Today was a snow day. Yesterday was an odd weather day–delayed opening and work and power outages wreaked havoc on the campus and surrounding area. This morning the winter storm they meteorologists had predicted showed up right on time, exactly as it had the previous day. Right around daybreak, as predicted, the snow started falling and it fell all morning. They predicted it would keep falling until around 2 p.m. when the weather warning would expire. Go figure. By 2 p.m. the sun was shining and the snow was melting off the roads. For the second day in a row they’d hit it right on the head. In spite of being out of the office I worked nearly a full day–seven hours–on various projects and presentations we’re doing at work tomorrow and Thursday. There’s an entire team doing this training and I took it upon myself to create the presentation slides. We were supposed to meet to go over things, but were thwarted by weather yesterday and today. So, I worked here at my house, sitting on my bed for most of it, laptop on lap and file folders spread out on my bed. Some way to spend a snow day!
Now I find myself at the end of the day at nearly the same time I usually write this blog, and I am as tired as if I had gone into the office. I am relieved and grateful that my inspiration for this evening’s blog hit me this morning. As I was writing in my journal I became overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude, thankful for “how life is just at this moment.” It is a feeling I’ve been experiencing a lot lately; that sense that in a given moment, just then, life is beautiful and I am speechless with appreciation.
I am grateful, I wrote in this morning’s journal entry, that during those difficult months in Pinole [California] I reached for and found grace, peace, strength, Spirit. I was standing strong and in the midst of struggle, I was building, growing in strength, wisdom and courage even as my “outer man,” the externals of my life, were being torn down. Perhaps my structures in places were a bit rickety, but my foundation was strongly and solidly built. Thank you God!When I look back on the days of anxiety and uncertainty that I experienced in the 20+ months between January 2011 and August 2012 I am grateful for the strength of will, the support of family, and the grace of God that kept me moving, putting one foot in front of the other, and somehow believing that everything would be alright. It was during that time that I really developed and flexed my gratitude muscle; focusing on the blessings in my life and living each day with a grateful heart as best I could in the midst of the drama and trauma. And while I have not yet arrived and still have things I want to achieve in and with my life, I am in a much stronger place than I was even this time last year. As we move toward the end of 2013, which concludes three weeks from tonight, I am moving forward, growing stronger, living my purpose, walking in my power and navigating through it all with a heart filled with gratitude.
