 How many times in your life has someone asked you "How can I make your life better?" I have heard that question thousands of times. It has been asked to me and I have overheard it said to others, thousands of times. My husband is known for two things...asking people "how can I make your life better" and replying "never better" to the question "how are you doing?" When you are around someone who constantly says certain things consistently, you have the propensity to not really HEAR them. To take them for granted. So I overhear him asking people that question all day long. I tune out for the most part. Until today. Tom has been gone for over a week and I realized that his whirlwind of positive energy has left me in a quiet void. It's nice for the first couple of days. In fact I loved the solitude so much that I rarely even turned on music or the television. But after six or seven days I realized how much I rely on him and especially his positive “wake up, kick ass, repeat” attitude. It occurred to me tonight what an incredible gift that ONE sentence is..."how can I make your life better?" What? Someone wants to be of service to ME? AND, on the other end, be willing to hear the answer...AND be willing to actually DO something of benefit? What if we all lived our lives encompassing that one sentence? Can you imagine the waves of benevolence that would follow? This is my short love story. About a man who has taught me so much in a mere fifteen years. He is reading the book by Paul Williams entitled "Gratitude and Trust." That's the kind of guy he is. I admire him for some remarkable characteristics. Patience. Patience is more than a virtue. It is peace and faith. Caring. To be heard and to have someone CARE about what you say is a gift..."what can I do to make your life better?" Integrity. You can trust that he will do what he says he will do. These are all characteristics that Tom lives every day and because of his ACTIONS, he has made ME a better person. I love this guy. He says about himself that "he is a great place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there." Well I do live there, and I love it.
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Do you believe in miracles? After a historical drought in California, the sky opened up and the rain came down. People have been praying for this for more than three years. The dry earth was calling out for moisture, as were the critters. People were almost losing hope. The rain is coming in buckets and now the fear is that it will soon turn into floods that will overtake the parched land.
I took a friend to a meeting a few weeks ago and afterwards she commented to me that at certain times in her life when she was feeling especially hopeless, she would simply ask for a miracle. This struck me. I had never actually considered doing this. And there been times when I've really really needed a miracle. Like the time when Tom said to me "Denice, this is a God sized problem." And I said "Is this what complete powerlessness feels like?" And so that night as I lay in bed, I asked for a miracle. I know what you're wondering, did you receive the miracle? Well have I? I'm not quite sure. Often times what we perceive as calm and unchanging on the surface, underneath there's a lot being stirred up. I do choose to believe that the universe is conspiring in my favor. I think that as human beings we are constantly trying to "figure things out." We try and make sense of it all. But of course life's mysteries are just that. So I am patient. Not really, but I'm working on it! And even bigger than patience is trust. Because when you are searching and grasping for answers they will run as far away as possible. However when you're quiet and in a good place with yourself and YOUR God, that's when it all comes together. Maybe that's what happened with the rain. Just as soon as we let go of it having to happen, a miracle occurred. Or maybe enough people just asked for a miracle. "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” ― Søren Kierkegaard |
denice chenaultlet yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. -Rumi Archives
February 2018
body & wellness
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