I Appreciate: Your Stories and Prayers

I appreciate: Bones, Marrow, and Change

I appreciate: Bones, Marrow, and Change - Erika

Everyone knows about bones. It doesn't take very long walking around on earth before we learn about x-rays and skeletons. Casts and calcium. We understand. Bones are important. They give us structure and form. Two really important things.

What we don't hear as much about is the stuff inside the bones -- the marrow, which is a major site of blood cell production. Our bodies' strength and vitality springs forth from here. Equally as important, but not equally recognized.

This bone + marrow equation is true not just in our physical bodies, but also in our social and financial arenas. Think about people you know. Or organizations you're familiar with. Now, ask yourself yourself: is that person/organization more like bone (e.g. an art museum), or more like marrow (e.g. the artist who creates the contents of the museum)? Neither role is better. And neither can survive without the other.

I've always known I'm marrow (a creator). Badly in need of bone (a container). And that's been a difficult match for me to make.

How do you find the right form and structure for your passions? If you identify as a healer, artist, teacher, beauty-maker, peace-keeper, visionary, idealist, activist, change agent, etc., it's likely you've had a hard time finding your place in the market. If your greatest passions (marrow) haven't yet found financial sustainability (bone), there might be conflict and struggle at that intersection of your life. Change is coming. Just be sure to hold on to your ideals, and your sense of beauty and justice.

Your convictions actually push the planet further along on its love-course. Please be very certain of the good you're creating... every song, idea, business plan, apple pie, essay, set of curtains, child, garden, etc. you have ever made, changed the world in some way. And it's a bunch of tiny little accumulated changes that we eventually see in society.

Marrow makes bones healthy. Institutional bones are understanding that more and more. And they're adding room in their budgets for us marrow-folk! Be encouraged.

- Erika Harris

I Appreciate: Laughter

I appreciate laughter. -Susan

I needed a sure-fire way to keep me from ruining my son’s Bar-Mitzvah. When a Jewish child reaches the age of 13, he or she is “called up” in a synagogue to stand in front of their community, and take on certain adult responsibilities. This rite of passage is a very big deal. For my son Craig’s Bar-Mitzvah, there were over four hundred people present to participate in prayer and to watch Craig, for the very first time, become a “son of the commandments.”

My Bar-Mitzvah boy had dress rehearsal the Thursday night before. Siblings, grandparents and parents – that would be me, came together to learn our parts in the worship service, and to get (professional) family portraits taken. After faking it for the camera, we did a walk-through of the upcoming big night. At the part where I’m supposed to say a few words about how wonderful my baby boy is, I completely lost it. I didn’t just get choked up… I was heaving, I was crying so hard.

I came home that night and called my ha-ha funny cousin Julius. I told him to be prepared. When I was up at the podium, the night of the Bar-Mitzvah, I would look for him. He should do something that would make me laugh, so I wouldn’t cry.

This is what happened. Craig began chanting his Haftorah, and the tears welled up. I found my red-haired cousin front and center. He had a giant grin on his face and an open pants zipper, with only one finger sticking out, wiggling a little hello. His obscene gesture at a very holy moment, was exactly what I needed to regain my composure and enjoy one of the best nights of my life.

Whether it’s a random act of funny or a planned stunt like Julius concocted, laughter can elevate your spirits and bring you closer to those around you. As a keen observer of relationships, I’ve noticed, the happiest couples are the ones who can make one another chuckle. In fact, if it were up to me, I would insist that the chuckle test be given to every commitment-bound couple.

I’ll take it one step further. You have a sacred commitment with the Divine. Why not apply the chuckle theory to your prayers? Too often, I talk to people who think that prayer is something you pull out only at times of desperation. They recite very serious, boring prayers in a language from another age; and they wonder why their worship experience is not fulfilling. Don’t keep wit out of your prayers. Your personality is who you are. Share it with the One who knows you best.

- Susan Diamond

Watch Susan tell the story!

I Appreciate: Family, Friends and Familiarity

I appreciate family, friends and familiarity. - Abi

Great Aunt Naomi was on a roll now. I was driving her and her sister Ruby up to our vacation spot in Minnesota, and Naomi was keeping me entertained (and alert) with tales of their childhood on the farm.

"One Christmas our father snuck out of the house and knocked on the front door. Mother told us, 'There's Santa Claus! Go look what he brought you.' Well, I opened the door and there was a pack of playing cards lying there, and I said, 'Well, heck! That's the pack we've been playing with!'"

This was the standard Christmas, except for the years when the local schoolteacher boarded with them. The extra $16 they got for rent each month enabled their parents to buy practical gifts for Naomi and her seven siblings.—mostly clothes and shoes.

"We got oranges at the church," Aunt Naomi said. "We each got an orange at Christmas time."

She said this with pride, and why shouldn't she? I felt a bit envious that she grew up in a world where she was grateful for oranges and unworn shoes and toys that were pre-owned . . . by her. Now, I could imagine getting over the loss of presents at Christmas. If I had no gifts come December, I would be confused, but it wouldn't rank as a crisis. Yet, there's a tremendous difference between acceptance and gratitude. This is where I fall short.

My life is a happy one. I have a lot to be crazy grateful for. And you will never catch me banging my head on the wall asking why God chose me to endure this nightmare of a life. Even so, I have fallen into the disgusting habit of viewing my life as some sort of limbo. I am in transition . . . in transition to a full-time writing career, on the verge of meeting someone wonderful, on the cusp of a brand new life, a brand new me, a brand new era of gratitude that will arise naturally out of the miracle of finally having the life I dream of.

If I'm going to be honest with myself, however, I need to acknowledge that gratitude is not something that shows up naturally when goals are attained. Or if it does, it doesn't stay long. Life is, in many ways, a series of transitions. The acquisition of one goal paves the way for the formation of another.

So it's time to give up on gratitude as a natural phenomenon and acknowledge that it is a lifestyle achieved through patient cultivation. I may have to offer up a few forced thank you's each morning when I wake and find that God has left the same playing cards on my doorstep yet again. But with practice, I will finally learn to understand that familiarity does not change the blessing that they are.

- Abigail Wurdeman