9:1-3).
This morning I awoke at sunrise to a symphony of the Lord's creation. Birds chirping,the call of a visiting little dog needing out of his carrier, desiring to go outside, the mewing of Miss Me Me wanting her blinds opened to her window perch so that she too could enjoy the birds. The air had a hint of moisture in it producing the fragrance of moist dirt, as if it had rained. The neighboring roosters and goats added their voices... Yep, that's another thing about this high desert surburbia it's on the rural side and livestock is allowed. So it's not unusual to see horses, free-range chickens, ducks, goats, sheep or other creatures in your neighbors yard. Not to forget the wild critters who also roam the area: feral cats, foxes, bobcats,rabbits,quail, roadrunners and we can't leave out the scorpions, spiders, lizards and of course the Mohave Green. Whats a Mohave Green you ask? It's a very deadly kind of rattle snake. All God's creatures great or small.
I wanted to share this thought by another monk living in community. It's a good thought for all of us religious or layperson. "...An authentic contemplative life does not consist in withdrawing from reality to live in an artificial or purely spiritual world. It consists in withdrawing to the center, to the heart of all reality. A healthy community life helps us to evaluate with serenity the varied information that we receive, the different events through which we live."

Armand Veilleux OCSO

Living The Ordinary In Ordinary Time

So this is the rest of the story. You may be wondering what a solitary is doing in suburbia. The desert and even the high desert sounds about right for a solitary (which is a female hermit) but the burbs? It's really a very unique situation here. The hermitage is a house on approximately a half acre of land completely fenced for privacy within a mixed neighborhood of single family homes and apartment multiplexes. But,if you walk three streets over you're right back in the middle of the desert with many dirt roads that may not be wise to enter(Meth labs abound in the Marianna's)
The hermitage is well designed to house two hermits without being disturbed by one another and yet I'm sure the Lord's smiles,knowing this hermitage sits between two apartment complexes. I believe we are being given the opportunity to be creative in each of our approaches to silence, solitude and aloneness. So what do solitaries do. We live ordinary lives just as our neighbors do with a few exceptions. What I see and hear has been and continues to be stress-filled. So much of this stress is self inflicted. So much is being packed into each day that there are no periods of rest, people drown themselves in noise from the time they rise until the time they go to bed from radios, tv's, cars, motorcycles, arguments, crying children, barking dogs, believing they are able to multitask effectively. What actually happens is that stress levels increase, patience diminishes, anger heightens and becomes explosive. That's when our job begins remember I mentioned a few exceptions. Perhaps the Lord has placed us here to be examples, to help others slow down and to listen in order that they too can hear and know the peace of our Lord. We are also here to pray for all who are in pain mentally, physically and spiritually and for those who cannot or will not pray. The Lord knew what he was doing when he sent us to suburbia. It's where we're needed.