In this moment, pausing, and listening…. and offering myself in openness to this day and to the One who made me.

Sending the two sympathy cards that I haven’t sent yet… and writing what those two fine people meant to me.

A doe looking into my front window, open-eyed, reminding me to put out those handfuls of dried corn for her….

Today’s response came immediately to me; no pondering this one. When I quit an administrative job where ministry was done third-hand. I downsized my life and my work and started doing something hands-on with people and community, face-to-face and shoulder-to-shoulder.

It’s the word “new” that stumps me today. Many of my activities are “variations on a theme” so I have to think of what is “new” – or possibly “REnewed”?

It’s often just the everyday irritations of life. So, I breathe. I remember that I’m held. And go on.

The “who” would be grandkids … but then there is also “community” in general, even at a distance these days. Being part of a people who need and depend on each other; people I can give myself and my heart to…

These daily questions cause me to ponder, and for that I’m thankful… This one caused me to think about a handful of people for whom and to whom I’m grateful. So instead of going into all of them, I will just say thanks to the Gratefulness.org folks for the ministry of their questions….

“The weeds you will always have with you.” Make peace with them, try to keep them out of the areas you’re actually cultivating for a specific purpose, but let them do their thing in the meadow and hillsides where they hold the soil together and aren’t really “weeds” anyway.

A question like this in the morning… because I sit here with my coffee and the question… and become aware of my breath. I look out the window at the snowy below-zero world out there and am grateful to be intertwined with it. I review in my mind the sweetness of grandchildren on my lap and the poignant face of my elderly dad on FaceTime as he struggles for his words. All of it, a gift because of the miracle of existing…

Scattering a little deer corn for the deer as they go through this incredible arctic cold; making sure there’s suet and sunflower seeds for the birds in their feeders…. Sewing/quilting … Having a grandchild to cuddle … OH and my morning coffee and a fire in the fireplace insert. Ahhhhh. Thank you, God, for all such small, simple things that bring such joy (and aren’t really small or simple at all).

I’ve learned how quickly I can get triggered into a state of anxiety and worry about problems and issues my elderly dad is facing – and his growing stubbornness, making everything more difficult…. It’s what I pray each morning, that I can breathe in God’s Spirit of calm…

Let me know when you remember! And my husband is from Ohio… 🙂

And thank you, Holly, for those reflections — and for reminding me that the other day I added learning Italian to my Duolingo practice, not to become fluent or even to go to Italy, but just to understand the structure and basics of the language! BTW, I’m in Wisconsin and I live in the woods!

Here’s a heartfelt “ditto!” to grandchildren – a precious combo of energizing and exhausting!

I’m going to pull out my cinnamon, cayenne and coconut oil right now and put it by the coffeemaker so I remember tomorrow morning! Thanks!

Oh, I need info on the cinnamon and cayenne in the coffee, Sunnypatti! I often do butter/coconut oil or MCT coffee – or with collagen peptides, etc – but I’m always interested in new variations, and the why of it. Thanks!

I am grateful with you for your Covid shot and hope you are feeling okay tonight after receiving it. Any temps or aches are normal. Be well and know you’ve got “peeps” out here who care!

Thank you, Holly.

Thank you for this, Howie. I believe that opening our eyes to our own often/usually/almost always! unacknowledged and unconscious white privilege is a huge first step. It has just been in the air for those of us who are white that we breathe and so we don’t “see” it …. A confessional attitude about this is one of things I try to practice in my life, too.