Very Grateful for:
God’s love
a night that went into morning because of due dates
a warm scone
a cool morning and soup on the stove
little, fresh herbs dotting the broth
pushing out the professor’s words who said that my writing is weak
the geese and ducks on the lake – their bright orange beaks
orchid tea
brown soil for planting
“The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers.” ~Erich Fromm
Very Grateful for:
God’s reboots
Amelia’s acceptance to the College of William and Mary
that her acceptance came three weeks to the day of Mom’s departure for Heaven
my dismissal of the opinions of those folks who say there are no coincidences
the fun of seeing Amelia’s excitement
knowing that Mom is smiling too
“I have never ceased to be a student. I have never ceased to learn.” ~Lee Kuan Yew
Very Grateful for:
God’s friends everywhere
a safe trip to Japan
and Singapore
three new friends who live in Singapore, fellow alumni
and a trip to the Singaporean Ministry of Education today
figuring out the time difference
starting my days one day earlier than the U.S.
learning new things
taxi drivers who fill in the blanks of my questions
BBC World News
“We use imagination in addition to technology and we leave it to the teachers to co-design the learning process” ~ Loo Kang Lawrence Wee
As I enter a club with many members, none of whom want me to have to experience what they’ve gone through, I am grateful for the stories and the knowing. One of the last sentiment I gave to my mom:
~~~
“I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep.
There is nothing I can give you which you have not already, but there is much, very much, which though I cannot give it, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today.
Take heaven.
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this precious little instant.
Take peace.
The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach is joy. There is radiance and courage in the darkness could we but see; and to see, we have only to look.
Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their coverings, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love, and wisdom, and power. Welcome it, greet it, and you touch the angel’s hand that brings it.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, a duty, believe me, that angel’s hand is there, the gift is there, and the wonder of an overshadowing Presence.
Our joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.
Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.
Courage, then, to claim it, that is all! But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims wending through unknown country our way home.
And so, I greet you, not quite as the world sends greeting, but with profound esteem now and forever.
The day breaks and the shadows flee away.”
—Fra Angelico
Very Grateful for:
~God’s poetry
~the orange-purplish sunrise today
~Someone to hold the door
~Donated Books from kind folks for our library-building project
~the National Read-A-Thon, next Saturday
~checks
~the recognition that crosses a face when someone knows who you are
~contact
~hugs
It is because
these travelers, these far wanderers,
plane down and yearn in a reaching
flight. They extend our life,
piercing through space to reappear
quietly, undeniably, where we are. ~”Watching Sandhill Cranes” by William Stafford
Very Grateful for:
God’s enough
That God sees me as Enough
But God’s creating is never Enough
The beauty of a cold day sunset
The realization that it had gotten “enough” at work and so I pulled back
tiny tea lights in mercury glass jelly jars (https://www.etsy.com/listing/207424734/quilted-mercury-glass-faux-finish-mason )
and a warm fleece blanket
Amelia’s “Fleece-A-Palooza” event which made 30 fleece blankets for the local shelter
acoustic music in the morning ( Acoustic Morning )
We are poets. Heroes of the abandoned words ~Andrea Gibson
Very Grateful for:
God’s computational thinking
the life of Big Poppa, a bonzai sensei and dear father of my childhood friend
my friend’s elegant expression of her grief and her love for her dad
the sudden stillness and quiet in the office
the hum of the tiny heater
finding the last 20 gingerbread biscotti in our town after a long face-to-face and online search
Amelia, passing her high school certification test so she can teach in the high school
a phone call that I was dreading that did not go downhill or negative at all
and Ruby’s cold, black nose
“Behold, I will do something new…” ~Isaiah 43:19
Very Grateful for:
God’s Patience
WLG’s Anniversary!
flannel shirts
a morning with Mom
lavender lotion for Mom
organic carrots, onions, and celery and little herbs still growing from their winter home in my kitchen
smoked chicken and sausage from a Texas town closeby
a wonderful soup, simmering on the stove this morning
lunch with Dad
a chance to listen to the The Blue Danube Waltz while I write this
Access to communication in the widest sense is access to knowledge, and that is vitally important for us if we [the blind] are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people. We do not need pity, nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable. We must be treated as equals – and communication is the way this can be brought about. ~ Louis Braille, born today in 1809
Very Grateful for:
God, guiding us until we are almost home
God’s angels on the icy roads
Warm in coats and actions
The two men who came to Amelia’s aid when her car was stuck on the icy road
And then one of the men followed her to our neighborhood, until she was almost home, so she knew he was there and would feel safe
This wonderful event on the last day of this year
And a hopeful hope for the year ahead.
“The world likes to say ‘no.’ It doesn’t like change, as it has incredible inertia. It can’t help itself. So don’t judge the world. Accept that ‘no’ is all it knows. And then know it’s your job …to keep saying ‘yes,’ until the world is better off for it.” ~Danae Ringelmann, quoting her dad in Mindful online mag
Happy Start to 2015
Very Grateful for:
God’s calendar
A day of very little talking
A middle-length drive with a new book on tape
Edward Herrmann’s calm, intelligent voice
Stopping along the way to eat
Remembering vaguely that I used to hate eating alone; now, I almost relish it
the deep green of fields of winter rye grass
a deep whirlpool tub
going to sleep to the sound of a small, man-made water fountain
The best portion of a good man’s {and woman’s} life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.
– William Wordsworth