The Big Three: You can do it!

The world can be a crazy place. Sometimes it helps to step back and list a few of the things you’re grateful for. I’m making it a habit each week to list three blessings. Here’s what I’m grateful for this week, September 28 – October 4.

What I’m grateful for:

—Living your life on your own terms. I’m fascinated by people who see life’s waning moments coming and write their own farewells. They have a clarity and a clearness that most of us will never have. For example, Jonathan Clements, a longtime personal finance columnist, died in September at the age of 62. He had been battling from cancer and wrote in advance about his own death. I find his final piece and others like his incredibly sad, but powerful. A reminder that life is a beautiful, strange gift.

• Jonathan Clements
• Dr. Kay Ann Heggestad
• Orus Coffield
• Dr. Oliver Sacks

—The encouragers. I’m grateful for people in our life who encourage us to be better people. Many Christians celebrate St. Francis of Assisi on October 4. I’ve always like St. Francis’ story. He grew up in a wealthy family, enjoying the pleasures of life. Somewhere along his journey, he had a change of heart. He changed his life, swore off wealth, and became a man of compassion and humility. He built a life of service to the poor and marginalized. I especially love the prayer that’s associated with him. He didn’t actually write it, but it speaks to his values and wisdom.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

—Surprise, surprise. My parents were flower people. When I was a kid, my mom loved spending time working in the yard. Yes, she loved planting a vegetable garden each year, but that was practical. That was for the family. Her true love was seeing what plants and flowers she could grow. My dad had a tough childhood. He didn’t have much time to enjoy life as a kid so he viewed gardening as a pleasure. He loved seeing the lilacs and butterfly bushes bloom. Me? No way. Flowers and plants are generally lost on me. Most times anyway. But occasionally, I do look up and manage to smell the flowers. Yes, here’s to the blooming flowers and plants in our lives to remind us of what is good in life.

What gave me a smile?

I’ve probably shared this song in the past. But, it’s a favorite. When I forget the name of the singer, I like to refer to it as the “eToys song” because it was used in commercials to sell toys in the late 90s for the long-since bankrupt company. But it’s really “Somewhere over the Rainbow” by celebrated Hawaiian musician and singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole.

“Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me.”

Yes, here’s to the dreams that you dare to dream really coming true and for troubles melting like lemon drops. That sounds like a pretty amazing place. Have a great weekend.

Images from Pexels.