Gratitude Lists, Lightening Bugs, Bullfrogs and Simple Abundance...

There is an author that I learned about and grew to love as a result of my mom sharing a book (her own copy) with me. Her name is Sarah ban Breathach (last name pronounced ban brannock). She originally started writing about "all things Victorian," which frankly would bore me to tears, but as she progressed as a writer, her interests shifted to ways to live an ABUNDANT LIFE in simple ways. The first book my mom gave me was titled "Simple Abundance." I read it heartily daily and of course had to have all the follow-ups to it.
One year at Christmas, Marah gave me the "Simple Abundance Journal" and there for a while I was immersed in the how's and why's of simple abundance and how life can be so enjoyable in simple ways.
I still subscribe to those theories and rely on my well-loved, page-worn original book often.
Tonight, Wayne and I were talking about things we are grateful for. Of course, we covered the obvious things...family, friends, health, etc. That reminded me of Sarah ban Breathnach's suggestions of making "gratitude lists" and how they should be implemented into creating, yes, I said "CREATING" your own way, your own path and allowing life to be simple.
There are a myriad of reasons and excuses we can all make for not taking the time and consideration for giving ourselves the grace and courage to lead simple lives. Everyone has a hectic life. None of us are exempt from that. However, it is our own fault when we work too hard, make excuses for NOT taking time for ourselves, ignoring the signs our bodies give us when it's time to stop and rest...the list goes on and on.
Once upon a time, it was a GOOD thing to allow your body rest. In today's society, it's grab, grab, grab, go, go, go. Those who are willing to grab every penny and those who would fight you over a dime, are in this writer's humble opinion, probably sad and lonely people. I refuse to be one of those. I'd rather be dead broke and happy than scrapping for greed and the sadness that goes along with it.
I saw a firefly tonight...that's LIGHTENING BUG for those of us who live in the South! I sat and watched its light go on and off, on and off and I enjoyed it. I realized that summer is so very close. Just taking the time to watch a bug that I STILL don't understand "how it works" was peaceful to me. It was totally up to me however to seize that moment. To heck with Carpe Diem! Instead, let's CARPE MOMENTO! We should seize and savor every moment! Life is found in those small, unexpected places when we allow ourselves the time to just "be still."
There is a bullfrog out on the pond. I think he lives under the dock. Each night, he starts a conversation with another bullfrog that lives somewhere up closer to our house. They seem to chat for hours...call and response. I wonder if there is a conversation going on there or if it's just one bullfrog to another reminding themselves that they are not alone. Either way, I'm guessing they take comfort in both conversation and/or knowing they are not alone in this big world.
I was thinking about it and entertained myself by seeing God as this amazing artist who does EVERYTHING in every dimension! You get the full effect of all the senses in nature...the smells, the sights, the sounds, the MUSIC...it's all there on one great big canvas called "life." Like all art, some folks love it and "get it," some folks see it as ugly, some don't appreciate what is being "said" and some simply don't even bother to pay attention to the big picture, much less look at the detail. I think God shows us His creation and communicates with us at every sensory level
and He waits for us to just "notice."
God doesn't have to make big, bold, statements and lash out to the universe, "HEY! I'M HERE!
He's "God." I don't think God has one thing to "prove" to me or in fact the wonderful world He created.
God is found in the most subtle ways, in the still times, in the afternoon storms, in the raindrops and in the most unassuming times of our lives. I think in those still, quiet moments, God speaks to us and we can hear Him and feel Him...IF we make ourselves available to it.
There was a time that I didn't think God ever spoke to me. Not in "words" anyway. I wondered if He was "out there" aloud", I asked to hear Him and I guess I drew a line in the sand saying, "OKAY, if You're out there...prove it." How obnoxious is that? GOD has nothing to prove to Anne Haley. I'm sure He shook His head and said, "Well, I've got a ways to go with that one." I was childish in my faith and child-like in my demands that God needed to prove something to me. It's not that I didn't "believe" in God. I always have. I just wanted what I wanted proof.
The "proof" was always there. I was too busy to "see" it. I couldn't be the only human to have ever been in that place. I feel rather small and silly when I look back at those times of childish behavior.
Nowadays, I know how to be still. I know how to see God's hand in everything. I know how to look at something as small as a lightening bug, or the conversation between bullfrogs and feel the comfort and peace that God is indeed EVERYWHERE! His greatness is all around me, showing me comfort at all times and in ways that I don't even realize.
So, tonight, I typed up a gratitude list. Some things were so simple, some were complex. It was my list for today of things I am grateful for, things I look forward to in the future and things that have come to pass.
I am alive. And when you are still and quiet, God will remind you just how alive you are as well as how alive HE is. The power of that feeling is amazing and humbling all at the same time.
If you haven't read "Simple Abundance," I would encourage you to do so. There is even a "Simple Abundance" for men. (That version must be in a different language or something..."man talk" or a language akin to that. Wayne has a copy. I bought it for him, but I have never read it! I probably wouldn't understand it anyway, so I have yet to crack the cover on HIS version of the "Simple Abundance series!)
Time is a precious gift. Use it wisely and use it in a way that leaves a "footprint" of love in all that you do. Not to do so is wasting the opportunity to live a simple life and indeed an abundant one. Growing in simplicity is not an easy task, but it's easier than you think IF you are willing to submit to slowing down, breathing deeply in and out and releasing yourself to the peace that is perfectly within your reaches and right there for the taking.
The catch? NO ONE can do this for you, except "YOU."
Till next time,
Annie

|