It’s “Notewriting Day” at Heartspoken.com.

The first Friday of each month this year will focus on reviving the art of personal notewriting. I consider notewriting to be one of the most powerful connection tools available. 

Personal letters and notes usually have a simple purpose such as conveying thanks, news, sympathy, or congratulations, but not always. I recently read a moving and compelling article on the Edutopia website, a resource site for educators. Written by former teacher Elena Aguilar, it expanded my thinking about the purpose a letter can serve.

Teachable moments

Ms. Aguilar was working with a class of high-school-age emerging writers for whom English was their second language and whose writing was years below grade level. One Asian student recounted the heart-breaking story of her father’s brutal treatment years earlier in a Khmer Rouge prison camp in Cambodia. The psychological damage had turned this father into a street-wandering eccentric, yelling to invisible people and intermittently sobbing uncontrollably. The teacher felt her student’s sense of loss at not being able to talk to her father in a meaningful way. Aguilar suggested she write a letter to her father, even if he wouldn’t read it. “You can decide later whether you want to actually give it to him or not.”

Writing to her father seemed to be so therapeutic for this one student that Aguilar wondered if other students might have words and emotions pent up inside they didn’t feel comfortable expressing face-to-face. When she proposed the idea of writing letters to parents or loved ones as a class project, the response was overwhelming.

“They wrote,” Aguilar recalls. “They wrote pages and pages to fathers who had abandoned them, to parents who were in jail, to grandparents in rural villages in foreign countries, to relatives who had died, to older brothers trapped in gangs, to parents who worked long hours or drank too much or just couldn’t understand their emerging teenager.”

The exercise became a regular and popular activity in her classroom. It seemed cathartic for the students, even if they never delivered their letters to the intended recipient. When they chose to share their letters in the classroom, Aguilar reports, “they found commonalities across their languages and backgrounds they hadn’t known existed. Communities were forged through their stories.”

The connection power of a Heartspoken letter

“Communities were forged through their stories.” That sentence touched me deeply as I envisioned this healing connection.

Is there someone to whom you should write a Heartspoken letter? It may be a letter you never mail because that person has died, is absent, or in some way unavailable. Or maybe you will mail it and create a connection you thought was lost forever. Reaching out to a loved one with a handwritten letter might be the best gift you can give yourself this year, even if you never mail it.

Epilogue: Ms. Aguilar heard from her Asian student a few years later when the student was a junior in college. Since that first time in Aguilar’s class, she had written over 500 letters to her father, even though he was still hanging around on street corners, crying and yelling at ghosts of the Khmer Rouge. Inspired by the pain of her childhood and the perspective she gained from writing letters, this student decided to major in South East Asian studies and psychology. “I want to help kids, kids who are like me.”

Have you ever written a letter you never mailed? Tell us about it in the comments area below, or join the conversation on Heartspoken’s Facebook Page.

Photo credit: “Divorce Hurts” by “Pudding” via BigStockPhoto.com.

Introducing Connection Messenger and Guest Blogger B. Lynn Goodwin: author, caregiver, journal-writer

Note from Elizabeth/Heartspoken: One aspect of the Power of Connection that we haven’t explored is the notion that connections can change, and when they do, the connection tools that we need will change too. This personal story from Lynn Goodwin is one that many of you have—or will—experience. She uses journaling as a way to connect with herself, her feelings, and her situation. I’m grateful for these life lessons.

From Adult Child to Parent’s Caregiver

One Saturday morning in June, I got a call from my mother who said, “The strangest thing just happened. I was standing in the kitchen, and then I was in the dining room, and then I was back in the kitchen, and back in the dining room, and back in the kitchen, but my hand never left the refrigerator door.”

I knew immediately that something was very wrong. My suspicions were confirmed when she added, “Can you come up here?” My mother was a proud, feisty, independent woman. She never asked for help.

“I’m leaving right now,” I said, while I pulled on my pants and searched for a shirt. I grabbed my purse and keys and drove my Geo Prism to my mother’s condo in Rossmoor.

I found her sitting on the white sofa in her breakfast nook. She was still wearing her favorite red robe, and her body leaned slightly to the right.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“I’m fine as long as I’m sitting here.” Her forced smile was askew. Her body leaned to the right. “I called an ambulance.”

“Good,” I said, though it was anything but good. Responsible maybe, but not good.

