Thursday, January 2, 2014

God, Friends, and Things that are Kind

 
 
“That time I thought I could not go any
 
closer to grief

without dying

I went closer,

and I did not die.

Surely God
had his hand in this,

as well as friends.

Still,
 
I was bent,

and my laughter...
was nowhere to be found.

Then said my friend...
“It’s not the weight you carry
but how you carry it -
books, bricks,
 
 grief -

it’s all in the way you embrace it,
 balance it,
 carry it

when you cannot,
 
and would not,

put it down.”

So I went practicing.

Have you noticed?

Have you heard
the laughter
that comes, now and again,
out of my startled mouth?

How I linger
to
admire, admire, admire
the things of this world
that are kind
..."
 ~Mary Oliver
 
This past week, Christa made a statement that is so very true.
After she had an encounter with her "favorite nurse",
she said,
"Mom, it's the simpliest of things that people do
that help to make this easier."
 
God, family and friends...
 
thank you for the small (and big!) acts of kindness
that help pave this very difficult path.
 
They give us stability.
 
They allow for some laughter.
 
They cause us to stop and
"admire the things of this world that are kind"



Wednesday, January 1, 2014