Our Holy Chaos

  This article is part of a series on finding peace in everyday chaos. It may be better to start from the beginning . Something was different about my friend. He had always had a calm demeanor, even back in college, but this was different. We had not seen each other for a long time and spontaneously arranged lunch to catch up. My friend had a quiet way of directing the conversation back to what was happening in my life. He didn’t interrupt—a habit I’ve long struggled to kick—and listened rather than planning what he was going to say next. He had a noticeable lack of the social awkwardness that comes from thinking we are the most interesting person in the conversation Eventually, he shared how much more seriously he was taking his faith. That explained it. What I noticed was the side-effect of someone who was on a regular diet of encountering God. The last step on the path of finding peace in everyday chaos is sharing what we have received. Everyone is called to share the graces God...

This article is part of a series on finding peace in everyday chaos. It may be better to start from the beginning . All I saw was water. I also saw the water heater, furnace, and rarely-used items we store in the utility room. But, water all over the floor dominated my attention. Our water heater was happily regurgitating its contents onto the floor. We would need a new one. It would be expensive. This wasn’t something I had planned for. All I felt was relief. I expected to panic. I waited for that sinking feeling that I couldn’t afford this, I couldn’t handle this. What would we not be able to afford because of this? What goals would be sacrificed this time? How many months would it take to get back on track? But, all I felt was relief. While I started searching for appliances online, all I could do was shake my head. Praise God we had not been on vacation when it went out. How fortunate that my father-in-law is a master plumber and lives in my house! It was so weird to feel lucky at...