Thankfully GOD is patient

In despair, I said to GOD, “So what am I here for?”

 

“What is my purpose?”

 

And GOD answered as he does probably more often than I know because sometimes I’m not listening.

 

But this time I was.

 

And let me just say that Yes, GOD is he to me, male, because that’s what I grew up with.  I was talking to a man when I said my prayers as a little girl.  Later on it was still a male when I was passionately declaring

 

“Of course there’s no God that I can possibly understand.  Show me the PROOF!”

 

So yes, he’s still a male, though I’m sure that given enough effort I could talk to a woman.  It would be the same person/entity/GOD either way.

 

Anyway he gave me an answer.

 

And what did I say ?

 

“F  k you!”.

 

I can be horribly rude when challenged to do something, especially when I know it’s what I SHOULD do, what I could do, that it’s the next best thing TO do.

 

GOD just laughed in that rich, deep, loving way that he does.

 

Oops that’s a woman.  But it’s the same level of joy, either way.

 

So patient.

 

He knows me so well, does GOD.

 

He understands

 

and when I respond like that, he just laughs, waits and comes back later with the life challenge I need to overcome to make the changes he suggested in the first place.

 

He’s like that – not just instructions, but experiences to make them easier to implement.

 

Thankfully GOD is patient!!

,

Build the strength of your connections, your tribe and witness your growth

 

Your unique way of breaking and growing stronger creates connections.

 

Share the story of your descent into broken-ness

and your rise out of that to strong and whole,

whatever that means to you.

 

It will create connections,

friendships,

maybe even a tribe,

with those who are breaking,

and those who have rebuilt.

 

This is our year, my friends

our year

to own our stories

to grow,

to share those stories

to prosper

to live stories worth the telling

and to make if only our own part of the world

the best it can be.

 

Let’s DO this

together!

 

Because while resolutions and positive thinking are fabulous,

you and I both know that there will be breakages, down times, sometimes ugly times.

 

Those are the times to do two things

…  look towards the growth, the up times, the beauty (even if it’s only the next door garden’s geraniums!!)

and

…. remember those connections, that tribe?

 

It’s not just you telling them stories, they are also telling theirs and

 

I know that in the hard times, the lost times, the despair time

 

if I turn to them and listen

I will, you will, find that connection,

along with the ideas and models

that will allow you to access the inner wisdom

for re-writing your own story

… from them.

 

So yes

Let’s do this

TOGETHER!

The local Kookaburras

This is our back yard.

I feed these characters on a regular basis.  There are nine regulars.  Obviously two had business elsewhere when this photo was taken.

Most will take the food from my hand.  They had learnt to open their beaks and I could throw the food in, but then the marauding butcher birds would swoop at just the right moment and catch it mid-way between me and said beak.

They all have their own personalities.

Different ways of opening their beak.

Different ways of taking food from my hand from delicately picking it out from between my finger and thumb to taking half the length of a finger along too.

Different engagement with me, from the one who likes to take the food and then drop it, and look me in the eye as is to say “Tricked you!” to the one who is a mite fearful, will not eat out of my hand but will stay, nervously, if I throw from a metre and a half away.

And they obviously have a status order of some sort.  Some will not eat if another particular one is there, or is not there.  Some will argue with certain others, cackling angrily.

I can imagine the first settlers to this country first hearing the sound of a “Laughing Jackass” and being totally freaked by it.  It is eerie!

And, of course, they will insist on sitting really close together if they are friends, which means that they will help themselves to their neighbour’s food if he gives them half a chance.

It is an enormous privilege to be able to interact with them,

and an enormous pleasure!!

I visited you today. Did you know?

I suspect not. I didn’t feel you around anywhere.

I look down and think of you being cosy and safe in there, under the ground and the sprinkling of crusher dust or stones or whatever they are.

I wonder why they are there – to stop the soil being eroded maybe.

I know it’s not cosy down there, but the thought makes it all more bearable somehow.

It seemed appropriate to visit today when the day is so very grey … and yet as soon as that thought came I dismissed it.  Because, despite everything, you shine – you shone then and you shine now – a beautiful , strong, glow of love and of life.

I was happy to notice the flowers today.  I missed them somehow the last visits and on the day you were buried.  Were they there then?  I don’t know, but I’m glad they are there now.  I’ve a long way to go with my photography!!  But here, as in life, you have colour around you.

 

I like that view as I talk to you.  Behind us, it’s a bit gloomy, but the trees remind me of home and they are so Australian – and no doubt they block out the noise of the freeway just behind them.
And opposite those, beyond the flowers and the headstones is the suburb – known for its low-income families, retirees, single mums fighting to raise decent kids – wait – that was you, once.  You lived there in one of your escapes.  Perhaps this really is going home for you.
You really did do a hugely good job, surviving the stress and horrible times and raising such beautiful kids.  I think you probably know that and always did – particularly where the kids were concerned.  I just wish you hadn’t had to pay such a price.  But then you bore it with such good grace, such good grace.
I’m not sure why I visit this place, when I can talk to you any time, any where.  It just seems right – paying homage, maybe, focusing on you and all that you stood for, and all that you gave.
And this is what we coaxed and prodded for – a place to visit you.  Thank you so much for allowing it.