my friend kelly let me borrow a copy of anne lamott's book "help. thanks. wow." if i could make you do something, i would make you buy it and read it that day. she's so good at being a person who has dreads that i respect.
anne you beautiful hippie. how many times i have asked God, "WHY?" and instead of an explanation, received a new day. a new chance to walk down my block, breath the beautiful cold air in and just say, "Jesus, thank you."
she talks a lot about thankfulness in the book. how lives lived in love spill out into thankfulness. it is amazing to be in a place in life, where even in seasons and instances that don't make sense: friends who lose babies, sisters who can't sleep, friends fighting with their husbands... you can wake up and feel grateful - and feeling grateful doesn't always have to mean feeling happy, but for me it usually does.
when i make a practice out of being thankful - when i make conscience efforts to focus on the wonderful, beautiful gifts i've received, experiences i've been saved from or experienced so that i can be where i am now... that makes me feel ecstatic.
thank you, God, for the baby niece my sister-in-law is growing. thank you for christmas trees and a home to put mine in. thank you for the mountain of coats, blankets, scarves, hats, and gloves in my entry way all because i sent an email out to my community saying that i think we should go give homeless people our warm weather gear. thank you for the computer my brother sent me today. thank you for my family coming here for christmas. thank you for making my brother an artistic genius. thank you for my boyfriend who is the kindest person who smells so good sometimes. thank you for my job - can i even call it that? thank you for stick shift lessons in the target parking lot in the bronx. thank you for life and thank you for love and thank you for being at the center of it all.
Domestic pain can be searing, and it is usually what does us in. It's almost indigestible: death, divorce, old age, drugs; unfaithfulness. Good luck with figuring it out. It unfolds, and you experience it, and it is so horrible and endless that you could almost give up a dozen times. But grace can be the experience of a second wind, when even though what you want is clarity and resolution, what you get is stamina and poignancy and the strength to hang on.
anne you beautiful hippie. how many times i have asked God, "WHY?" and instead of an explanation, received a new day. a new chance to walk down my block, breath the beautiful cold air in and just say, "Jesus, thank you."
she talks a lot about thankfulness in the book. how lives lived in love spill out into thankfulness. it is amazing to be in a place in life, where even in seasons and instances that don't make sense: friends who lose babies, sisters who can't sleep, friends fighting with their husbands... you can wake up and feel grateful - and feeling grateful doesn't always have to mean feeling happy, but for me it usually does.
when i make a practice out of being thankful - when i make conscience efforts to focus on the wonderful, beautiful gifts i've received, experiences i've been saved from or experienced so that i can be where i am now... that makes me feel ecstatic.
thank you, God, for the baby niece my sister-in-law is growing. thank you for christmas trees and a home to put mine in. thank you for the mountain of coats, blankets, scarves, hats, and gloves in my entry way all because i sent an email out to my community saying that i think we should go give homeless people our warm weather gear. thank you for the computer my brother sent me today. thank you for my family coming here for christmas. thank you for making my brother an artistic genius. thank you for my boyfriend who is the kindest person who smells so good sometimes. thank you for my job - can i even call it that? thank you for stick shift lessons in the target parking lot in the bronx. thank you for life and thank you for love and thank you for being at the center of it all.
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