Ordinary Virtues For Ordinary Days.

The crossing guard at my son's school handed me a slip of paper last week. He's about 70 years old and a devout Catholic. We often share brief, pithy discussions on the meaning of life, the Catholic saints, or drivers who disregard his STOP sign while jabbering into their cell phones.

Last week, on a very ordinary day, this simple devotional was like a ray of sunshine warming my soul. I hope it warms yours, too:

"I suspect your recent pain came about because you had made such grandiose preparations. When you discovered the results were so small and your strength insufficient to put all these projects into practice, you felt a letdown, some impatience, and anxiety. Let us stay at the Lord's feet, and practice those ordinary virtues suited to our littleness...patience, forebearance to others, service of others, humility, gentleness of heart, affability and tolerance of our own imperfections...I recommend holy simplicity. Look straight in front of you and not at those dangers you see in the distance...We must have great trust in God and be wholly resigned to God's providence."
    ---St. Francis de Sales, Letters of Spiritual Direction