Most beautiful beggar, but oh the stress in those brows

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I have Haiti on my mind.  I was a young girl when I first heard of Haiti. My parents were discussing their plans to visit the country and I ignorantly asked, Where's that?  When they returned from their trip, they spoke to me of  incredible poverty and beautiful people.  My father looked down in thought, shook his head, said, such beautiful people, such a troubled country.

I've done what I could in the immediate.  I texted HAITI to 90999, which is the text fund-raising campaign launched by the Red Cross.  I did some research to see if there was anything I could do there.  Was there a group I could join? Did I have anything to offer if I went there?  I learned that my skills are not the ones that are needed.  I don't have medical training or grief training or any emergency response experience.  I learned that a person going to Haiti would need life support, a place to sleep, a way to eat, a place to dispose of waste.  My heart was in the right place but I don't belong there, I belong here.  Yesterday, I prayed. Today I'm packing a box of gently worn clean clothes and a couple of sleeping bags that I will take to a center gathering such items for distribution in Port-Au-Prince.  It doesn't seem to be enough but then again, maybe a clean shirt will land in the hands of someone who needs just that and maybe a sleeping bag will provide a bit of comfort through the long nights.

Estimates I've read say that one third of Haiti's population has been affected by this earthquake.  That's one million people.  Hard to imagine.

Earlier this morning I stood outside in the rain while Cheyenne took her time doing her business.  I was moving my feet back and forth, impatiently waiting while she selectively sniffed here and there for the perfect spot.  It was chilly, I was getting wet, and I shivered in my discomfort.  And then I laughed.  How convenient, the inconvenience I was experiencing.  Just a few feet away, my warm and dry house, electricity, clean water, food, anything I could possibly need or want.  Everything I take for granted as being there.

As I've been writing this, I've also been tuned in to the news, watched planes arrive in Port-au-Prince. A plane from Cuba with 70 doctors, a plane from France with water, food, chainsaws, emergency supply packs, a plane from China with medical supplies, one from Finland, one from Spain, Canada, the US Air Force. As I watched, I was struck by the amazing way that humanity answers a need, how we come together for our neighbors, how we are able to set aside differences and lend a hand. In the worst of times, the best of humanity is always among the first to arrive.

I hope they know:  we hear your cries, we grieve your dead, and help is on its way.

Unexpected

Be Kind

Last Monday, I posted about the ABC's of  Life, beginning with the letter A, Accept Differences.  I put accepting differences up front in my mind and kept it there as I went about my life last week.  It helped me, to purposefully consider our differences when I internally questioned something I saw or heard that I did not understand or agree with.  It helped me to consider, just to consider, that I might not know the whole story in that person's life before that moment that I was about to form an opinion. Doing so gave me pause to think before reacting, whether that reaction was action, words or opinion.  Doing so kept me open and appreciative rather than opinionated or close-minded. 

This week's credo is from the letter B. Be Kind.  Kindness is wonderful. It can be a tiny thing or an enormous gesture.  Either way, it doesn't have to cost a dime!  Wear a smile, share a laugh, hold the door open for a stranger, forgo that parking spot you're gunning for, wave someone in front of you in traffic. Listen, forgive, let it slide.  Donate, volunteer, take your time.  Kindness is limitless. It's not about getting credit, quite the opposite really, but the feel-good return is almost immediate.  This week I'm going to give it with verve.

The act of kindness shouldn't be reserved for others only; in fact, I think it's important to be kind to yourself.  With that in mind, I bought myself some bright yellow flowers this morning, and they are right now like a big yellow smile in my window.

Brown: dog, couch, blanket

A winter's morning walk

Promise

Nothing in my life is so bedraggled and beaten down as my courtyard is this winter.  It promises me nothing and shows me only wilted, brown and drooping leaves.  There is no grand palette of green, no eager buds, just a droning sympony of brown. 

But I know something.

As dreary and insignificant as it looks now, my little garden will return.  Before Winter, I groomed and mulched and prepared the plants for dormancy in the cold weather. And yesterday afternoon, I covered them with sheets to protect them from the forecast freezing temperatures of the next several days. Oh goodness, it's a pitiful site, my garden is.

The time will come, however, when the garden will return the care I've given it. Life there will be renewed and restored. I'm a perennial believer and I know that when those first warm rays of sunlight hit my little garden, it will re-awake with bountiful life. 

We are not unlike my little garden.  A hard freeze of dissapointment or pain can enter our hearts and settle in there, leaving us fearful or bitter with dwindling hope.  But if we have prepared our heart, if we have tended to its needs, groomed and encouraged its growth, if we keep our faith through the night, through the cold, if we believe that we won't always feel this way, something happens. In time, we find that our hearts thaw, that hope breaks through and blooms again, that love find its way back.  In time we find that our hearts re-awake with bountiful love.

And like my garden when it blooms and the scent of budding flowers floats in the air, a loving heart is a delightul thing to encounter.

Beginning with the letter A

Several years ago a good friend of mine gave me an inspirational plaque called The ABCs of Life.  On the plaque are brief suggestions or approaches to life that begin with a verb which starts with that particular letter of the alphabet.  I hung the plaque in my bathroom and whenever I take a good soak in the tub, I read the plaque and ponder the lessons and inspiration there.  Beginning with A, Accept Differences.

Can you imagine if we all accepted each other's differences?  Different skin color, different religion, cultures, political leanings.  Different backgrounds, experiences, reactions.  Can you imagine if we approached differences as opportunities to learn?

I think that the first step in accepting differences is to adjust our mindsets, to practice respect. My mother used to say that the world would be an awfully boring place if we were all the same.  She taught me the importance of respecting differences, or learning from the differences. 

Respecting other people’s differences, accepting other people's differences, what would that do to your life?  I'm going to practice the letter A on the ABCs of Life plaque, actively practice it.  I'm going to do so all week, keeping it up front in my consciousness.  Next week I'm going to move on to the letter B on the plaque and then each week for the first 26 weeks of this year, I'll move through the ABCs of Life.  Starting with A, Accept Differences.  Doing so won't  lessen the world's conflicts, but it might help me with conflicts in my own life.  Certainly, it will be eye-opening to learn where I am not accepting and where there's room in my life to practice respect and acceptance more often.

A simple wish

Happy new year to you!  It is my wish for you in 2010, and for myself too, that you keep your eye out for the beauty in the hidden places, the power of simplicity, the love that's always there, and that once you find it you let it in and you let it warm and inspire you and then you give it away. Work the magic that is in you and give that to the world, and watch the world work it back your way. Perfect harmony.



You know I love you.  XOXO