She leaned towards me and whispered, “I need to go to the bathroom before the ambulance gets here, but I can’t walk. Do you think I could hold on to you?”

“Of course,” I said, hoping she could not hear my heart thundering in my chest. “Can you stand up?”

She braced herself on the counter next to the sofa, and together we got her up.

“Can I put my hands on your shoulders?” she asked.

I should have thought to suggest it, but I had never helped my mother walk before. I didn’t know what I was doing. I only knew that I was needed. It was a simultaneously heady and scary feeling.

I didn’t know very much about the power of connection back then. I had never been a wife or mother. I had never even owned a pet. I wanted to help without trespassing on my mother’s independence.

With her hands resting lightly on my shoulders, I guided her through the kitchen, across the living room, into the hall, and onto the toilet. I expected her to lurch and fall, but she never even gripped me tightly. I wasn’t sure I was helping. I couldn’t figure out my role….or hers. I did not realize that our connection was changing, and I was moving into the parental role. I wasn’t even sure I was needed.

That puzzling walk, in which my old role as daughter fell off and the role of caregiver began to slip on, became a metaphor for our new relationship, which lasted over six years. My task was to lead her so gently that she did not realize she was being led.

I had just been laid off from my job at Ohlone College. I’d planned to train for a career writing computer programs, but first I had to take care of my mother’s needs. I believed they were temporary. So did she.

Even after carotid artery surgery that summer, my mother insisted she did not need a caregiver. She was fine to live alone, as long as I came by every day, took out her garbage, drove her to her appointments, did her grocery shopping, picked up her mail….

Aging and caregiving sneaked up on us insidiously. She had needs. There was no one at home waiting for me, and I twisted my thinking until I believed she was doing me a favor when she begged me not to get a job because she needed me.

Journaling: Connection and Self-Care Tool

I didn’t have anyone to talk to about my resentments, so I turned to my journal. It let me vent, process, analyze, and find hope. It showed me the bigger picture. It helped me see what was beyond my control and see my mother and me in a new light.

I wish I had known that my mother had Alzheimer’s. It would have explained her inability to use the new microwave. It would have explained why her legs didn’t receive the messages her brain sent. It would have explained her endless grasping for the word “nectarine,” which she called an apple with a tiny core.

Eventually my journaling helped me understand that I was an adult daughter doing the best she could against insurmountable odds. As I continued to journal after her death, I accepted my choices. Journaling provided a record. It was my place to reflect, discover, and forge a new connection with myself as well as my mother. Journaling was my own, private, gift to myself.

If you are a caregiver, it’s okay to ask for help. It’s important to acknowledge that you have needs. If you take care of yourself first, you’ll have the strength and energy to be a gracious caregiver for your loved one. Journaling can help you care for yourself.

I could make my mother comfortable, run her errands, and help her out, but I could not stop the undiagnosed disease that was taking over her mind. After she was gone, journaling helped me see that I set unreasonable goals. It helped me forge a better connection with myself.

When the doctor insisted she move to assisted living with five other aging people whose offspring didn’t check in daily or weekly, she realized how devoted I was. She began thanking me repeatedly. We forged a deeper connection. I am grateful that she trusted me enough to put her care in my hands, and I am grateful for the insights I’ve gotten from journaling.

Has journaling ever been a helpful tool for you? We’d love to hear your comments below or join the conversation on Heartspoken’s Facebook Page.

B. Lynn Goodwin is the author of You Want Me To Do What? – Journaling for Caregivers (Tate Publishing). Her stories and articles have been published many places including Voices of Caregivers; Hip Mama; the Oakland Tribune; the Contra Costa Times; the Danville Weekly; Staying Sane When You’re Dieting; Small Press Review; Dramatics Magazine; Career; We Care; and The Sun.

A former teacher, she’s conducted workshops and written reviews for Story Circle Network. She also writes for StudySync, and Caregiver Village. She facilitates writing workshops and publishes Writer Advice.

Annette Petrick

Introducing Connection Messenger Annette Petrick, writer and narrator of the popular radio show Consider This. 

Don’t you just love people who embrace life and live it to its fullest, regardless of their age or their circumstances? With few exceptions, these folks have a positive attitude, an appreciation for the good things around them, and a natural tendency to want to share those good things with others. They also have a lot to teach us if we’ll only listen.

