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Posts tagged ‘kindness’

Jun 8

Spirit of Generous Love

“Only love can be divided endlessly and still not diminish.”― Anne Morrow Lindbergh

WHEN WE BREATHE TOGETHER
A Blessing for Pentecost Day

“This is the blessing
we cannot speak
by ourselves.

This is the blessing
we cannot summon
by our own devices,
cannot shape
to our own purposes,
cannot bend
to our own will.

This is the blessing
that comes
when we leave behind
our aloneness,
when we gather
together,
when we turn
toward one another.

This is the blessing
that blazes among us
when we speak
the words
strange to our ears,

when we finally listen
into the chaos,

when we breathe together
at last.”

—Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons

Community.
Connection.
Communion.
Core to widening circles.
Woven and knit.
Empathy, compassion, kindness.
We belong to each other.
Love generously, without measure.
The only kind.
Breathing together.

“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” – Mother Teresa

Jun 3

Plant Rather than Weed

“Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen

“You will find it less easy to unroot faults than to choke them by gaining virtues. Do not think of your faults, still less of others faults; in every person who comes near you look for what is good and strong; honor that; rejoice in it and as you can, try to imitate it; and your faults will drop off like dead leaves when their time comes.”― John Ruskin

To walk in love.
With self and others.
Lightly and with kindness.
Yielding and merging.
May goodness be the lens through which we see today.
An instrument of peace.
Conduit of encouragement, laughter, joy.
The great and daily work of love in bloom.
Plant more, weed less.

“I believe that the first test of a great man is his humility. I don’t mean by humility, doubt of his power. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.”― John Ruskin

May 21

Angels for Each Other

“We need to be angels for each other, to give each other strength and consolation. Because only when we fully realize that the cup of life is not only a cup of sorrow but also a cup of joy will we be able to drink it.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

Hospitality, compassion, love
Yield, welcome, make space
To be angels for each other
To change the world and us in the offering
Give and receive
Cup of life
What each can do when it feels like there’s nothing to do
Be kind
Cast light.

“Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen

Apr 28

Sheltering Tree

“If there is any immortality to be had among us human beings, it is certainly only in the love that we leave behind. Fathers like mine don’t ever die.” – Leo Buscaglia

A Blessing for a Father
by John O’Donohue

“The longer we live
The more your presence
We find, laid down
Within our lives.
The quiet constancy of your gentleness
Drew no attention to itself,
Yet filled our home
With a climate of kindness
Where each mind felt free
To seek its own direction.
As the fields of distance
Opened inside childhood,
Your presence was a sheltering tree
Where our fledgling hearts could rest.”

Nine years ago today my Dad passed away.
There’s not one day that has gone by since I don’t miss our daily calls.
If we allow, time gives perspective, demands reflection, deepens gratitude.
He taught us with actions more than words. Consistency and fidelity.
Fundamental principles, foundations, truths that don’t shift with the wind, the times.
Be kind, humble, work hard, play too, say I love you daily, character matters, quiet strength, faith, family, friendships, forgive, let it go-most of it, gratitude, steadfastness, generosity, resilience, laughter, ask good questions and listen, check your facts, the ends do not justify the means, keep going, eyes on the road ahead, defensive driving, always fill the gas tank when it’s half empty, keep your promises, girls can do anything and are not second class, do your best and let the outcomes be what they will, let it roll off your back like water off a duck, finish well… so much more woven into a lifetime of being a good Dad and best friend.
If your Mom and Dad are still here with you, call, spend time with them.
Things change in a flash from before to after.
Yet love rooted remains.
Love well today.

“Grief never ends … But it changes. It’s a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It is the price of love” —Author Unknown

Apr 27

To Be Seen, To See

“How hidden the heart, Nance thought. How frightened we are of being known, and yet how desperately we long for it.”― Hannah Kent, The Good People

“We are all givers and receivers, we all need each other and are called to enrich each other.” – Pope Francis

My good friend Angi asked me to stop by yesterday to give me something.
She started art of needle felting recently.
She felted figures of Abby and Sasha for me, adding a tennis ball for Abby too – nailed it!
Beautiful detailed art, simple profound kindness.
Blown away!

In a world when we often feel unseen, we have the power to see each other.
What’s right in front of us.
To offer the generosity of seeing others, noticing, sharing.

That’s what Pope Francis did in and for the world.
That’s what Angi did in my world yesterday.
That’s what each of us can do each day in different ways.

Do not bypass, rush past, miss what and who is in front of you this day.
And let them know you see them.
We see ourselves when we see others too.

