THANKFUL FOR ROUTINES

 

Today I’m thankful for routines

Because if part of my routine is doing something 

healthy…

for me…

that I adore…

Then I’ll be doing something today…

my future self will thank me for

THE MAGIC OF ROUTINES

 

I am a creature of habit…which fundamentally means…

I find comfort in the way my life follows certain customs and routines.

At the same time I am not averse to change…which fundamentally means…

I also find comfort when my life follows new routines.

I loved the daily routines when or children were growing up…I thought it was so cool

from diapers and bedtime stories…to driving them to school.

When they grew up…were on their own…and our house moved at a slower pace…

we discovered a new routine…that took the old one’s place.

Waking up together every morning…walking together at first light

laughing…sharing meals…TV…reading in bed each night.

Grandchildren changed our routine again…there was soccer every Saturday.

Our family began scheduling get togethers…dinners, birthdays…holidays.

Our Christmas routine has changed…but it’s one of the best changes we could see…

helping our children and grandchildren understand the magic of Christmas…

starts and ends with family. 

To some…routines may not seem sexy or romantic at first glance…

but I think they are magical…if we give them half a chance.

What if, instead of viewing them as mundane, we were able to see

the routine in any day of our life is another page in our biography?

Then turning back to any page we would see the magic of routines…

is where life and living coincide….

and we would come to understand…

that’s where our happiness resides.

THANKFUL FOR PRAYER

 

 Today I am inclined

To be thankful for prayer of any kind

For we never know how a prayer…any prayer

might help someone when times are tough…

In the words of Meister Eckhart

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you

that thank you is enough

THE EVOLUTION OF MY PRAYING

 

Growing up in the Catholic Church the rules and regulations were so demanding…

but it was the dichotomy of the nuns behavior I had trouble understanding.

How they could be so brutal in their attempts to make us surrender and obey…

then turn around and act so angelic in the church pews as they pray.

Every day I’d pray not to be beaten…or humiliated…that today’s storm I would weather…

but my prayers went unanswered…so when I left the church I stopped praying altogether.  

It took me years to comprehend…to finally be able to see

my prayers should be intended for others…they shouldn’t be meant for me.

Now…I pray for a a world of peace…filled with joy and harmony

and I pray for the health and safety of not only mine…but of every family.

We have a friend who beat cancer once…only to recently learn….

after being in remission…her cancer has returned.

So I add her to my prayers…in her time of shock, uncertainty and woe…

I pray she will be here for years and years and years to watch her children grow.

I pray this is not her final storm…just another squall….

and that sword of Damocles hanging above her and her family…I pray will never fall.

I pray she lives a long and happy life….enjoying her friends and family…

I pray this latest cancer….becomes a distant memory.

Each day I pray for her and her family…that they be blessed with one day more…

Because, as I have learned over the years,…that’s what my prayers are for.

I have also learned this important lesson…in the life I choose to lead…

the more I pray for others…the less prayers I seem to need.

You’e welcome to add my friend to your prayers…and I will add your friends to mine…

Perhaps, one day, we will live in the world most of us are praying for….

once all our prayers combine.

THANKFUL FOR COLORS

 

Today I’m thankful for all the colors in the world 

It’s not unorthodox 

to be a person who enjoys every color in the box

who understands the beauty of each color

and knows how that beauty can extend…

when each color comes together

and finds a way to blend

OLD AND NEW FAVORITE COLORS

 

When I was young I remember owning a box of 64 Crayola crayons…

It came with a sharpener on the back too…

I remember of all those 64 crayons…my favorite color was blue.

With my blue eyes I loved blue flowers, blue birds…blue butterflies.

When I walked outside I was always astonished by the blueness of the sky. 

But I found once outside…the more time under that blue sky I would spend

my favorite color changed…from blue…to when the colors blend.

When raindrops fall from the sky just as the sun is peeking through…

my favorite color becomes a rainbow with a backdrop painted blue.

Sunrise is another favorite color…with its myriad of changing hues…

as it rises from the horizon on a canvas painted blue.

And I can’t omit sunset…another favorite color constantly changing in the fading light

also painted on a blue sky that slowly cedes it’s blueness to the night.

It’s funny looking back at how, over time, my favorite colors grew…

and how out of 64 original colors…it all starts and ends with blue.

Standing in front of a rainbow a sunset or a sunrise now I wonder…

If we all could see, like in nature, the beauty in how our colors blend

would our acceptance of one another’s colors increase….

we might even have new favorite colors as well…

we could call them 

Joy…

and Happiness…

and Peace.

THANKFUL FOR TRADITIONS AND CHANGE

 

Today I’m thankful for traditions and though it may sound strange…

I’m also thankful for the way traditions can grow and change

It was Socrates…a Greek philosopher who said…

long before there was a me and you….

The secret to change is to focus all your energy

not on fighting the old

but on building the new.

CHANGING THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS

 

Once upon a time there was a family…I imagine many of you can relate…

whose traditions on the holidays…they love to recreate.

Who would eat Thanksgiving dinner with all the family gathered nigh…

turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce…their desert…a pumpkin pie.

And sometime in the evening, after all the dishes have been cleared

It is time for PopPop to take a family portrait…it’s tradition…every year.

But divorce changed the family dynamic…which means we had to find a way

to celebrate Thanksgiving…not always…on Thanksgiving Day.

 

And then some of the family member grew up…and moved away…

meaning a seat or two wold be empty…around the table Thanksgiving Day.

Even though they cannot be there…due to their other obligations

when the family gets together they are in our hearts and conversations.

Next, two of the family members became vegetarians…

their distaste for eating animals they cannot hide…

So, when the rest of the family eats the turkey…

they are content with eating sides.

This year, after 35 years, of hosting…we celebrated with a buffet…

at the house of one of our children and his wife…Thanksgiving brunch…on Saturday!

All the family who could make it were there…and with a dog who would not be ignored

the family broke up into teams for a friendly game of holeyboard.

And when the game was over and all the dishes had been cleared

the family member with the longest arms took a selfie…our family portrait for this year.

Yes, once upon a time there was a family…I imagine many of you are relating

whose traditions on the holidays…they are constantly re-creating.

THANKFUL FOR SWINGS

 

Today I’m thankful for swings

for those feelings of freedom and flying that it brings…

I think Duke Ellington understood 

the wonders that they bring…

when he sang…

Life don’t mean a thing…

if it ain’t got that swing 

CHILD ON A SWING

 

What is it that makes us smile when we see a child on a swing

as they sway to and fro…laughing so innocently?

Perhaps for a moment we are reminded of the child we use to be.

Who would swing as high as our legs would take us…

how with each swing we’d try to make the swing set strain…

How we loved playing in the mud…and riding our bicycles in the rain. 

How without aid of on instrument…

we could be a one-man or one-woman band.

How we believed in Santa Claus…and made castles in the sand.

We remember that childhood is where we learned to love…

and are captivated by that thought…

for everything we know about love…is what we have been taught.

It is the same with honesty and kindness…

with forgiveness and generosity 

The same with showing tenderness and compassion 

for everyone and everything we see.

And we are humbled…watching a child on a swing

for we know if they are to grow up in the kind and loving world we’d like to see 

The lessons of love they are to learn…are our responsibility.

An awesome responsibility…

(Parents…you may now discuss)

for what our children learn of love…is what they learn from us.

And as the child swings back and forth…

here’s something else to contemplate…

By watching us our children can learn to love…

But:

They can also learn to hate.

And how do we know if love was taught to them…

If kindness in the world they bring?

Look to see if they still laugh as innocently when they grow up

as they did when they were young…

when they sit upon a swing.