Saturday night - the 14th of April, 2018

My New Mantra........

I have a new mantra, and I have included it in a Thankfulness Post about a year ago,

 but these days I have added, as well as Thankfulness........ Acceptance!!! 

Praise What Comes!!!

Not only because it is a gift of grace, but also because it is a lesson learned!

I am so grateful for a long life, good health, wonderful children, 

a place to be independent, the looms, my stash!, 

the piano and the ukulele and the garden...a chance meeting with old friends,

(so few and far between and I usually see them at funerals!!)

 or a phone call.....oh my, I am besieged with things to praise...

But what I have learned is that I must praise what comes with all its imperfections, 

and lean into the years I have been granted gently and without any bitterness 

that the cutch grass grows 

along with the peonies, 

- that  I make mistakes in threading, or the shuttle skips over threads and I don't notice it until the weaving is off the loom.  

The bread pudding doesn't turn out quite as delicious as bread pudding used to, 

or the pork chop is not as tender and juicy as I remember they once were

when they came from the oven.

  The home-made bread is a little heavy.....and so is the loom beater 

that I used to be able to move around quite easily, as needed!!

One paragraph, and already I am whining!!!!!

Praise what comes!!  Never mind if it is not quite up to par!!!

 It is here, I am here, and life is good.

The neighbour's apricot tree is about to burst into bloom

and all up and down the valley the green leaves grow

and the scent of the orchards is heaven.

Here is the poem which inspires me into acceptance of life with its endearing imperfections!!

(In case you missed it first time around)

Praise What Comes

surprising as unplanned kisses, all you haven't deserved

of days and solitude, your body's immoderate good health

that lets you work in many kind of weather.  Praise

talk with just about anyone.  And quiet intervals, books

that are your good and your hunger, nightfall and walks

before sleep.  Praising these for practice, perhaps.

You will come at last to praise grief and the wrongs

you never intended.  At the end there may be no answers

and only a few very simple questions;  did I love,

finish my task in the world?  Learn at least one

of the many names of God?  At the intersections,

the boundaries where one life began and another

ended, the jumping-off places between fear and

possibility, at the ragged edges of pain,

did I catch the smallest glimpse of the holy?

This poem was written by Jeanne Lohmann

It is pinned on the cupboard to my left

along with a casual snap of me and my beloved...

smiling!

Happy days- Happy memories....

Praise what comes!!!