Bruce's Blog

May 1^st, 2019

Sometimes life’s rubble and trouble are stacked so high that we have difficulty seeing over it. Here are a few things that let light shine through the cracks in that impenetrable wall.

5. I am grateful to feel myself part of something much bigger than I.

Life is so finite. Time seems short. When I look up into the night sky and see millions of twinkling stars in the velvet blackness, it seems to me that I am so tiny—so insignificant—so alone. I do not want to expend all of my limited energy on my own little being. Somewhere there is more. Whether that longing is where the idea of God comes from, or whether God planted the idea of the more within me, I cannot be satisfied with being who I am, with accomplishing only the limited things I can accomplish in restricted time and space.

I look within and beyond myself, and as I do I catch a reflection of a world of people like me, and unlike me, whose destiny I share. I have been hungry, but never that hungry. My heart has known fear, but not that much fear. Need has gnawed at me, but hardly consumed me. When I see a multitude of people who mirror and magnify me, I breathe a sigh and begin again to cultivate the arid places. Slowly it dawns on me that I am not as empty as I thought. There is something inside me yet that radiates into the world and shines a reflected light illuminating the value that teems in seeming void.

Somehow there is a place for me in the grand scheme of things—another piece of the puzzle that is life. Someone needs me, wants me, reciprocates the loving and longing, and there I find peace. Life is worth living when I live it in the company of those who share space and time with me. There is more to me than me. I am thankful to be part of a bigger perspective than I can see from the inside of me.

6. Thankfulness for a voice that can influence some people with power to make a difference carries with it the implicit responsibility of amplifying the words of those who are often unheard.

Of course, I am aware of my privilege, but I still can listen. Shushing the noise of myself, I hear the still quiet voice of those who have not yet been heard. Can I turn up the volume? Can I gain the attention of masses of those who are all talk and no action? If I have something to say, may it be an echo of the voices of the oppressed who speak eloquently for themselves, only to have their words shatter against the brass that surrounds privilege.

It is my joy to sing the refrain whispered to me by those who have exhausted themselves in shouting to be heard, only have their words drowned out by masses of unaware and sometimes of uncaring hoards. Let me speak the words that love teaches. May I shout the sounds that have been lost on the winds of violence and wealth and power. I am grateful for a voice that can make a difference for a few.

7. I am grateful for today, thankful that there is still some time to do things that I have left undone until now.

One more day, while it is today, awaits the actions that I have procrastinated until now. May my actions be swifter and louder and more effective than my words. May I be an instrument of hope and health and help in a world that is shattered. May the peace that moves in me, move out to do what this day needs.

Please respond in the comments to tell us what it is for which you are grateful.

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