I have this great note in one of my journals recently about how the adorables are with us (our precious grand baby girls) and what a blessing it is. I think the next note is about how the adorables are with us and any conceptions I had about my personal schedule are out the window, gone, history. Now that they are spending a few great weeks with their other grandparents I’ve found myself just staring off the porch or into space. I think it’s a type of pure shock. First all the joy of the constant chaos around me and now this strange quiet. My to do list awaits but it’s not getting done. And in a few days – I have the pleasure of getting girls again for a fast trip to the Gulf Coast to see if we can swim in the waters. Regardless – we SHALL goofy golf to our hearts content, soak up a little sunshine and come what may – revel in the pleasures of summer. Now if i can only check off all that yoga, errands, business, writing, and radio that should be done before I leave town.
Monthly Archive for June, 2010
A few days ago I asked a few friends and people at large if they would join me in taking a 30 day opportunity to pray for a stranger each day. I look forward to their words and impressions as the month of May wore on. IN the meantime, I’ve continued to pray for people I passed in the stores and elsewhere but as I was wrapping up the final pages of the Praying for Strangers book for Penguin I didn’t bring those words to this space as often as I would have liked. Rarely actually as I had to continue putting words to the page. But in the days ahead I look forward to writing more, sharing more, and listening more through this space.
One of the things that has remained paramount to me in my personal experience of doing this is that the newness never wore off. And some of the greatest comments from the strangers themselves have been “You inspire me. I could do this.”
Still – so many of these meetings are just when I least expect it, when I’m having one of those days where I refuse to tell anyone they are my stranger but the next thing you know – I’m leaving the jeep in park and making a beeline for woman in the parking lot. Now, don’t get me wrong – I don’t scream HEY Stranger from a distance. Little by Little, more and more – I put out my hand and introduce myself. And you just don’t know how strange that is for me in the middle of the day, in the middle of my deadlines and busy life -that is unless you read the book. Suffice to say the changes in me have been significant.
My awareness of other people and my ability to connect with them on a personal level has grown exponentially this past year. And this resolution thing? It looks like it’s moved in and taken up permanent residence in my life.
What’s your story? How has the month touched, challenged, or impressed you?
Thank you so much for joining the endeavor even if it was for only one day.
