shower time is my time
to think
to give thanks
to pray
to contemplate the day
to contemplate the week, month year
today i thought of the future
today i thought of the past few days
i almost felt like each of the
past few days was a chapter in a text book
divided
that at the end of the chapter
i would have a full understanding
of the lesson
some lessons are huge
some lessons make a huge change in our life at the exact moment of impact
some are small
sometimes the small lessons
have the biggest overall impact on our lives
but we don't notice
until we look back
and then their significance is beyond words.
a couple of years ago i fell in love with old schoolhouse pictures.
i hated school as a child for many reasons.
why this love of old schoolhouse pictures then?
this love came to be
when i began to embrace each day and the lesson it taught.
once i began to love life, i also loved school, or the concept.
one lesson i had always had a hard time understanding was an experience
was not good or bad, it was how i chose to receive it, see it, feel it.
one of the toughest spoonfuls of medicine to swallow was that
it was of my choosing that i became angry or frustrated, or sad
during a situation.
life does not happen to me.
once i learned this lesson
everyday became more joyful
it is my choice to have an experience and then choose to remain joyful
i had not realized the impact of this shift in thinking
until making cookies for my hubby and his co-workers
yesterday.
i sat out enough butter to make one batch.
i thought to myself even though i send all but a dozen or so with him to work
there never seems to be enough to go around
one co-worker never goes off his diet for any other cookie but
mine.
maybe i should make a double batch
ugh....what a pain to stir that much dough
the time it will take to bake them all
i walked out of the kitchen and then turned right back around
took out more butter, enough for a double batch.
my one simple act of baking cookies, a couple of hours
of my day
causes friends, co-workers to gather, connect with each other,
bring joy to each other
what a simple way to cause a ripple in the pond of life
in a positive way.
to bring a bit of joy to one person's day
and in turn that person's joy brings joy
to another
and then that person brings joy to another
and another
and so on.
it is so amazing to me that one simple act of kindness
that seems so tiny
so insignificant
really is not.
when you think about it
it can be mind blowing
how many people had
a better experience in their day
and passed it on, and like that ripple in the pond it
expanded and and expanded .
and i opened the egg carton and
read this
i am not a religious person.i do not see that i will ever be of one particular religion.
my spiritual path is my own.
at times my path may meet up with others paths.
i find that one moment a quote from buddah or the t'ao will bring
inspiration, understanding or an ah-ha moment.
maybe it is a proverb from ireland, china or some other far away place.
today it was a passage from the bible.
joel osteen has been bringing this message to followers recently quite a bit.
today, in the shower i realized just how many times in my short life that i have had an opportunity to live this message.
having to put the lid back on this for the 1,329,301
time today,
i realized i did not become angry, frustrated, aggravated.
i did not want to scream.
i did not want to assemble the family and again explain that
if you can take the lid off
you can put it back on
i realized that years ago learning this one lesson
by almost dying twice, events that daily makes me rethink my priorities,
has made such an impact on the amount of joy in my life
i put the lid back on
i smiled
and gave thanks
i gave thanks that i have these 4 wonderful people in my life
that are healthy enough to take care of themselves
these 4 people i love so very much.
No comments:
Post a Comment