Annette Petrick is such a person. Business woman, speaker, community leader, wife, mother, grandmother, and lover of life, Annette is a friend here in the Shenandoah Valley, and she is the creator of a wonderful radio show called Consider This. It consists of daily 90-second broadcasts in which she presents stories, life experiences, and tidbits of wisdom that are dished up in just the right portion sizes for most of us with busy schedules. Sometimes they inspire, encourage, or motivate me. Invariably they make me smile or warm my heart. Here are a couple of audio samples:

Friendship

Accept Compliments 

Happily Annette has recently created a collection of these wonderful shows on her Consider This CD – Vol. I : A Heartwarming Collection About Life and Love. We’ve made it available here at Heartspoken, either from this page or among our “Gifts That Inspire.” I’ve also categorized this post among those in the Our Wisdom Spoken Project, because I believe these shows contain a treasure trove of life wisdom. 

The CD contains more than two dozen tracks with messages and lessons in short (less than two minutes long), easy-listening format. Track themes include Mothers, Friends, Coping with Life, Women, Spectrums of Love, Opportunity, and Lessons from Life. Whether you purchase the CD in its beautiful booklet case or in a deluxe boxed gift set, you’ll get the code to download a free 28-page bonus book with expanded writings on themes on the CD, photos, and the author’s personal story of life and love.

The CONSIDER THIS CD – VOL. 1 is the Perfect Gift:

• to celebrate
• to encourage
• to comfort
• to enjoy
• to reward yourself
• to show SOMEONE SPECIAL how much you care

Consider This CD Vol. I

 0007 Consider This CD – Vol. I – $14.95 ($3.00 shipping for up to five.)

Call 540-436-3969 or email Elizabeth at e…@heartspoken.com if you need more than five)

CD in lovely booklet-style jacket and enclosed secret code to download free Bonus PDF Book

Consider This CD Vol. I in Deluxe Boxed Gift Set

0008 Consider This CD – Vol. I in Deluxe Gift Box –  $16.95 ($3.00 shipping for up to five)

Call 540-436-3969 or email Elizabeth at e…@heartspoken.com if you need more than five)

CD and its jacket nestled inside a deluxe red gift box, ribbon tie, with a personalized gift card and enclosed secret code to download the free Bonus PDF Book

This wonderful CD is the perfect stocking stuffer, teacher gift and gift swap gift. Order today and order in quantity.

If you have any ordering issues, email Elizabeth at e…@heartspoken.com or call her at 540-436-3969. Ask us about special quantity pricing.

Annette enjoys your comments on her Consider This Online Facebook Page, and we always are happy to have you join the conversation on Heartspoken’s Facebook Page.

Great news!

As an official co-author of The Gratitude Book Project: Celebrating Moms and Motherhood, I want to share my gratitude with you with a special offer at the end of this blog post!

I was so excited to take part in this book, because thinking about having a wonderful mother — and now having a beautiful daughter — is so much a part of understanding who I am and connecting with what’s important to me.

You won’t be surprised that my entry, entitled “My Mother’s Gift” (page 193) is about the Power of Connection and the way my mother has always connected with me and my siblings in wonderful ways. It is also about other kinds of connection:

“The thread that connects us [me, my mother, and my daughter] is not just genetic. It is a thread of love and mutual respect as well as our connection to a larger web of wonderful women: sisters, sisters-in-law, daughters-in-law, aunts, and grandmothers.”

Inspiring stories from the book also include:

The Ritual, by Maureen Huntley: Maureen writes in appreciation about “the ritual” that her and her mother would not miss: getting manicures, pedicures and Starbuck’s lattes and then enjoy the sailboats drifting across the lake.  Two best friends that adored every last minute together, and not taking a single moment for granted.

And also:

A Drop of Love, by Laura Accardo-Williams: Laura expresses her gratitude towards her mother for giving her the capability to love her son so much.  Her mother passed on a “life-long legacy of love” to her which makes her want to honor her mother today, and everyday, because of her capacity to love. As a mother, her love has blossomed so much that what she felt as a child, was merely a “drop” of what she feels now.

I like to think that this book is the perfect gift for many special women in your life!

It is the ultimate Mother’s Day gift (and special for new or expectant mothers too). Pick up your copy of “my book” today on Amazon! http://amzn.to/gFZ30Z. Proceeds from national Amazon sales will go to Women for Women International, an organization that provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies.

