I rarely get cranky …

I’m a pretty easy going person. But there are a few things that bug me.

Being late. I hate it.

Appointments. Ugh.

Paperwork. Just shoot me.

My weaknesses. I understand when others mess up. I just don’t want to!

People who complain. Which makes me laugh reading the above list!

A day last week included all of the above. It started when I woke up in a funk and kicked off when my dog chewed up an ant poison stake. (I learned from my vet to make your dog puke just give him a teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide. It works!)

The call to the vet and the puking made us late for my grandma and son’s eye appointments, which made everyone complain. And guess what was waiting when I got home? Edits and paperwork. (Oh, yes, and the dog is fine!)

Being a writer would be easy if there weren’t dogs and people and problems, but I need to remember life isn’t about writing. Life is about LIFE.

Here are some quotes from Brennan Manning that reminded me of that:

“Openness serves as a bridge to the world of others. It enables us to get involved with others, to understand the thoughts of others, to feel what others are feeling. In other words, if we’re open, we’re able to enter the existential world of others even if at times we can’t identify with someone’s particular world.” ~Brennan Manning, The Wisdom of Tenderness, p. 113

We’re not in favor of life simply because we’re warding off death. We’re for life because we are for Abba, the essence of all life. And we mature in the wisdom of accepted tenderness to the extent that we stand up for the less fortunate; to the extent that no human flesh is a stranger to us; to the extent that we can touch the hand of another in love; to the extent that for us there truly are no “others.” ~Brennan Manning, The Wisdom of Tenderness, p. 111

Writing, for me, is a closed world. My thoughts. My time. My computer.

But if I’m not involved with others … what good are my words?

Today, my prayer is that I’m open to the world around me … not just the one in my head. And that I may touch the hand of another in love … not only with words.