One of the things I count on is that ordinary life offers opportunities for learning things, if we are open and curious. I know I am a person who has routines in my life. I am fine with that. In fact, when I travel, I become aware how much a person of routine I really am. When I am gone for even a few days, I tend to turn my experiences into routines. If I am in a hotel for three or four days, I find I start going to the same coffee shop and following the same steps in eating, exercising, etc. I doubt that I am alone in this process.
When I am home, the routines can be carved fairly deeply into my life and schedule. Again, I have a morning routine with coffee and the paper. When I am at the university, routine schedules my time in ways that I am basically ok with. Of course, changes come along, but the routine is always ready to resume.
Recently, I walked to the local store that is the modern version of the neighborhood grocery. While I don’t know most of the folks who work there by name, I recognize most of the cashiers and respect the jobs they do. I know they are making far less than I am and making do in their lives. I know a few superficial things about them, but it is not quite like the old days in the small town of my youth. Still when I see one of the people at the checkout counter, we often exchange pleasantries.
I like that it is close, and I can pop up for even a single item. Recently, I made just such a trip. I have been known to walk up for even a couple bananas---frequent trips saves spoiling! It was not busy in the middle of the day. As I approached the counter, one of the older women who routinely works there was on duty. I handed her my item and said something like, “How’s it going?” Her reply was a bit surprising, but funny. “Same old baloney,” she quipped. I laughed and she smirked. I paid and left.
But her words stayed with me. It was on off-hand experience, but I would like to think it was an honest and revealing comment about her and her life on the job. Even if she were trying to be funny, I also think she was commenting on life at a deeper level. I know that humor often betrays an aspect of the truth in our world. That is how I want to see it. I want to reflect a little deeper on her comment.
Of course, it is a phrase I have heard before and one I have used. I am sure I learned that phrase at a fairly young age. I recognize I have feelings for that phrase. And I am sure some of the feelings I have link to my early experiences eating baloney---literally, the cheap meat. I have no doubt that is the origin of the phrase she used.
I grew up on a farm that, in retrospect, offered a way of living, but not big profits and no luxuries. I did not feel poor, but we were not too much above that. There were days when lunch was a baloney sandwich and not too much more. Because we butchered some of our own animals, I knew what good meat was. The steaks we ate came from the calves we raised. The chickens we had for dinner were the ones who ran around in the back yard. So, I know baloney was a very cheap version of the good stuff. I did not particularly like it, but there often was no choice.
Baloney then became the metaphorical word for cheap stuff in general. It also meant less desirable or, even, undesirable things. It could be extended to talk about stuff going on in one’s life---nonsense kinds of stuff. I think it is in this context that the woman clerk was using the word---“same old baloney.” Even if she only half-meant it about her life, I suspect there is at least a hint of truth revealed. If I worked there doing her job, I also think some of it would seem like the “same old baloney.”
I don’t think she was complaining, as much as commenting. As I think about it, baloney is sufficient for life, but it is not preferable. I want to slide into the spiritual realm at this point, because a life of mere routine can come to be the “same old baloney.” But if I allow the Spirit to penetrate routine, then routine is transformed. Even if I do the same things routinely, the Spirit adds meaning and purpose. And that can make all the difference.
I think about the monks I know, and they certainly are incredibly routine in their daily lives. And yet, with the Spirit that infuses their routine activity, it is fresh, satisfying and meaningful. I try to see my own routine that way. I try to see my time with students in that fashion. They can be seen as the routine factors in my life. Even some of my classes could be the “same old baloney.” But I want my life and my routine to be also spiritual. That makes all the difference.
With the Spirit, baloney can become the bread of life---to quote the Fourth Gospel. Routine can become extraordinary. While baloney may never be the eucharist or the Lord’s body, it can become a way of living routinely, but with purpose, meaning and satisfaction. It will never be the “same old baloney.”
Thank God…
When I am home, the routines can be carved fairly deeply into my life and schedule. Again, I have a morning routine with coffee and the paper. When I am at the university, routine schedules my time in ways that I am basically ok with. Of course, changes come along, but the routine is always ready to resume.
Recently, I walked to the local store that is the modern version of the neighborhood grocery. While I don’t know most of the folks who work there by name, I recognize most of the cashiers and respect the jobs they do. I know they are making far less than I am and making do in their lives. I know a few superficial things about them, but it is not quite like the old days in the small town of my youth. Still when I see one of the people at the checkout counter, we often exchange pleasantries.
I like that it is close, and I can pop up for even a single item. Recently, I made just such a trip. I have been known to walk up for even a couple bananas---frequent trips saves spoiling! It was not busy in the middle of the day. As I approached the counter, one of the older women who routinely works there was on duty. I handed her my item and said something like, “How’s it going?” Her reply was a bit surprising, but funny. “Same old baloney,” she quipped. I laughed and she smirked. I paid and left.
But her words stayed with me. It was on off-hand experience, but I would like to think it was an honest and revealing comment about her and her life on the job. Even if she were trying to be funny, I also think she was commenting on life at a deeper level. I know that humor often betrays an aspect of the truth in our world. That is how I want to see it. I want to reflect a little deeper on her comment.
Of course, it is a phrase I have heard before and one I have used. I am sure I learned that phrase at a fairly young age. I recognize I have feelings for that phrase. And I am sure some of the feelings I have link to my early experiences eating baloney---literally, the cheap meat. I have no doubt that is the origin of the phrase she used.
I grew up on a farm that, in retrospect, offered a way of living, but not big profits and no luxuries. I did not feel poor, but we were not too much above that. There were days when lunch was a baloney sandwich and not too much more. Because we butchered some of our own animals, I knew what good meat was. The steaks we ate came from the calves we raised. The chickens we had for dinner were the ones who ran around in the back yard. So, I know baloney was a very cheap version of the good stuff. I did not particularly like it, but there often was no choice.
Baloney then became the metaphorical word for cheap stuff in general. It also meant less desirable or, even, undesirable things. It could be extended to talk about stuff going on in one’s life---nonsense kinds of stuff. I think it is in this context that the woman clerk was using the word---“same old baloney.” Even if she only half-meant it about her life, I suspect there is at least a hint of truth revealed. If I worked there doing her job, I also think some of it would seem like the “same old baloney.”
I don’t think she was complaining, as much as commenting. As I think about it, baloney is sufficient for life, but it is not preferable. I want to slide into the spiritual realm at this point, because a life of mere routine can come to be the “same old baloney.” But if I allow the Spirit to penetrate routine, then routine is transformed. Even if I do the same things routinely, the Spirit adds meaning and purpose. And that can make all the difference.
I think about the monks I know, and they certainly are incredibly routine in their daily lives. And yet, with the Spirit that infuses their routine activity, it is fresh, satisfying and meaningful. I try to see my own routine that way. I try to see my time with students in that fashion. They can be seen as the routine factors in my life. Even some of my classes could be the “same old baloney.” But I want my life and my routine to be also spiritual. That makes all the difference.
With the Spirit, baloney can become the bread of life---to quote the Fourth Gospel. Routine can become extraordinary. While baloney may never be the eucharist or the Lord’s body, it can become a way of living routinely, but with purpose, meaning and satisfaction. It will never be the “same old baloney.”
Thank God…
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