What Really Matters Now…..

What really matters now is linen overalls and Arnold Palmer and air conditioning….

What really matters now is ice and water and insulated jugs…..

What really matters now is embracing the unexplained right next to the unavoidable and offering it all a measure of trust and hope and longing….

What really matters now is rambling in the woods and weaving a wreath crown out of elm leaves and bachelors buttons…..

What really matters now are guitar chords and wind chimes and a beagle coming to call…

What really matters now are playlists on repeat, prayers on repeat, and Youversion reading aloud from 1 Peter.

What really matters now are glass bottles by the copper laundry sink filled with cut bouquets of cosmos and crepe myrtle….

What really matters now is learning to bear witness to another comrade’s hard story and holding empathy and compassion for our own surging emotions.

What really matters now is an-always-to-the brim pitcher of tea, the iced variety…..

What really matters now are fields cut loose with the blade plow, weeds wilting in the blistering heat, preparing soil for the continuing cycles of harvest and seedtime…

What really matters now is Gatorade in blue bottles and sprinklers arcing high, coaxing green from the blades of grass…

What really matters now are hydrangeas in bloom and soaker hoses gurgling….

What really matters now is lament beside laughter, good cheer beside grief, and deep abiding beside discouragement.

What really matters now is pizza and popcorn and watching The Terminal…..

What really matters now is penning the happy mail, addressing it with care, and winging it away in the mailbox toward my friend, stickers stuck tight…..

What really matters now is morning coffee and heavy cream and cinnamon syrup……

What really matters now are hammocks and Birkenstocks and sunning on the dock…..

What really matters now is listening to the Bible Project and the Holy Post and Emily P. Freeman read Psalm 121.….

What really matters now are Whatsapp conversations and family group texts and GIFS enough to set us all laughing…..

What really matters now is donating grain and sending a letter to Masengesho and opening my Grace Flame candle….

What really matters now is making the calls, scheduling dentist and doctor and massage therapist….

What really matters now is decluttering and recluttering and clearing the island for the twenty-third time today…..

What really matters now is slowly working through Align: 31 Days of Prayer by Beth Moore and a slow SACRED rhythm in the pages of the Waymaker workbook by Ann Voskamp….

What really matters now is the prayer for our neighbor in surgery, the shared grief for our acquaintances mourning the death of their infant daughter, the widow showing up for the children depending on her…..

What really matters now is Ben & Jerry’s Half-Baked scooped into bowls, hefting sloshing watering cans to the hibiscus, and hunting for the Snickerdoodle recipe….

What really matters now is catching the tab at the local coffee shop for the drink order headed to the nurses at the hospital….

What really matters now is kissing chubby baby cheeks and sending books to my nieces and clean sheets pulled tight…..

What really matters now is my good farmer man’s arms sliding around me every night and wrapping against me.

What really matters now are inside jokes and old jokes and the medicine of laughter…..

What really matters now is a habit of gratitude and a pen and a journal and a list jotted down.

What really matters now are raspberries bursting on our tongues and birthday gifts to wrap and evening light to breathe in…..

What really matters now is watering the houseplants and sweeping the stairway and winding the clock……

What really matters now is grilled chicken and bacon and hardboiled eggs in summertime salad…..

What really matters now is fist-bumping and high-fiving and happy dancing.

What really matters now is beauty in brokenness and an Anchor in the angst…..

What really matters now is integrity and wisdom and discernment.

What really matters now is reading The Wingfeather Series and The Beauty Chasers and The Lord is My Courage.

What really matters now is the forklift buzzing around the farm, moving loads with ease, making room, making way to pull combines and headers and grain cart and tractor into the shed.

What really matters now is groundedness, walking barefoot on the lawn, curling toes into sand, feet on cool rock in the babbling brook………. soul groundedness, whispering borrowed prayers, writing out prayers, the name of Jesus is a prayer.

What really matters now are afternoon naps and ball caps and saffron snapdragons.

What really matters now are sunglasses and sunscreen and sunsets……

What really matters now is conversations with cousins and opening Amazon boxes and hopping on the motorcycle…..

What really matters now is planning a garden party and sewing a new dress and compiling a menu…..

What really matters now is today, delighting in the day, for tomorrow does not come for everyone and one moment in time it will not come for us.
We will die.
This is the one certainty we all carry.

What really matters now is the recognition of this, our humanity, our mortal bodies we inhabit.

What really matters now is how every unsung act, every bit of joy, every hug, every kind word, every hardy work, every meal prepared, every ouchie kissed, every teardrop soothed, every heart heard, adds up and adds up and it is grace and it is life and it is the now.

The here.

What really matters now is each moment, each choice, each embracing, each giving of thanks becomes the days we dwell in.

What Really Matters For You Right Now? I would be delighted to hear your list.