Where Quotidian Meets Eternity

resuming from over here. ... and here, and here.

Quotidian means "daily" or even "commonplace". I've often been surprised by the realization that it is of the quotidian that life is made. St Francis de Sales writes:

“...in these passing moments there lies enclosed as in a tiny kernel the seed of all eternity; and in our humble little works of devotion there lies hidden the prize of everlasting glory…”

and also

“Great deeds may not always come our way, but at all times we can do little deeds with perfection, that is, with great love…”

Kathleen Norris writes:

Our culture's ideal self, especially the accomplished, professional self, rises above necessity, the humble, everyday, ordinary tasks that are best lefft to unskilled labor. The comfortable lies we tell ourselves regarding these "little things" -- that they don't matter, and that daily personal and household chores are of no significance to us spiritually -- are exposed as falsehoods when we consider that reluctance to care for the body is one of the first symptoms of extreme melancholia. ...

At its Greek root the word acedia means "lack of care".... care is not passive -- the word derives from an Indo-European word meaning "to cry out," as in a lament. Care asserts that as difficult and painful as life can be, it is worth something to be in the present, alive, doing one's daily bit.

As in writing, in life, as Flannery O'Connor says:

"The writer operates at a peculiar crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet. His problem is to find that location."