Rocky Mountain Atelier TMO Master's Message

Worries and Gratitude

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -- Matthew 6:34 NIV

"What, me worry?" -- Alfred E. Neuman

Two years have already come and gone; so, these will be my last musings from the East. It has been a great blessing to be able to serve. I'll have several opportunities for thanksgiving, but here I'd like to thank the most generous fratres and sorores who as editors of this newsletter along with our Grand Councilor and Provincial Master, have put up with my errors and transgressions of style in these missives. Thank you for the gentle corrections.

Each time I have sat down to the keys to write one of these I have hoped for some Very Deep Thought to pass along, worthy of other words of wisdom passed down by our R+C and TMO predecessors. Alas, I am a man of few inspirations. Thus I am left to do what many recommend to aspiring writers, "Write what you know."

Recently I have been exploring a different fork in the Path. Two precepts on that fork are "Do not worry" and "Be grateful." The first is a particular problem of mine; so, this practice is a Good Thing. As it happens, the new license tag for my wife's car arrived last week which I went out and stuck on. Coming back into the house, with license tags on the mind, I glanced down at the plate on another old car we own. To my horror, the expiration date was from a year ago!

Did I take to heart my current practice about not worrying, and trust in the Cosmic? No, no I did not. I frantically tore through the house madly looking in every likely (and unlikely) place for where I might have put the registration. Not finding it, I assumed I had somehow not paid it. I bemoaned with great groans the bureaucratic and financial terrors that were about to crash down to get it registered again.

Only later it occured to me to check my spending records and emails from last year. Sure enough, there it was. I had paid the renewal. It was just lost somewhere. Was I grateful it wasn't as bad as I thought. No, I was still worrying about the hassles of getting a replacement and gave up in despair for the evening.

The next day at work I went online to see how bad it was going to be. It turns out you can get a replacement online and don't even need to go to the DMV. Whew! No worries, right? Grateful that turned out, right? No, then I was worrying that my car is so old the online system probably won't take my information, which I'm going to have to wait to get home to find anyway. [How many Cosmic Clues can this knucklehead ignore that Things Will Be Fine?]

Well, due to a strange turn of events, I did have the information for that car in my briefcase with me (imagine that!) I typed it all into the online form with no problems. They charged me the exorbitant sum of $5 to mail me a replacement. With that I could only laugh and finally be grateful for the lesson the Cosmic had for me about worries.

Brothers and sisters, fratres and sorores, keep your eyes, minds, and hearts open to all that is being offered.

Note: While writing this I went to check the spelling of 'Councilor' The online dictionary said:

'noun: a member of a council. "Councilor Ralph Lewis"' I think the Cosmic is really tugging my chain this week.

May you ever dwell in the Eternal Light of Divine Wisdom

William Fickas, S.I.

Master Rocky Mountain Atelier, TMO