SPECIAL OFFER:

 

Gratitude Ambassador Badge

Since we’re trying to reach “Bestseller” status by boosting sales on Tuesday, May 3, 2011, I want to make it fun. If you purchase one or more of these books any time to midnight on Tuesday, May 3, 2011, I’ll send you a set of Jackie Catterton’s beautiful watercolor notecards. To redeem this offer, just email me a copy of your Amazon receipt to elizabethc@heartspoken.com with “Mom Gratitude Offer” in the Subject line.

Welcome to guest blogger and Relationship Mentor, Sarah Anma. When I read the words “We don’t need drama. We need connection,” I knew this was something to share with my Heartspoken readers.

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When we think rationally, we would never say out loud that we “need” drama. In fact, most people would state that they avoid it like the plague. And yet, we shake our fists at a driver that cuts us off. Or we roll our eyes at a friend. Or we pick a fight with our beloved.

We don’t need drama. We need connection. We long for the feeling of belonging and loving. Often, when we don’t meet that need, we make mischief in order to achieve something! If we attempt to connect with our beloved and they are unavailable, it is all too easy to resort to a childish antic to get attention at whatever cost.

As a rehabilitating Drama Mama, the drama gets more and more subtle. As we shine the light of awareness, it can go underground so that it is harder to detect.

I still must be diligent about “poking the bear” as I put it. If I am in an emotionally immature state and don’t have the awareness to see that I am not getting my way, I may make some mischief to get a reaction, just to be sure that I still matter. I do not endorse this method!

Drama is addictive and flammable. When someone speaks of bad news and the listener gasps in horror that is putting gasoline on the drama-fire. Drama loves to be fed with re-enactments, exaggeration, and company.

This lousy and saccharine substitute for actual connection is dangerous to our well-being and the well-being of others.

Here are some signals of drama:

1. Worry or fantasy about things that are unknown/unseen and can’t be acted upon.
2. Taking on someone’s side to the point where you are having the same or larger emotional response as the person who is actually involved.
3. “Poking the bear” or making mischief in a relationship when things were going well.
4. Blaming someone else for our unhappiness.

Drama gets us off the hook for personal responsibility. If someone else is at fault or there is yet another “emergency,” then always we have an opportunity to shirk any responsibility for our own happiness.

Why would we do that? Because it takes a darn lot of courage to be happy and create a life that continues to grow and expand in that direction.

Your Assignment:

Can you see where drama has been holding you back? Are there areas where you could substitute vulnerability instead and get a more meaningful result? When you engage in drama, can you see it a little sooner and clean up any mess that may have been caused? Can you see where emotional immaturity is simply another form of fear of intimacy?

 

Sarah Anma, Relationship Mentor

Sarah Anma, Relationship Mentor, is founder of Art of Relationship which provides a proven step-by-step system for optimum relationships.  She helps frustrated singles figure and loving and committed couples to create and grow the love life beyond their wildest dreams.  To get your free CD, “How to Attract and Grow the Love of Your Life,” and receive weekly tips and tools visit http://www.artofrelationship.net.

 

Permalink for this post: http://www.heartspoken.com/2011/03/the-need-for-drama

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This may seem like a strange topic for someone who is passionate about learning to make and cultivate important Connections, but the cold hard truth is that all of our important connections with other people should also have boundaries. If you are someone who loves to do things for others, even when you don’t expect anything in return, you know that there are times when you get weary and resentful and feel that too many people “want a piece of you.” People in the caregiving fields are especially vulnerable: priests, physicians, psychiatrists and psychologists, nurses and social workers come to mind. Also at risk for falling into this trap are those caring for the disabled or the elderly or anyone with a chronic illness. None of us, however, is immune.

I confess that I am one of those people who has a hard time saying NO. I get involved in lots of worthwhile things, but from time to time, the perfect storm of circumstances arises and I find myself exhausted, mentally and physically. Then I become irritable and emotionally labile, and my poor husband bears the brunt of putting up with me until I get some rest and some perspective. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why don’t we recognize our own boundaries and respect them?

Family relationships are particularly fraught with boundary invasion. Parents put their children on guilt trips when they act like their happiness is dependent on a particular action or set of behaviors by our children (“Why didn’t you come see me?” “Why didn’t you call me?” “Why won’t you come for Thanksgiving?”). One spouse controls the other through guilt rather than through love.

