There is so much to hold together these days.
This morning as I started chores I kept thinking how much love my job. Everything is lovely in the early morning and I felt good after a decent night of sleep (do parents of young children ever get "good" nights of sleep?). Tending contented animals on fresh pasture and waking up a garden with the usual morning tasks is pleasant. The work is familiar. I call the morning time and evening time the "equinoxes of the day". During those times the heat of day and cold of night are in balance. The upward pull of the sun and the downward pull of the earth are equal. It's the half way point. Its calm and pleasant, even magical. perhaps that is why the gnomes, gremlins, and fairies are supposedly about at those times...
But I digress. No sooner had I expressed my love for my job then I remembered the wilting heat of yesterday that was sure to return this afternoon. In fact, I specifically remembered wondering yesterday, if I REALLY wanted to do this job for the rest of my life. That moment of doubt came right after lunch break as I tried to summon the courage to plunge back out into the heat. At that moment, exhaustion seemed to be the only real thing.
And yet here I was, not even 24 hours later, marveling at how lucky I was to be allowed to farm for a living. Which moment was more real? The pummeling heat of the noon day sun mixed with the endless to-do list and mind splitting crowd of details and concerns to juggle? Or the calm and rhythmical routine and flow of morning chores among happy plants and animals?
You know the answer. They are both equally real. It's a tension between two opposites. We are in tension. This life is intense. Just the way we like it.