I am grateful for understanding Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry’s advice
Which I offer to you with my affection:
“Love does not consist of gazing at each other
but in looking outward together in the same direction.
I am grateful for understanding Antoine de Saint-ExupĂ©ry’s advice
Which I offer to you with my affection:
“Love does not consist of gazing at each other
but in looking outward together in the same direction.
May we all be blessed
to know the kind of love Zora Neal Hurston wrote about….
even if only a trace….
The kind of love that makes your soul
crawl out of it’s hiding place.
As I watched the waves gently glide onto shore the other day
having rippled out from some unseen sailboat’s wake
I was reminded as a child how I loved to watch the circles form
once I tossed a stone into the middle of a lake.
I was mesmerized how out of one stone’s wake
perfect concentric circles would flow…
how each repeated circle began life small..
and how large each one would grow.
I loved watching those circles spread out across the lake…
in a silent rhythmic beat
until they found their way to shore…and rested at my feet.
Sometimes I would count the seconds…timing how long it would take
for a circle, once it began it’s journey…to find it’s way across the lake.
Now…as I remembered a time when the world seemed more innocent and calm…
I wondered…when did the stones we once so innocently tossed
turn into bullets and missiles and bombs.
And how is it our politicians….our lawmakers…our leaders…
after all these years still don’t understand….still do not know
the damage every bullet…every missile and every bomb will do…
and how far the circles of hatred they create will go.
How each bullet, missile and bomb they toss..
destroying buildings and killing people on their streets
will eventually have the ripple effect…and land back at their feet.
So while governments continue to toss their bullets,
their missiles
their bombs…
unaware, or worse, unconcerned with their ever-widening circles of hate…
I prefer to toss stones of love into my lake…stand on the shore
and see what kind of world those circles of love create.
I am grateful for understanding :
When a world of pain and sadness is all that I can see
I need only look to the innocence of our children
to restore my faith in humanity…
And grateful for remembering…
All children are accepting and generous and loving
all begin life with kindness in their eyes.
They know nothing of hatred,
hostility
and prejudice
until we teach them otherwise.
May we blessed to remember…
It’s up to us introduce our children to love and family
to nature…to the the wonder of imagination…and books
And help them to discover magic…everywhere they look…
But when we introduce them to hatred, war and prejudice,
destroy their families…their homes…their nature…ban their books
when we make survival the only purpose of their day…
What are they to do…
when we’ve taken all the magic away?
I love to watch a parent smile…love to vicariously feel their joy
when they point to the tiny newborn they created
and proudly say…That’s my baby boy.
Likewise…I love to watch a parent smile…
as if they’ve just uncovered a priceless pearl
and love to hear them proudly say…That’s my baby girl.
And no matter how old their child grows…
I love to be there to absorb their joy…
when they look at their grown child and say
He’ll always be my baby girl
She’ll always be my baby boy.
Even if they’re from different countries
speaking different languages…using different names….
when any parent talks about their baby…
the joy we feel is the same.
For no matter when or where or how
their lives together may unfurl…
they will always be their baby boy…
always be their baby girl.
I love when a parent smiles and says
when their child realizes they are L G B T or Q
I love you…whoever you know you are
and you’re still my baby too.
There is so much that is wrong with the world today…
so many things that needs to be saved…
so many behaviors and beliefs that need to be reversed…
I wonder if the best place to begin to turn this all around…
Is to remember the love all parents have for their children…
and make a pledge…
to save our babies first.
I am grateful for all the kind people
who have touched my life…
who’ve helped to change the way I see…
who have played a part in creating
the person I’ve come to be.