Kindness, acceptance, love feed the receiver and the giver.

“It’s beautiful when someone recognizes and appreciates us for who we are, for how we are, without trying to change us, and without any judgment. Unconditional acceptance is the truest form of love.”― Akiroq Brost

Apr 22

1 Comment

The Gospel of Love

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel.” – Pope Francis

“We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future, spread love. Be poor among the poor. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.” – Pope Francis

The Gospel of love
Walked out daily
Small acts
A smile, an embrace, open arms
Bridges not walls
Peace, kindness, inclusion, hope, diversity, joy, grit, flipping tables, listening, optimism, goodness, love
Sowing seeds, casting light, spreading love
Our daily call
Rest in peace Pope Francis

“This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.” – Pope Francis

Apr 11

Bridging the Gap

“You must learn to live on fault lines.”― Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted

For Loving When Differ­ences Divide Us

“This is a hard one.
How do I begin to connect
with someone so different from me?
How do I bridge this gap?
It feels wrong, like the beliefs I abhor.

Blessed are we who want included
in the wild and beautiful experiment
to find a common humanity.

Who desire to come into the gap
that separates human from human,
to love the stranger—
especially the one we really don’t understand
and secretly want to set straight.

Blessed are those standing in the gap,
In what can’t be understood.
To actively work on disproving
our own intuitions about another,
to begin to see what they see.

Blessed are we, swimming upstream
against the current of human frailty,
fears and emotions,
and willing to be wrong.

To reconsider.
And hold to our integrity
with kindness.
Desiring to map it out
and play the course,
instead of the one we made up.
And to discover that humility
is what makes change possible.

Grace is never neutral.
It works backwards and forwards in time,
conspiring to make wrong right.”

– Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, The Lives We Actually Have

To ask and listen
To consider and reconsider
To learn and grow
To choose kindness over righteousness
To offer grace and receive it too
To agree to disagree
To walk in shared humanity
Light breaking through the clouds
Less judging, more loving
Hard, good work
Go first.

“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?”— Marcus Aurelias

Apr 7

One Set of Footprints

“I do not forget any good deed done to me & I do not carry a grudge for a bad one.”― Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

Footprints in the Sand

“One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with
the Lord. Scenes from my life flashed across the sky. In
each, I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were
two sets of footprints; other times there was only one.

During the low periods of my life I could see only one set of
footprints, so I said, “You promised me, Lord, that you would
walk with me always. Why, when I have needed you most,
have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The times when you have seen only one set
of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.” – Margaret Fishback Powers

You are loved, belong and matter.
Not for doing, performing, productivity, status.
For being.
Many will walk through life and never hear this or see this in action.
Each of us can carry, encourage, be kind, considerate, compassionate.
There are days when we need to be carried too.
Carry when you can.
Be carried when you need.
One set of footprints.
It was then I carried you.

“We never know the quality of someone else’s life, though we seldom resist the temptation to assume and pass judgement.”― Tami Hoag, Dark Horse

Mar 25

Top Heavy Hope, Fierce Kindness

“There is really nothing more to say-except why. But since why is difficult to handle, one must take refuge in how.”― Toni Morrison

“Keep our anger from becoming meanness.
Keep our sorrow from collapsing into self-pity.
Keep our hearts soft enough to keep breaking.
Keep our outrage turned towards justice, not cruelty.
Remind us that all of this, every bit of it, is for love.
Keep us fiercely kind.”― Laura Jean Truman

Soft heart.
Gentle words.
Open arms.
Walking in compassion.
Bending and not breaking.
Choosing love over fear.
Top heavy with hope.
Fiercely kind.

“One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.”― Shannon L. Alder

Mar 24

Kindness Dwelling, Rising

“At some point in life the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.”― Toni Morrison

“There is a kindness that dwells deep down in things; it presides everywhere, often in the places we least expect. The world can be harsh and negative, but if we remain generous and patient, kindness inevitably reveals itself. Something deep in the human soul seems to depend on the presence of kindness; something instinctive in us expects it, and once we sense it we are able to trust and open ourselves.” – John O’Donohue, Benedictus

Oneself
One to other
Other to many
Self to neighborhood to world
Daily work of hope, resolve, consistency, steadfastness, principles, joy, kindness
Love overcomes fear, anger, othering, selfishness, lies, gaslighting, division
Love overcomes
The “thing” I can do, especially when it’s hard, not my first response
Walk in love

“Love is the only sane and satisfactory answer to the problem of human existence.”― Erich Fromm

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