When I was in college, “adds and drops” day came a few weeks after each semester started. I sometimes would sign up for a fuller class load in the beginning so that I could have the option of “dropping” the class I liked least. It was always kind of exciting to consider the choice and experience the joy of new empty space in my schedule. Of course I couldn’t drop just any course, as some were required. But the universe seemed much more fluid then and I remember deciding that I would drop a required course, try it again in a later semester, and perhaps add an elective that someone said was fun or exciting (and then scramble to catch up). I loved the sense of flexibility and choice. There were always new favorite faculty and even new favorite trees to sit under. Once “adds and drops” passed, I would settle into the semester and into the season, autumn or winter.
This season of summer passing into fall always reminds me of these college days. I have a yearning to once again consider what I could drop and what I might add…at work, at home, in my learning and creating, and in my soul. The challenge is that these days there is more than a fifteen credit hours schedule to arrange. The actual challenge is that life feels like a river flowing over me and lately, sometimes like white water rapids. So who could add or drop anything intentionally? Much of the time I find myself trying to just breathe, stay in the raft, and not swallow too much water.
And yet. I saw a full rainbow on my commute home yesterday. I have been surprised in the past few weeks with amazing invitations that stopped me in my tracks. I have tiptoed up to witness heartbreaking sadness in this world that we love. So, I remember once again that in each moment I can choose to attend to the invitations that arrive, to the sadness that falls like twilight, to the joy that waits behind each “yes.” I can be present to the Grace that is all around us…and take the time to find a new favorite tree to sit under, in a park or in my heart.
May we experience again the fluidity of choice and of delighting in the world around us and may we offer a simple “yes” to the Grace that holds us all.