Be Yourself

I have finally come to the conclusion that I am inherently lazy.  Ever since I retired 7 years ago, I have found it very difficult to motivate myself, especially when it comes to household chores.  The proverb “The way to hell is paved with good intentions” haunts me.  How often have I started the week thinking, I must give so-and-so a ring, only to find that by the end of the week I haven’t managed to do it? Another proverb “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” (Proverbs 6:6) does little for me.  I shudder when I think of all those little ants in their ceaseless stream going to and fro to store up food in their nest.  What endless toil! There must be more to life than this.

At first, I blamed it on grief, but I now have to acknowledge that the problem lies within me. I would far rather lose myself in a book than get on with the tasks of the day. Thinking back on my life, I realise that I have always worked to timetables and deadlines.  A teacher’s day has to be carefully planned so that one can switch seamlessly from one lesson to another when the bell rings. There is a curriculum to complete, there are exams to be set and marked, and there are reports to be written.  These deadlines serve to keep one busy and motivated.  Without a timetable to adhere to, I find myself putting off tedious tasks.

“How is it then that you get anything done?” you may ask.  Well, I suppose, partly by structuring a routine into my day and by writing down the tasks that need to be done.  I have an A4 jotter that I use to remind myself of all that I should do on a particular day. I tick off the tasks as soon as I have completed them (or, in many cases, made a start on them). This gives me a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day and a feeling that the day hasn’t been entirely wasted on reading or watching TV (box sets serve the purpose when TV programmes disappoint). 

Because I have been putting off writing a new post for my Blog, I decided to include it on my list for today and at least make a start. So, here I am, thinking about how different we all are.  I have friends that are forever redecorating and decluttering their homes.  I have other friends that have pristine gardens.  There are other friends that devote their lives to helping others.  Amongst my friends are those that volunteer, that climb mountains, that swim across the channel, that care devotedly for a loved one, that raise money for worthy causes and those that give unstintingly of themselves for others. My friends, I salute you and admire you, but recognize that I am not like you. When we are young, we often aspire to be like someone else and it can take a lifetime to accept ourselves for what we are.  We need to recognize that we each have our own contribution to make that is unique and we can only make it by being ourselves.  I love St Paul’s description of the church community in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. In verses 14 to 17, he says

Now the body is not made up of one part, but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

  (And people say that St Paul did not have a sense of humour!) I think that the passage is self-explanatory.  We need each other and we need to value our differences.  Our society would not function if we were all the same.

When we look around us, we see wonderful diversity in nature.  We interfere with biodiversity at our peril. Scientists are discovering more and more about the dependency of one species on another.  We can all do our bit to protect our environment, but it starts by learning to appreciate what is around us.  Instead of pictures of ears, eyes and feet, I thought that you would prefer to see some of Tom’s photos taken in the Western Cape.  All in all, Tom photographed over 1 000 different species of wildflower.  I sent more than 5 000 slides to a friend in the Botanical Society (Kirstenbosch Branch) and he inspired volunteers to digitise them and upload them to the iNaturalist website (see https://www.inaturalist.org/people/tomlloydevans).  It was a huge undertaking and I am especially grateful to Margaret Kahle for all her hard work.  The pictures in this post come from the website.