ten

:: we are human beings, not human doings

:: you are the universe in ecstatic motion -- Rumi

:: take time for the quiet moments, as God whispers when the world is loud

:: let us cherish our one precious life

:: gratitude is the sign of noble souls -- Aesop

:: i think i fall in love a little bit with anyone who shows me their soul

:: integrity is choosing thoughts and actions based values rather than personal gain

:: instructions for living a life . . . pay attention . . . be astonished . . . tell about it --  Mary Oliver

:: this is your day. make it stand out from the rest

:: grant me holy confidence

linking up with Five Minute Fridays

Day 12

“What a beautiful sight it is for God when a Christian mocks at the clatter of the tools of death and the horror of the executioner; when he defends and upholds his liberty in the face of kings and princes, obeying God alone to whom he belongs. Among us, boys and frail women laugh to scorn torture and the gallows cross, the wild beasts and all the other horrors of execution!”  -- Early church apologist Minucius 

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“Breaking the secret is incredibly freeing & empowering. ‘I own my life’ she proclaims by telling the truth about her pain. ‘This happened to me & I can do with it whatever I want to. You do not own me, you do not control me & you cannot hurt me or destroy me as I used to believe you could.’ To break the secret is to say, ‘Somebody hurt me. I was victimized & I protest!’” -- Secret Survivors by E. Sue Blume

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Inward happiness almost always follows a kind action. -- Father Faber (365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts by R. J. Palacio)

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I hope this day has been a day of rest and self-care for each of you.

Peace and blessings!

linking up with Write 31 Days

Plenty Left to Learn

I remember him answering my question. We had been discussing some warped perception I had about myself as a result of the abuse. I was embarrassed by the obviousness of his answer. How could I have not known that? Seen that? Was I just stupid that I had to be told something that made so much sense?

I saw this quote recently and it all came rushing back to me. The relief I had having someone understand, explain, and not belittle me. Except for myself -- I always did the belittling more than well enough.

I asked him if I were just stupid for not having known the answer. Was he appalled by my lack of knowledge? He looked at me quizzically and answered my question with a question. Did I remember being in school as a small child? Did I remember learning basic skills, like addition and subtraction? Did I believe I was stupid for not having known those things before having them taught to me?

Posed that way, clearly the answer was no. I had been uninformed. Ignorant in the truest sense of the word. I had needed someone to teach me, guide me. This was no different, he said. You cannot know until you have been taught. That's how we learn and grow. Taking in new information to help us move forward and grow into the people we want to be -- need to be. No one comes fully informed. 

I can still feel the fear of disdain, and the relief that he didn't think me stupid or foolish.

I read that quote, and I realize it sums up what was happening that day in his office. The beginning of this journey of learning about my past and putting it into perspective -- of unlearning the terrible lessons taught to me by the abusers. I have been and continue to be "intelligent enough to know there is plenty left to learn". 

Blessings!

Enough Is Enough

This is my Facebook profile picture right now. I need to see it ALL THE TIME. 

For years I thought I was the only one who struggled with this concept -- Have I done enough today?

Enough for what? 

To rest? To say I'm done? To have the right to exist?

What I'm finding out is that nobody gets to choose "enough" except me. I'm the one who says if my day or hour or minute is enough. 

I'm also finding out I'm not alone. I must not be alone because these kind of things keep showing up all over the internet

And this article  from the Washington Post that I desperately wish I could have read 15 years ago.

I am enough because I am me. Made in God's image. Loved and adopted by Him to live this life. 

Yes I want to make good use of my time here, but good use by His standards, not some outrageous, unattainable perception provided by the media.

So whatever I accomplish today -- whether it's writing or cleaning or cooking or dreaming -- it will be enough. Because I say so.

linking up with Writer's Workshop

Favorite Quotes -- Day 2

Quotes. How long do you have? Well anyway, here are (ahem) a few --

The unconscious mind writes poetry if it's left alone. --Stephen King

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that's real power. -- Clint Eastwood

That's the thing about books. They're alive on their own terms. Reading is like traveling with an argumentative, unpredictable good friend. It's an endless open exchange. -- Ali Smith

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God -- Micah 6:8

See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of the Father in heaven -- Matt. 18:10

She had a picture of the way things should pleasantly be, and she edited reality heavily to make it so. -- Laurie Colwin

You can never get a cup of tea large enough, or a book long enough to suit me. -- C.S. Lewis

Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.

Sometimes when you're down in the dark, you lose the will to come up. -- Sue Grafton

Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn. My God, do you learn. -- C. S. Lewis

There comes a moment in the life of every individual when reality must be faced. When this happens, it is as though some link between emotion and reason is stretched to the limit of endurance, and sometimes snaps. --Daphne du Maurier

From the time we wake up in the morning to the time to go to bed we look out on a world that is flat, open to interpretation, and sort of like a Rorschach blot. Mark Twain once quipped that "Life is one damn thing after another." Our days are like that. Something happens, then something else happens. A string of events until we fall back asleep. -- Richard Beck (Experimental Theology)

linking up with 31 Day Blog Challenge

Wendell Berry Quote

“The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it.” 
-- Wendell Berry

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

:: all the quotes that pop up on facebook

sometimes they are silly

sometimes they are trite

but I've decided I need those

silly trite quotes.

I can be a bit cynical and overly serious,

so they help me refocus.

:: phone calls from my dh.

he generally calls me 3 or 4 times

during the day.

it's nice.

he calls to tell me something,

or just to see how my day is going.

and he always tells me he loves me.

:: Precepts Bible study

we are starting back today after our

summer hiatus.

we will be looking at Daniel.

I'm looking forward to the study,

the chatter, the food, and just

hanging out with other ladies who 

love to study the Word.

:: sunshine.

we've had a lot of rain from the tropical

storm remnants over the past several days.

we needed it, so I'm grateful

for the steady rain.

the temperatures are lower as well.

this morning the clouds are breaking up and 

I'm seeing patches of blue and sunshine.

I am always grateful for variety in the 

weather.

:: for having a veterinarian in the family.

yesterday dd and I came in to find that

Yaya had eaten all of Etta's thyroid medicine.

actually we didn't know which dog had ingested

how much.

dh's brother is our vet, so dd called him.

we took the dogs over and while he "coerced" 

the dogs into returning the pills,

dd and I went to dinner.

the dogs are fine, although Yaya had

a little bit of an amphetamine rush.

Dr. P took good care of them and stayed calm.

and we got the family discount.

may you find grace, peace, gratitude, 

and blessings this day and every day

for more Thankful Thursday visit Grace Alone