It’s been right under my nose for years and it’s only just sunk in. I was caught by the final verse of Psalm 61 in Lauds this morning: “Then I will ever sing in praise of your name and fulfill my vows day after day.”

 

Day after day. Not a one shot deal, not a magic switch you flip and never have to think about again. I realize that’s what I look for — a one time solution — setting my course and putting myself on auto-pilot.

 

But it’s not that simple, or maybe a better way to look at it is that it’s not that stagnant. Life with God — vowed life — is a “day after day” kind of living. Every morning when my feet hit the floor, I vow again. I say yes (with God’s grace) to starting the process and staying with it that day. And if…no, when…I fall, I plant my feet and begin again. It’s a more hopeful way to live than in some of the ways I’ve tried to strive.  

 

It reminded me this morning of that quote “Always we begin again.” I couldn’t remember where it came from, and was a little embarrassed to find it is in the Rule of St Benedict — the foundation of our vowed life and our own Rule. It’s been right here telling me I don’t have just one shot to get it right…..I have Day after Day!