I’m reading an amazing book by Henry Cloud called Changes that Heal (click on book image below), and it is offering lots of insight into the ways that people drift into unhealthy relationships and fail to recognize or honor boundaries–their own and the boundaries of others. This can include thinking you should take responsibility for someone else’s happiness instead of letting them take responsibility for their own. We can’t make someone else happy, so why do we keep trying? Cloud offers scriptural support for emotional maturity that embraces taking responsibility for ourselves and our own happiness and cultivating a clear sense of our own boundaries and honoring them. That includes stopping the ridiculous habit of thinking we can be all things to all people or that we can single-handedly save the world…or, God forbid, that some organization or event or project could not possibly manage without our participation. Oh, Guilty, Guilty Guilty!

Now imagine a life in which we get to know ourselves and cultivate a relationship with a higher power, so that our communion with whatever power that might be (Cloud and I call it God) guides us in the choices we make for the use of our time, our energy, and our money. There are millions of worthy things out there calling to us, but we are not supposed to do them all.

So when you get to the crux of the matter, it’s all about Balance: the balance between Grace (unconditional love and acceptance) and Truth, what is real…the way things really are.  Henry Cloud reminds us that Truth without Grace is judgment, but Grace without Truth can lead to an “I can do anything, since I’ll be forgiven” mentality. “Real intimacy always comes in the company of Truth.” Cloud suggests that when we graft Grace to Truth, we get Growth.

From a psychological standpoint, our identity develops around our uniqueness and our separateness from others. When we connect with others in a healthy way, it should not involve losing our own identity and individuality. Real relationship with someone else is not possible without a strong sense of self. “Boundaries, in short, define us,” Cloud says. “In the same way that a physical boundary defines where a property line begins and ends, a psychological and spiritual boundary defines who we are and who we are not. ”

So we must own ourselves, our feelings, and our unique personhood. We are responsible for cultivating and discerning our own gifts and talents. We are responsible for our own happiness. We are responsible for how we spend our time, our energy, and our resources. If we give from a place of love and understanding, that is healthy and generous. If we give from a sense of obligation or compulsion, we place ourselves under the Tyranny of Shoulds, and the potential for damage is huge, since it makes us feel out of control, so we resent those persons or things whom we think control us. “It’s the opposite of freedom and the opposite of love.”

In your own life, where have you allowed others to violate your boundaries? Where have you been insensitive to the boundaries of others?

Explore this topic with me further when I am interviewed by Sarah Anma, Relationship Mentor from The Art of Relationship website on her monthly World Relationship Summit on Tuesday, March 22 at 5pm Pacific time/8pm Eastern time. Our topic will be, “How do you draw the line between giving and giving too much?” Join us or listen to the recording later. Through her website and her professional work, Sarah provides a proven step-by-step system for optimum relationships.

Permalink for this blog post: http://www.heartspoken.com/2011/03/when-does-giving-become-giving-too-much

I have just returned from a workshop in North Carolina attended by about 23 power connectors, and I’m brimming with lessons learned. The Influence Style Indicator^™ workshop (a brand new assessment instrument from Discovery Learning) was sponsored by AvoLead, a strategic leadership consultancy in North Carolina that was co-founded by my sister, Sarah Albritton, and her associate and friend, Charles Eakes.

The workshop participants were almost all professional coaches with impressive credentials and wide-ranging areas of expertise including executive leadership, transition management, and organizational effectiveness. These are men and women whose defining talent is helping their clients get in touch with themselves and those with whom they live and work. As a serious student of the Power of Connection, I was in a gold mine! I made a point to meet every participant, and I also observed the way they interacted with each other. Some knew each other, but many were meeting each other for the first time. These master connectors were wonderful role models for anyone wishing to become a better connector. Here are some things they had in common:

1. Without exception, when they greeted me (and each other), they made eye contact, smiled, and offered a firm handshake.
2. Even in the most brief conversation, they asked me something about myself in a way that seemed warm and genuine.
3. If someone who knew my sister discovered our relationship, they spoke highly of her and her work. Since she is ten years younger than I, the ones who REALLY made points with me, commented on the family resemblance .
4. A surprising number were able, in a very short time, to find out enough about me to recommend a book, ask for my card, or make a connection they thought might help me. To do this they had to have been listening, paying attention, and asking follow-up questions based on what they heard.
5. Those for whom I’d written biographical profiles expressed appreciation for my work on their behalf.
6. A hallmark of their interactions was the spirit of mutual support.
7. When I returned I had emails from at least two people I’d met who were following up on something we had discussed.

