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“The greatest day ever!!!”

Jan 8, 2013 | Hope & Encouragement, Spirituality

I went to the grocery store a few days back, irritated that I had to make the trip in the first place. Stepping out of my car and dashing between drops of threatening rain, I heard a boy – probably about six years old – yelling at the top of his lungs:

“This is my greatest day, ever!!! Isn’t this my greatest day ever?!?!”

His mom said, “Yes, sweetie, it’s pretty great.”

I smiled and moved through the parking lot toward the front doors. Just a few steps before entering, I spotted a dad and his young daughter who had obviously witnessed the same. She said “Is this my greatest day ever, Dad?” He smiled and said, “It sure could be.”

I laughed out loud. And my less-than-stellar attitude changed dramatically.

This is the nature of enthusiasm, of glee, of happiness, of praise. It’s contagious. It’s viral. It will not, cannot be slowed, contained, or stopped.

Can you, will you imagine that the Divine expresses such unbridled enthusiasm, glee, happiness, and praise over you?

Go ahead. Imagine it. I’ll wait for you . . .

What might change? How might you act, respond, feel, speak, be? What if, even for a moment, you could allow this to be true?

Psssst: it is true!

The Divine sees and shouts, sings, whispers – endlessly and infinitely: “This is my greatest creation, ever!!! Isn’t this my greatest creation, ever?!?”

When you believe and live like it’s true, others can’t help but say the same: “Could I be the Divine’s greatest creation ever?!? Could I?!?”

And like a flash-mob, more and more people will see, hear, wonder, ask, act, and dance. Everything will change.

*****

As I look around at the world: Sandy Hook Elementary School, the NRAs response,
bi-partisan politics, the painful and recently-personal effects of patriarchy, the ongoing reality of sexual trafficking, and so much more, I long for something, anything to change.

We need a viral, contagious belief in my own goodness and that of others. We need a viral, contagious belief in the Divine’s determined and passionate heart our my behalf. We need to be able to stand in the middle of a parking lot and yell, “This is the greatest day ever!”

May it be so.

Making Hard Choices

Oct 15, 2007 | Sacred Stories, Women's Wisdom

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live. ~ Flora Whittemore

A lovely sentiment, but far more palpable – and even painful – when we have to live with those decisions.

I had to make a hard decision this weekend. If it only impacted me, it would be easier to bear; but it didn’t. I wasn’t just deciding the life I live, as Flora Whittemore espouses. I was deciding, at least for a time, the lives that others would live, as well. That’s a lot of pressure; pressure I wish wasn’t mine. Still, hard choices sometimes have to be made. Consequences ensue. Disappointment and frustration are inevitable.

How do I hold on to myself in the midst of making such a choice? How do I continue walking forward when my deepest desire and instinct is to turn and run for cover? I’m not sure, but at least for tonight, I’m slowed in my impulse to escape by returning to the story of the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet. She chose to do something that was totally against the grain and which incurred her even more contempt than she already knew. Somehow she trusted her internal wisdom enough that she could break through all that would have kept her playing things safe. She acted. She moved. She let herself be seen.

And…my hunch is that her life didn’t get all that better because of it – at least externally. She made a hard choice, knowing there would be a price to pay and consequences that would ensue. She’s a beautiful, strong, and amazing woman.

I wish I could say that my hard choice fell in the same realm as her self-sacrificing and beautifully worshipful one. Mine could hardly be said to resemble hers, at all. Still, she encourages me. And what’s more, the love she experiences because of her choice comforts me.

Maybe that’s the key: no matter the choices we make or their ramifications, we are still loved – deeply, unswervingly, unreservedly – by the Divine. I think I can live with my hard choice knowing such.

Choices come and go. Some are better than others. Some are harder than others. But being loved no matter what? That defines and decides my life in ways that offer me hope, encouragement, and rest.

I needed to make a hard choice. Even more, I believe I needed the hard choice to move me toward remembering, experiencing, and encountering the Divine who loves me before, in the midst, and after. That’s good news at the end of a long, hard day.

About Connection and Stamps (and God)

Jul 24, 2007 | Spirituality

about reconnecting:
Just a few minutes ago I finished writing a note to a person I haven’t been in touch with for over 15 years. I have no idea
what has taken place in that amount of time, no idea what has occurred, who has been loved, who has died, what tears
have been shed, what laughter has sprung forth. What I do know is that all of the same realities have been true for me:
love, death, tears, laughter. What would it be like to re-connect now? Would we have similar stories to tell or vastly divergent ones? Would we know what to say? Would we even recognize one another?

and a stamp:
As I placed the stamp on the envelope and put it in the slot in my door to be picked up by my mail carrier, I realized that really, regardless of whether we connect face-to-face, we have reconnected. My thoughts and curiosity have enabled that and aren’t dependent on reciprocation.

My musings above lead me to wonder about God.

How often do we understand God as the one who receives our note? As one who needs to respond in order for connection to have occurred? I wonder what would happen if I/we began to understand God more as the (re)connection itself, the
curiosity and the desire and the virtual (but no less real) connection that occurs just in thinking of another…and caring? Of course, it doesn’t have to be one or the other; God is undoubtedly both – responder and respondent, connection and re-connector. And even more, I’m guessing God is the one writing and stamping the notes, thinking the thoughts, caring – far more than me.

The mail will be picked up soon and I’ll wait to see what happens. Either way, connection has occurred. I’d love to experience God this way – not waiting for a response, but experienced as re-connecting, present in everything – every thought, every memory, every love, every death, every tear, every laugh…even in a stamp.

Happy 50th Anniversary!

Jul 11, 2007 | Hope & Encouragement, Mothers and Daughters

This past weekend my siblings, our families, and nearly 100 others celebrated the 50th anniversary of my parent’s wedding. Stunning. Mind-boggling.

Given that I’ll never celebrate that milestone, and knowing even some of what I do about the complexion and landscape of their years together, I find it even more amazing. All the hearty congratulations, the expressions of pride and honor, and the tears of joy and love that were shed do not even begin to signify the reality of what those 50 years have held. How does one even begin to capture or understand all of what this means? It’s impossible, really.

And it would have been completely impossible for my parents to ever imagine, 50 years ago, what their celebration would look like and feel like. How could they have known of the story that would be told in their lives – separate and intertwined? How could they have known of both the heartache and joy that awaited them in the birth and then life of the three of their children – and then four grandchildren? How could they have anticipated the ways in which they would disappoint, wound, celebrate, surprise, and care for one another?

It’s impossible. And that’s what I love about it. In a world that often leaves us skeptical and doubting; wanting assurances, answers, and safe bets, their marriage embodies blind faith…not always their own, but always God’s on their behalf. Sometimes because of their efforts and perhaps more times than not, in spite of them, their relationship has endured, stretched, and grown. Amazing. Stunning.

And maybe not so impossible. Maybe celebrating 50 years together reminds us that we’re really not in control and still, beauty, life, and love exist, survive, and even thrive. Maybe just being in relationship period – any relationship is completely impossible but sometimes, many times, it’s something that happens, lives, breaths, and continues anyway…a good news of sorts that calls us again and again to something larger than ourselves, Someone larger than ourselves.

For me, my parents 50th was and is the gospel lived out. To celebrate their years together renewed my belief in and commitment to God’s crazy love for us; a love that is amazing, stunning, and impossible – and frankly, is the only thing that enables our own.

Happy 50th, Mom and Dad. I’m so proud of you and love you very much.