The eCrozier

John Keble, priest, poet, and a leader of the Oxford Movement in 19th Century England, referenced what he called “the trivial round, the common task.” It is in these things, Keble asserted, where the opportunity exists “to bring us daily nearer God.” It’s in the daily and weekly “round” of our lives of work, family, and friends that we have the occasion to nourish ourselves while also learning to give spiritual food to other souls. But if we’re not regularly “feeding” our own souls, then we can hardly offer “food” to other souls. That’s why the Daily Office has been absolutely crucial to my own soul. Hearing daily the witness of Scripture, and praying the canticles and the prayers of the Church feeds my soul. I know this. I have regularly experienced it for over 30 years.

And yet I’m the worst at it. It hardly comes naturally to me. On most days I have to force myself to do it. There’s always a distraction that presents itself that’ll seem at that moment more enticing. It may be a story I’m listening to on NPR, or an email in my inbox that I feel I must respond to now (“It can’t wait!”), or something funny one of the dogs is doing at the time (which consistently happens). Sin being what sin is though, I’m easily distracted. I’m like the dog in the animated movie Up that’s always having his attention drawn away by the potential of a passing squirrel.

That’s why I have to resist the temptation to turn on the radio, fire up the computer, check my smartphone, or engage with the dogs before I say the prayers of the Church found in the Daily Office. I know what’s good for me. I know what feeds my soul. I know the grounding, insight, and connectedness I receive from the Scriptures and the prayers of the Church and yet, one small distraction can send me down the proverbial rabbit hole, “wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24a)

What I practice then is akin to the words of Alcoholics Anonymous: “One day at a time.” Just as the recovering alcoholic promises that only for the coming day he/she will seek sobriety, I have to say to myself each morning, “today I’m going to pray the office first before I do anything else.” I’d like to think I’d have the personal fortitude and backbone for making that promise for a life time, but I know myself too well. I don’t have that strength of character.

I struggle with what we all struggle with. Our culture engenders in us an ethos that seeks the non-trivial and the uncommon, it dangles in front of us the lure that if we were just somewhere else, someone else, or had something more, then we’d be closer to God; that if we just had this possession or that ability, then our life would be better; that if our spouses, or friends, or co-workers, were just a bit different than they are, maybe a little nicer, maybe more like us, maybe more attentive to us, then our lives would be just fine and dandy. This cultural ethos serves as our very own Uncle Screwtape, as C. S. Lewis wrote, tempting us not to see ourselves truthfully and in the light of God’s saving grace.

Only by seeing our lives through the lens of God’s grace will we be able to laugh at old Uncle Screwtape and then sit down and say our prayers each day. One day at a time.
+Scott