by Liz | Aug 15, 2008 | main
This week has brought much joy – much good news. There was a college graduation, a job offer, a contract on a house (in this market, that is cause for great joy) and the imminent arrival of a second granddaughter.
It also brought up my dispairing side. I found myself thinking – “OK – where’s the bad news? Life can’t be this good.” It seems I hold some deep-seated opinion that I am not worthy of having so many good things. I am not worthy. If there is joy in my life, sorrow must be lurking around the corner, ready to pounce.
I’ve been focusing on gratefulness. On accepting with joy the wonderful things that happen this week. Easier said than done. Even when I look back over the week, I see some frustration. The phone line was cut by the plumbers, and we had no phone or internet for 2 days. The work the plumbers were planning to do went awry.
Funny — looking back, those “bad things” just didn’t even register.
I am grateful. I am happy. I am thankful. And that’s a good space to live in.
by Liz | Aug 10, 2008 | main
Graduation took less than 2 hours. No guest speaker. New PhD’s hooded all together at the same time. But, every name got called, and it was streamed over the internet, so my mom got to watch Daniel cross the stage. She probably had a better view than I did. It’s done. The cap and gown turned in and the diploma picked up.
In the car going over to campus, (6 of us crammed into a Forerunner that could actually handle 5), my daughter made a comment about all 3 of them now being college grads. The tears welled up in me. Tears of pride. Tears of joy. Tears of loss. You spend their childhood preparing them to grow up and leave and have their own lives. You pray over them, yell at them, hug them and cry for and with them. You wonder if they will ever grow up!
And then they do. The chicks leave the nest under the power of their own wings. And, you cry, just a few tears, once again.
God has no grandchildren. I know that they are just as much “child of God” as I am.
Just as happens over and over again, a new day is dawning. I wonder what it will bring.
