Tag: grateful

KICK

       I have often felt ‘kicked’ by life, as if it’s just an old, cruel bully who sometimes hounds me with its fury. Many times in my life, I’ve felt like I was being booted around by situations and people, which often made me start kicking back, as if existence was a constant contest between nasty aggressors. However, in the last few decades of my 81 years, I’ve begun to see that all the fierce kicks life seems to give are actually soft and affectionate, more like easygoing shoves than ferocious whacks. Life, it seems, wants to help me ‘kick’ my habit of nervous, slapdash thinking, and it does this by softly pushing me, with occasional silent punches, toward acceptance, and maybe even some wisdom, and perhaps even spot-on gladness. I guess I should have a grateful attitude toward life – maybe even a feeling of devoted friendship for this enduring friend who sometimes uses kicks called disappointment and sorrow to softly bulldoze me toward insight and understanding. 😊

GREETINGS

WORDS LIKE LIGHT

Tuesday,  July 12, 2022

         This morning, as usual, I was greeted, when I awoke, by my good and happy house. It’s always there for me at the start of each day, waiting to wave with friendliness as I begin a brand new journey. And this kind of thing happens all day long, every day – all the rooms saluting me again and again as I pass through them, the new daylight outside saying hello as I walk with it here and there, and even the trees raising their leaves to me as I pass by. I was at the grocery store this morning, and it was as if each person I passed greeted me in their silent, shy way, and even the plums and blueberries seemed to say hello as I looked them over. Today, like all of them, will surely be a day full of greetings, each moment ushering me in to its pristine and matchless paradise. I hope I can be politely grateful all day long!

BRINGING OUT THE RED CARPET
(about Braelynn J., 52, Blessings, CT)

Each morning, 
Braelynn brings out the red carpet
to make a gracious greeting
for a new day. She knows that shame
and distress might show up, that sorrow
could come to her doorstep, but still,
she ushers each day into her life 
with thankfulness. She knows 
there are wonders beyond belief, 
both bright and dark,
waiting inside each hour, each moment,
and hospitality is what they deserve.
She somehow hugs both good news and bad,
because she knows they both bring gifts.
She opens her door and says, 
"Welcome".

FIND

­­WORDS LIKE LIGHT 

Wednesday, July 6, 2022 

         Today, lucky for 80-year-old me, I will be like a traveler on a brand-new trail, following a trusted and all-wise guide called ‘life’. My life will be a fortunate ‘finder’ – all day long. Each hour, it will unearth amazing discoveries for me to enjoy, and in every moment it will chance upon miraculous wonders. Small and large displays of goodness will be sniffed out for me to appreciate. Life and I together will stumble upon astonishing surprises – the look of early light outside as I sit at my desk, the sound of Delycia preparing her breakfast in the kitchen, even the soft sounds of our footsteps on the carpet. Life, today, will come across situations never before experienced in the history of the universe, and I will be there to stand in wonder and reverence. What’s truly interesting is that ‘I’ will not be doing the finding. Life itself will be the pioneer and discoverer, and I will be beside it as its fortunate friend, grateful to be in the presence of such an astute and skillful explorer.   

WORDS LIKE LIGHT 

Monday, September 6, 2021

HELPFUL

         Today, I hope I can keep in mind how helpful every present moment always is. Somehow, our very considerate universe has designed reality so that each and every present moment is friendly and eager to please. Strange as it sounds, even those moments that make me afraid or forlorn are useful, though usually in veiled ways.  All I have to do is get quiet (which is not easy for me to do!) and remove the veil, and the neighborliness of even a seemingly luckless moment will be revealed, helping me to see the hidden value in such moments. Each waking moment today – each of the approximately 57,000 of them – will be a thoughtful and supportive friend, eager to help in any way. When I hear or read the word ‘God’, I think of the always beneficent present – or perhaps I should use the upper-case – Present – because, to me, the boundless, user-friendly present moment is the only truly super-power – the only God – in the universe, and it is by my side at all times! Jesus told his followers that ‘the day of salvation’ that they were waiting for was right here and now, in the thoughtful and friendly present – and today I hope to be watchful – and grateful – for its neighborly help.  


AN UNUSUAL DISPLAY
(Bill M., 87, Blessings, CT)

The night gave him a lingering hug
and then helped him see the daylight coming, 
and soon there was an unusual display 
of comfort and everlastingness,
as though it was the start of spring
in everything, as though even 
the radio beside the bed was fresh and new
and had just seen him for the first time, 
how lovely he looked beside it,
and how fortunate it felt 
to be his radio. 
The only thing he knew, though,
was the thoroughness of his life just then, 
and he wove his thoughts 
in and out of the sunlight and the sounds of birds 
and the big life he had just been given. 
It felt like freedom had no end, 
and his radio hoped he would lean in 
and touch it and turn on music
to make its soul and his be helpful
to this revolutionizing new world
whose hands brushed his and it
and was transforming everything
moment after moment after moment.