Uncommon

An uncommon life.
That's what he called it.
That's what we have - an uncommon life.
I tend to agree.
And I am indeed grateful.
...
Reminds me of a song.
And of the way I want to live.
I want to lend my voice only to sounds of freedom.

Don't worry mother

It'll be alright

And don't worry sister

Say your prayers and sleep tight

And it'll be fine

Lover of mine

It'll be just fine

And lend your voices only

To sounds of freedom

No longer lend your strength

To that which you wish

To be free from

Fill your lives

With love and bravery

And you shall lead

A life uncommon

I've heard your anguish

I've heard your hearts cry out

We are tired, we are weary

But we aren't worn out

Set down your chains

Until only faith remains

Set down your chains

And lend your voices only

To sounds of freedom

No longer lend your strength

To that which you wish

To be free from

Fill your lives

With love and bravery

And we shall lead

A life uncommon

There are plenty of people

Who pray for peace

But if praying were enough

It would've come to be

Let your words enslave no one

And the heavens will hush themselves

To hear our voices ring out clear

With sounds of freedom

Sounds of freedom

Come on you unbelievers

Move out of the way

There is a new army coming

And we are armed with faith

To live, we must give

To live

And lend our voices only

To sounds of freedom

No longer lend our strength

To that which we wish

To be free from

Fill your lives

With love and bravery

And we shall lead

And lend our voices only

To sounds of freedom

No longer lend our strength

To that which we wish

To be free from

Fill your lives

With love and bravery

And we shall lead

A life uncommon

- Jewel

Clouds and rainbows and perspective

I think about perspective a lot.

Good days and bad

Thorns and roses

Bad news and good news

Sun and rain

Clouds and rainbows

I seem to realize that I need to remind myself to keep perspective when things start to feel one-sided.

So that’s what I do. 

I remind myself that roses come with thorns.

(Or that thorns come with roses!)

That there will be good days and bad.

That life is fleeting and I can choose to cherish the moments.

That we will hear both good and bad news

And now I am also reminded of yet another perspective by one of the most inspiring people in the world, Maya Angelou. She reminds me that there will be clouds but there are also rainbows.  Her words challenge me once again:

  

“The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so that you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud.  Somebody that may not look like you…  or speak your language…  but be a blessing to somebody.  That’s what I think.”

...

This.
This is what I want to be about.
Yep.

Otherwise

I got out of bed on two strong legs.

It might have been otherwise. 

I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach. 

It might have been otherwise.

I took the dog uphill to the birch wood.

All morning I did the work I love.
At noon I lay down with my mate. 

It might have been otherwise.

We ate dinner together at a table with silver candlesticks. 

It might have been otherwise.

I slept in a bed in a room with paintings on the walls,

and planned another day just like this day.

But one day, I know, it will be otherwise.

- Jane Kenyon

Capture the moment

I’ve been feeling thankful lately - in ways that I struggle to express.

Thankful for blessings that I didn’t expect to have and that could so easily be gone.

Thankful for things that seem so normal, but are really extraordinary.

So rare. 

So precious.

Blessings to be cherished.

Celebrated.

Appreciated.

Blessings that I want to hold close while somehow still holding them loosely.

Freshly blooming flowers and other delights are so fleeting - so they must be enjoyed in the moment or the chance will be gone.

Oh, the wonder.

The astonishing sweetness.

The moment.

How do I capture it?

How do I catch every drop?

The only thing I know to do is to notice.

To linger.

To celebrate.

To breathe deeply.

Again. 

And again.

To give thanks.

To wonder.

Roses and thorns and two lists

One of the great joys of our move has been all of the new people we have met.  Neighbors, people we meet here and there in our new networks, the regulars at the cafe next door, etc.  So many great people.  I was astounded by the fact that within the first week here we had already met more people than during the entire year in Clio - or at least it seemed like it!!!  Everywhere we turn, people are so friendly.  

It is fun to get acquainted and learn the stories of the people we meet.

Everybody has a story.  

Some of the stories are fascinating or exciting.

Some are just ordinary stories but even ordinary stories can get interesting if we take the time to listen.

Some are difficult stories.  

Some stories are inspirational.

Some are complicated.

...

Lots of people have sad stories.

One of our neighbors has a very sad story.  
He is dealing with some serious setbacks that have changed his story drastically and made life much more difficult.  Every time we bump into him or I even think about him I feel sad.  I feel sorry for him - because his story must be so discouraging.  I find myself wishing I could help him make his story better.  Being around him makes me almost want to hide our story - because I don’t want it to make him feel badly by comparison.


We feel so blessed.

Sure; there have been hard times in our story as well.  Now and then FB reminds me of some of those rough spots that happened “on this day” in some other year.  And sometimes one of those hard days pops up right in the middle of the calendar.  There are enough difficult things in all of our lives that we can find them pretty easily if we’re looking for them.  

That is one of the reasons that I have set up certain challenges for myself.  Like my Thankful Thursdays - a practice that I came up with a few years ago and still do now and then.  A discipline to help me focus on the things I can be thankful for.  A reminder that I can choose to enumerate my blessings. An excuse to celebrate whatever I can find to celebrate.

…

Thorns and roses

I can enjoy the beauty of the roses even while paying enough attention to the thorns that I don’t get hurt too badly.

…

Seth Godin, one of my favorite bloggers, advises us to write two lists and then tells us what to do with each one.  

“You get to pick which list goes where.”

Making the lists probably won’t be hard - nor will it be a tough call which one goes where.  Perhaps the tricky part will be the follow-through.  

Take a look at his proposal...

Which list will you put where?