Undo
If only we had a Control Z to wade through life when we made a mistake. Oh, but we do.
When I’m filled with gratitude, thankfulness regardless of the circumstances, I have a much better chance of weathering the storm and staving off a deepening negative attitude.
But how does one be thankful when the wheels fall off? How does one give to others when consumed with self. Thinking of others to start with is a good weapon.
And support systems are a good place to begin. Usually friends and family are busy helping you, and if you’re worth your onions you’ll be thinking of them and their needs. That usually comes back is ten-fold anyhow.
Reminds me of my dog, Brinkley, and her unconditional love. When we moved from the country to the city, we went from a country environment where she was well loved to a city one that thought she was a nuisance. My beagle instinctively picked up on the difference and didn’t thrive in her new environment. It was the opposite with her master.
I know I like to be around people that want to be around me. We encourage and feed each other. Iron sharpens iron. When we think of others and have their best interests at heart, its like the prayer of Assisi says, we are awakened.
If we’re busy giving thanks and gratitude and genuinely like being in the company of others then it goes without saying. Others can’t help but feel it. And that is building the kingdom of God.
Poor Brinkley latched on to my friend Marie because Marie genuinely loved her and she could feel it. She loved going over there. And consequently Brinkley was her best self. And when she was happy, I was happy. It came full circle and then some. Same with myself. Feeling loved and supported, I could be my best self. And when I was my best self hoers could be theirs.
Its all about what we bring to the table, not take from it. That will be our step ladder out of the doldrums and into peace. An unconditional Control Z.
St. Francis has it bang on all along. Long before computers.
The Prayer of Assisi
Make me an instrument of thy peace
That where there is hatred, I may bring love,
That where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness.
Where there is discord, I may bring harmony
That where there is error, I may bring truth
That where there is despair, I may bring the hope
That where there are shadows, I may bring light
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord grant that I may seek to comfort than to be comforted,
To understand than to be understood,
To love than be loved.
For it is by self forgetting that one finds,
It is forgiving that one is forgiven.
It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
Amen.