enlightening conversations

After having a conversation with a girlfriend last night, I sat and pondered a few things over in my head. My friend talked about her sibling who was resentful that they had grown up "poor". He is now on the wealthier side of the pay scale due to hard work and discipline. She talked about how he wanted to talk to her about how disappointed in her that she had been in an abusive relationship and never got out of it SOONER. She went on to say that he never talked well of their parents, never wanted to go back to "home" and generally
was relagating his parents to "done and to be forgotten". His conversations with her tend toward all material things; house, car, trips, and stuff that you need money to have. She talked about feeling sorry for him and how very difficult it was to be around him. This guy sounded to me like a character out of a movie, one that I would not like, one that I never want to become.

It once again brought home all the things I hold dear in my life, it's not the material things that bring tears to my eyes or pull at my heartstrings. It's my kids - knowing they are in good solid relationships with someone who loves them; it's my husband - who is always brings laughter to my life and on more than one occassion flowers to warm my fanciful heart; it's my friends who carve time out of their busy schedules to stay in contact with me. It's a card that holds remarks from co-workers that mean my spending more time with them than my family means I have touched their lives in some small way beyond WORKING together.
Its common every day things like the sunshine on half of the tree across the street that brings the top half of the tree to brilliant gold while the other half remains a soft warm brassy color....but it's lovely to behold.

It's simple things.....yet some so complicated....like forgiveness.
Forgiving and letting go. I was doing the dishes at the sink last night and I thought about the Lord's prayer. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." That line has always brought me up short when I say that prayer. I always am slow to say the next line....because my mind seems to wander to those people whom I need to forgive in my life...those that I need to require forgiveness from. Truth be know, I could stick on that line for a long period of time....and then forge ahead to the next after calling on the Lord to bring names to my mind that I should be forgiving. okay, for only a moment....I had the words "dirty deeds done dirt cheap" float through my head. but...a dirty deed is never done dirt cheap if your trying to walk the "Path", right? a callous word spoken; a hurtful opinion; a broken relationship gone unmended; these type of things don't come cheap. The cost to the spirit of a person, it's a burden carried that weighs heavily and over time if you carry too many you become unaware of the burden you carry and someway somehow you seem to want to share that burden with the next person so you snap out a comment, a hurtful response, the heaviness of carrying that load is somehow equated with "hey, I can share this"....so goes the cycle.
Where do we go to become aware, enlightened if you will, that we are sharing our negativity with others, than learning to forgive is a long process but healthy to ones spiritual balance; that God has provided the most beautiful of experiences FREE for the 'noticing'. I suppose we all learn in different situations, in different times of our lives....I have much to learn in this life yet. The lessons are never simple ones, but the results of those lessons/teaching moments are enriching.....and not in any material way.

Time to go baste the turkey. See what happens when I am alone for too long.....and the computer is up and running.

Thanks for hanging with me for a time.

Enjoy the day and remember to give thanks for the material things you have, true....but for the things that go un-noticed most of the time.