Blessings: Memory
Today I give thanks for the love that I receive and that which I am able to give. I also appreciate the bike ride I took last evening, ending as the sun was going down on what had been a beautiful weather day.
Today's blessing is MEMORY. Listen and watch Blessings here. It's worth repeating.
Source of all blessings, you bless us with MEMORY--that sacred ingathering of the past into the present that allows us to recognize faces, learn poems by heart, find our way back when we are lost, and bring forth old and new from its nearly inexhaustible store. May I know what to forgive and forget and what to retain and treasure, keeping in mind the smallest kindness shown to me and spreading its ripples for a long time.
I am thinking, and feeling, this morning the loss of not being able to see the faces, in person, of people who matter in my life; family members, recovery friends, colleagues. Seeing them on a screen is not the same. It is memory though, that allows me to conjure in my mind's and heart's eye, each individual face and the true connections we have.
I appreciate and see more deeply the two faces I have seen in person the most in recent weeks...those of my husband Darcy and my son Sam. I see them in new ways as these challenging times of pandemic circumstances continue to unfold. New memories are etched on all of our faces. This is a time we won't soon forget.
"May I know what to forgive and forget and what to retain and treasure . . ." I have done hard and necessary work in this area the last couple of years. Pain and complacency brought me here, and the work is bringing me through. In many ways, my gratitude practice has been doing this same work for decades. In finding the blessings, many of the curses of a day in the life of Lisa fade away.
The curses tend to come from within. The blessings flow from many sources and help me see myself and the world around me in a much healthier perspective. Work remains, but memory helps me see the progress I have made. I treasure the memories that stretch from little girl to middle-aged woman.
They have all shaped me in to the person I lovingly see in the mirror these days. That is a blessing like none other.
Today's blessing is MEMORY. Listen and watch Blessings here. It's worth repeating.
Source of all blessings, you bless us with MEMORY--that sacred ingathering of the past into the present that allows us to recognize faces, learn poems by heart, find our way back when we are lost, and bring forth old and new from its nearly inexhaustible store. May I know what to forgive and forget and what to retain and treasure, keeping in mind the smallest kindness shown to me and spreading its ripples for a long time.
I am thinking, and feeling, this morning the loss of not being able to see the faces, in person, of people who matter in my life; family members, recovery friends, colleagues. Seeing them on a screen is not the same. It is memory though, that allows me to conjure in my mind's and heart's eye, each individual face and the true connections we have.
I appreciate and see more deeply the two faces I have seen in person the most in recent weeks...those of my husband Darcy and my son Sam. I see them in new ways as these challenging times of pandemic circumstances continue to unfold. New memories are etched on all of our faces. This is a time we won't soon forget.
"May I know what to forgive and forget and what to retain and treasure . . ." I have done hard and necessary work in this area the last couple of years. Pain and complacency brought me here, and the work is bringing me through. In many ways, my gratitude practice has been doing this same work for decades. In finding the blessings, many of the curses of a day in the life of Lisa fade away.
The curses tend to come from within. The blessings flow from many sources and help me see myself and the world around me in a much healthier perspective. Work remains, but memory helps me see the progress I have made. I treasure the memories that stretch from little girl to middle-aged woman.
They have all shaped me in to the person I lovingly see in the mirror these days. That is a blessing like none other.
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