Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.
— Eskimo Proverb
Today, we got a new kitten. Actually, we didn’t choose to get a kitten. He (unnamed at this point) seems to have gotten separated from his mother, possibly by a coyote. One of the neighbors heard him crying early this morning because he had climbed into the nice, warm engine compartment of a nearby car. After trying to get him to leave the car by turning on the engine, they finally had to sound the horn to get him to give up his “safe” place.
Sometimes, when you need a writing inspiration, God provides. Here is this darling kitten, so small we’re not sure that Continue reading » Using Hope to Mend Our Lives
- I don’t know what it is
- But it just won’t quit.
- …
- Is this a blessing or is it a curse?
- Does it get any better?
- Can it get any worse?
- Will it go on forever?
- Is it over tonight?
- Does it come with the darkness?
- Does it bring out the light?
- There was a time when I knew just what I was living for.
- …and the time was so long ago.
It Just Won’t Quit
— Meat Loaf
When I’m feeling melancholy, I soothe my battered soul listening to Meat Loaf’s CD, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell . And to paraphrase the lyrics:
- There was a time when I knew just what I was living for…
- There was a time and the time was NOT so long ago.
Earlier this week I advocated turning a blind eye to the flaws in broken and damaged works of art… choosing instead to relish the beautiful imperfections that abound in our lives. And, YES, as you might have surmised, I wrote that post, Broken But Beautiful, as a message from me to myself. I folded it up, stuffed it in this blog – and sent it out with the tide, hoping my inner critics would walk upon the sands of time and get the message.
And STILL there’s this voice SHOUTING in my brain – THIS IS NOT WHAT I HAD PLANNED! I need a “pop-up blocker” in my head that prevents the willy nilly appearance of Continue reading » NOT What I Had Planned
Some people change when they see the light, others when they feel the heat.
— Caroline Schoeder
Elie Weisel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, begins his autobiography, Night , with the story of Moishe the Beadle. Moishe was a person of little significance in the little town of Sighet. He was the jack-of-all-trades in the Hasidic house of prayer, extremely poor and almost invisible in the community. Moishe was also a foreign Jew and when the Germans began the cleansing, they started by gathering up the foreign Jews. Moishe was taken away and over the next several months the Jewish community convinced themselves that things were back to “normal.”
Over time, the Germans reduced the lives of the Jews so that they were smaller and smaller. Each time the Germans took something away, the Jews adapted. They learned how to accept this new suffering. It was easier than facing the unknown.
Continue reading » Making Changes – A Day at a Time
You have to choose where you look, and in making that choice you eliminate entire worlds.
— Barbara Bloom
I don’t know about you but I find this photo intriguing. Broken, trampled and bruised, this tattered bloom was captured by a very insightful photographer, Todd Baker, who tells us he “Nearly stumbled over this poor, delicate beauty on my way to work one cold November morning. Dropped right in the middle of the parking lot, it looked to have been given quite a squish by at least a few busy feet. [Feet that were] too busy to stop, too busy to care, too busy to know what they missed.”
In my home is a small, red-clay pot that I display prominently because its beauty pleases me. My husband’s brother, a sculptor and artist by trade, lovingly crafted the small vase early in his career in homage to American Indian artistry. But somewhere, sometime, in its travels among households, the pottery was dropped and a large, V-shaped chunk broke off, breeching the narrow opening, leaving a gaping hole.
Whenever my brother-in-law visits, he offers to fix it. I am sad that the brokenness displeases him – it offends his creative intent, it’s NOT as he planned.
But I always nix the fix. I like it the way it is, broken and beautiful. For you see, he hid a secret inside the vase – he enameled the inside surfaces a stunning blue-sky azure that can only be seen with the side caved in.
Beautiful Imperfections Grace Our Lives
It occurs to me that we move so quickly through our lives that we miss the ordinary but ephemeral gifts that bless our busy lives – lives that often feel broken because things are NOT going as we planned.
Continue reading » Broken but Beautiful
Every now and then, go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.
— Leonardo da Vinci
I don’t know about you but no matter how much I “want to change” these days, I’ve figured out that I don’t necessarily want to change, I just want to have different results from my current behavior. Actually, I feel as if I’ve been trying to “change” forever and the more I change the more things stay the same. As I think about this feeling, I realize that I am deep in my bones tired. It’s not a physical feeling, it’s an emotional feeling. I also know that if I work at it, I can get myself into a better state… I just don’t feel like working at it right now. I’m deep in my bones TIRED. One of the problems with writing a resilience blog is that, at least in theory, I should never just wallow until I feel better. (There’s that dang “should” again!) You see, I know that when I’ve overdone it what I need is a reading/movies/napping vacation. Depending on what’s going on at home, I may or may not need to run away (literally or figuratively) but I do need to take a break. So just in case you’re not sure if you need a break or not, here are five signs that it’s time to take time for you.
Continue reading » 5 Signs That It’s Time to Take Time for You
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