YES, what a great morning! I saved my PBear letter to read this morning for a change, as an attempt to start my day off on a better note... this week has been just a weird week, so I thought his letter in the morning would help. It most certainly did. As always.
The synchronicity of my life and the life of my Bear never ceases to amaze me... we rarely speak on the phone, he does not facebook or email, we simply have our weekly letters to one another... yet he always writes exactly what I need to read. Without fail. It is almost as if there is a recording device in my brain with a livefeed to my PBear's heart... this would be a scary thought! No heart attacks allowed :)
So today... I actually woke up feeling decent. I checked my facebook feed while having my tea... I will write about my switching from coffee to tea when it actually sticks... before sitting down with my letter, pad of paper, and pen. I typically check my facebook feed for news or traffic, but I noticed a childhood friend had quoted the Shack... "Life takes a little bit of time and a lot of relationship." Now I have not seen references to the Shack in over a year. But this quote seemed appropriate. So I was ready to write it in my response to PBear letter.
First, I had to read the letter. Lo and behold, PBear mentions the Shack in his letter... "..if anything matters, then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the Universe changes. Every time you reach out to touch a heart or a life, the world changes. With every kindness or service, seen or unseen, God's purposes are accomplished and nothing will be the same again." (THE SHACK... sounds like Ram Dass as PBear says)...
Not only is this interesting that he would mention this at a time I need to hear this, the fact that he is reading the Shack is the kicker. He and I are so similar when it comes to organized religion and sometimes share each others cynicism. See, it took me quite some time to read the Shack because I had this preconceived idea and notion that it would be like church, or confuse me, condemn me, and chastise. Those of you who have read this book know that this is nowhere near the case. Those of you who have not read the book, please do. Here's a very small giveaway- God is a large, black woman called "Poppa" and Jesus is a Palestinian labor, and the Holy Spirit is sort of Hindu... if this doesn't scream open-mindedness, I am not sure what will! Read it :)
Back to the quotes mentioned, I must reflect on PBear's quote... from the Shack... At first, I was thinking, that's what I need to do... I need to re-read the Shack. Which maybe I do. But then I thought, let me re-read the quote... yes. This is it. This is what has been lacking in my life lately. Reaching out, taking an action, being kind. Sure, I do this in some ways, but not nearly as much as I once did. I remember the days where I was of service every single day... my life felt complete, I felt accomplished, I was seeing others grow and glow. Maybe what has been missing since I moved to Tampa is I have substituted that with work, graduate school, TV time with China (hey, don't judge), general activities that revolve around me and not enough activities that revolve around you... or you... or you... You get the point. So thank you to PBear and the Shack this morning for opening my eyes. I will return to my "helper" roots one way or another. For this is when the world changes, my inner world, and outer world, this is when purpose is accomplished...
Speaking of, this was my quote to myself today... it just appeared... "It seems we are overly distracted by personalities and politics when really we shall be eagerly directed by principles and purpose" Again... the timing... very good stuff
FLY <3
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