Order CalmsAugust 24, 2026

The Amish have shared a number of words of wisdom but I think this two word phrase is the most challenging:

ORDER CALMS

Let me explain why. When I moved from a one-bedroom, living/dining room, kitchen and den apartment in Stow in order to join my Ursuline Sisters when Merici Crossings opened in February of 2019, I spent months downsizing. Once the moving trucks had delivered everything to apt #309, another challenge confronted me. I had to determine a “place for everything” as the Shakers would advise. Within a couple of months, my suite-mate and I accomplished this lofty goal… and had “everything in its own place.”

I am sure you know that this situation did not last for very long! Why? Because my life changed pretty quickly. I didn't help that I took a quilting class which added a sewing machine and bags of fabric for future projects to our space. Then I joined several committees: Transportation, Spirituality, Gardening and membership on the Board of Beaumont School. Suddenly I needed a file cabinet. My care of orchids and houseplants led to my willing but “forced adoption” of a dozen orchids that then required their own open shelf that is taller than I am. And ageing has added records to my medical files, to say nothing about the consumption of organizing time.

It is time for a reckoning! If I am going to have a future in which I can find a “place for everything” and maintain the order required for “everything in its place,” my life has to change. OUCH!

It is time to SIMPLIFY… everything! To begin, I have resigned from several committees. Gardening and plants get to stay, but the file cabinet and other boxes of paperwork have to go. Then the clothes I no longer wear will be given a new home. Those are only first steps, I know there are others. Hopefully I will make my way slowly, surely in order to experience the CALM that ORDER achieves.

Sister Anne Marie Diederich