What Are You Grateful For Today?

“If you begin and finish your days with thoughts of gratitude, you’ll find yourself living from a place of abundance rather than lack. Those first and final moments set the tone for the many minutes that fall in between.”

Erica Layne

So what are you grateful for today? Can you make a list and see where it takes you? And if your list, no matter how long, is not enough to ease the suffering of all that you have lost, that’s ok too.

Some of us have lost things that are way too big to be replaced by gratitude. So go easy on yourself. Try for a little gratitude.

Set Your Expectations Aside…

“Believe in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.”

Roy T. Bennett

Or not. It is also ok to believe that you’re meant to live a quiet life of reasonable happiness. We are all different and alike. We are alike in that when all the cylinders are firing, we have a basic survival instinct, a need for some level of social interaction and a desire for intimate connection. But the LEVEL of need is different for each of us.

I remember when my kids were little and Pete was traveling a lot I envied people who got locked up in solitary confinement. Oh for one day of quiet and time alone! This was also during the season when I believed that a trip alone to the grocery store was tantamount to winning the lottery. I do not mean to disrespect anyone who has actually had to be locked up, I realize that this is cruel and inhumane punishment and I no longer consider trips to the grocery store in my best interest (thanks coronavirus).

When we are at the end of our rope, we often long for things that are totally not in our best interest or even safe. So if the age of pandemics, believing in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles - go for it! But if the pressure of having to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles feels like too much - then it is. Set the expectations aside! Maybe take a nap or go for a walk!

There is No Cure For Being Human

“There are some things you can choose and some you can’t. And it’s ok that life isn’t always getting better... Life is a chronic condition and there is no cure for being human.”

Kate Bowler

There is no cure for being human. There is no cure for being you. Accepting this is not giving up, it’s learning how to live without illusion. I have had a variety of experiences in my life when people have shared with me the nature of my humanity. It has not always been pretty.

Evidently, I can be quite the disappointment. But here’s the thing and I hope we do not miss this point: this is the nature of being human. We are all human beings and we are all, at some point, disappointments.

That is in many ways beside the point.

The point, I think, is to find those people who are with us when we are our most disappointing. Find those people who say, “Yeah, yeah, but you are MY disappointment and I love you to pieces.”

Stop trying to NOT be a disappointment; really, stop it right now. It’s holding us all back from creating a kingdom where God wants to come hang out. (Although he’s God and he’s crazy about us, so even our most disappointing efforts are no match for his mercy.)

Instead, find people who can handle you warts and all. If we find those people? Oh boy - we are at least one foot inside the perimeter of heaven. And hopefully it will teach us how to be that kind of person for others.

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we really are.”

Brené Brown

Find Your “Good Enough”

“One day, after decades of struggle and numbing and wishing myself away, it occurred to me that I could choose to embrace my ‘good enough.’ “

Krista O-Reilly-David-Digui

Do you ever listen to Kate Bowler? If not - go find her podcasts! Diagnosed in her mid-30’s with stage four cancer, Kate Bowler has learned (and is kind enough to tell us) that not everything is fixable.

Some things, a lot of things, most things - at their absolute best - will simply be good enough. Not great. Not awesome. Not amazing. Not awesome. Good enough.

So I say unto you - go find your good enough. And in that good enough place, look for joy!

Find Some Sunshine Today…

“Stand close to people who feel like sunshine.”

Unknown

My niece, my birthday twin, is in labor. I’m a little distracted. I’ve struggled to not be a prickly pear. Absent a pandemic I would have hopped in my car and driven to Georgia to stand or sit or pace with someone during this long wait for our new baby to arrive.

Last night there was a texting fest going on among some of us; much of it was hilarious. As I lay sleepless with anticipation in the middle of the night, I knew with great clarity that for all of us, to stand near to Kaitlin is to “Stand close to people who feel like sunshine.” Kaitlin is a woman who makes the sun look like it is not trying hard enough.

And so I drop my prickly pear attitude and accept what is, instead of wishing for what cannot be and allowing that to dampen my spirit. I wait from afar. I will meet this little peanut the first chance I get. In the meantime, I believe the best thing I can do is carry on and maybe find a little sunshine to spread around to others standing near me on this cold, wet, dreary pandemic day.

May we find some sunshine today, in ourselves and others. Follow the light!