These  high level consultants knew instinctively–or had learned–the simple, critical elements of making a meaningful connection with someone in a professional or social setting: eye contact, touch, listening, asking questions to affirm attentiveness and glean more information, identifying interests or acquaintances of mutual interest, and following up. Of course paying a sincere compliment — to another person or to someone their family — is always a wonderful way to connect with them in a way that is both affirming and memorable.

Practice these simple things until they become natural–always using them with authenticity–and you’ll find that not only will you make more meaningful connections, but you will be richer for the enlargement of your circle of influence.

Photo credit: Henk L. from Amsterdam via Stock.xchng

Nothing is certain and nothing can be taken for granted.

My planned “Happy New Year” wish to my readers seems hollow in the face of a phone call I just received telling me that a fine young man who was in my daughter’s high school class and whose parents are friends of mine was killed yesterday in a small plane crash here in the Shenandoah Valley. My heart aches knowing the pain and loss that lie ahead for so many who loved him. This community is reeling…it is just beyond understanding.

This Heartspoken blog explores the Power of Connection, but at times of tragic loss, even life’s most essential connections seem so fragile. We shout our “Why?” to the heavens and can’t hear an answer. Is our connection with God lost?

I believe that especially in the midst of tragedy or hardship, connections become even more important, and the strength of the connections we’ve made in good times will serve us well in the tough times. When we feel that our own faith is gone, we are sustained by the faith of others. When we don’t think we can possibly go on, we realize that others have rallied around to help us stand until we have the strength to stand on our own.

So I hope that those of us who find ourselves at the beginning of this new year in a good place of abundance and happiness will first give thanks for our current good fortune and then reach out to someone less fortunate. Write a note. Make a phone call. Pay a visit. Volunteer your time. Make a donation. Each is making a connection with someone in need. Each is adding life-giving water to the well of love from which we all need to draw eventually.

And if you are one of the many who are hurting, hungry, homeless, or hopeless, please remember that you are not alone. Don’t give up without looking for a connection to someone who wants to help, because the transaction of love is two-way. Without a receiver, there can be no giver.

Nothing is certain and nothing can be taken for granted. Strengthen those essential connections while you can.

Photo credit: Daniel Nabil- http://www.danielnabil.com/

Todays meditation on Acts 16:25-40 (in which Paul and Silas were singing hymns to God and inspiring other prisoners, even after they had just been flogged) from Forward Day by Day was first published in 1962. Authors are always anonymous:

“The world always listens when we Christians sing in our midnight hour. What wins people to Christ is not our sound doctrine or our beautiful worship or our high moral standards… It is the courage and joy which sings out from our souls when midnight misery descends upon us.

Deep breath…

I will be thinking long and hard about this. It resonates with my father’s teaching that the test of our character is always in the way we handle the tough times, not the way we conduct ourselves when everything’s going our way.

While the inspiration for this meditation is Christian scripture, I urge you to contemplate its significance, regardless of your religious persuasion. Your ability to connect with others…your ability, even, to connect with God…is, I believe, reflected in your ability and willingness to find gratitude and joy — yes, even courage — in the midst of your life’s darkest moments.

I remember some wise advice: just because we don’t feel grateful or joyful at any particular time doesn’t mean we can’t reach down deep inside and “act as if” until things lighten up a bit. I know this is not easy. I know that I do not always practice it. But I believe it to be good advice, and I am going to practice more from now on.

Just as an athlete’s practice prepares her for the actual race, practicing spiritual habits that I know to be sound and healthy will ensure that I am fit when times get tough. Then the song of joy that is so easy to sing now, when I see nothing but good all around me, will still find its way to my lips when I find myself in a darker place.

And when those we care about are in the midst of darkness or despair, perhaps the most important gift we can give them is the quiet comfort of our love and presence so that they have something to hang onto until their own song can find its way to their lips again.

Lord, use me as a conduit for your love. Help me stay spiritually fit so that when I face challenges or find someone in need, joy and courage will spring from my soul and bear your message of love and hope. AMEN.

Photo credit: Robert Proksa, Jaworzno, Slaskie, Poland (courtesy of stck.xchng)