My stress level today almost dragged me down into the muck and mire of lament.  I squirreled myself away in my office and hammered at file after file, wrestling with the gnarliest problems in the stack on my desk. My heart pounded.  Tension gripped my muscles.  A searing pain shot through my head.

Then I came home in the sweetness of the evening spring rain.  I stood over the garden that my friends created in the side  yard.  Serenity beckoned to me from the rich earth.  My spirit stretched towards the lushness of the perennials.  I closed my eyes and willed the vise to relax its hold.  With each long draw of spring air, my focus narrowed, until I saw nothing other than that peaceful patch of ground.

It’s the sixteenth day of the twenty-ninth month of My Year Without Complaining.  In the midst of chaos, life continues.