Grateful Tuesdays

Thank you.

Thank you for this woman. For this home, this life. You have wrapped your arms around me. You have taken care of me. And times where my head is pulled out of the dark clouds around it, I see what you have done. And I feel it. I feel very taken care.

You are my shepherd. Goodness and love will chase me. Goodness and love will chase me.

Goodness and love will follow me. All the days of my life.

I was taken care of when I looked at the little pirate lord on his island. And I am being taken care of now.

Grateful Tuesdays

For my Trimet pass.
For Mary Poppins.
For my book.
For a Shakespearian passion project.
Her hair. And what she's like with a little wine in her. My playful girl.
For the satisfaction of flipping switches.
That the bus waited.
For the trust put in me.
For danger. Danger is so deeply important.
And for that reason: That Papa played shuffleboard last night.
For reconnecting with my old friend. We scratch the topsoil of our friendship and found it still fertile.

Grateful Tuesdays

Shepherd,

Thank you.

Thank you that I looked up in time to see the river.

Thank you for Lev Grossman and his friends (and enemies).

Thank you for the ring on my hand.

Thank you for the walk, all the walks, that things are tight and for the short wait for the bus.

Thank you for the leaves. For green.

Thank you for the free ticket.

Thank you for the book.

Thank you for the biting, chafing, searing beauty of faith. Thank you for the man who pointed it out to me.

Thank you for everything that man has taught me. For how overwhelmingly good things have been. And that everything will be okay. And that even if it isn't, it's okay.

Thank you for the prison break you are launching in my heart. It has been so slow, but why is it happening at all?

Thank you for my friend. That she makes me better. And feeds my heart. And holds my hand. I am lost in her, and she is lost in me.

Thank you for the people (person?) reading this.

You prepare a table before me. In the presence of my enemies.

Installment Number Thirty Eight...

"The scariest moment is always just before you start."
—Stephen King

Notes From a Country Called Fear

In Fear Country, you:

• don't decide.
• Don't choose at all. In any form.
• Don't choose a belief system. Don't choose a God.
• Don't offer thanks. If you thank somebody for something that's a form of choosing: You are embracing that one thing over another thing.
• Don't move forward. To choose one path is to deny all other paths. And who knows if those other paths were the ones you were really supposed to choose?
• Don't stop looking over your shoulder. The blow might fall any minute. Best to always keep one eye open.
• Of course, the idea of living a choice-less life is a false one: Every moment is a fork in the road (try not to think about that). This is where your god will come in, whichever, whoever it may be. Tarot cards, fortune cookies, or Jehovah-Jireh, they all serve the same purpose in Fear Country: Someone to whom you may reliably pass the buck.

2013