Category: Hope - A Cottage by the Sea

Joyful, hopeful, and grateful~

8/24/2024

More about Joy. I'm feeling it with the nomination of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
My purpose here is not to talk about politics, but to lift up joy. You see, my disposition is joyful and hopeful, so when there is a lot of negative conversation I don't have a place for it; I don't know what to do with it. What I notice, however, is that the negativity slips into my being and I begin to respond through a veil of gloom. Oh, I know I shouldn't respond in this way; I have a choice, but I'm not powerful that way. My faith helps me but I'm a human being, living in community with others--my personal communities, my country and the world. I need joy in each of them. As my mom would say. "Very Grateful." And I am.

I am hopeful, except when I am not.

2/23/2023

“I am kind, except when I am not,” writes SSJE Br. Curtis Almquist in a February 10, 2019 sermon. He suggests that each one of us has a quality that we learned, most likely from someone from early childhood, which over the years defines who we are. Br. Curtis learned kindness from his paternal grandmother.
I learned to be hopeful from my mother. “I am hopeful, except when I am not.”

In January I created ‘ a little booklet of quote about hope, accompanied by photographs I took on Iona. If you would like you would like me to email you ‘Hope Thoughts’, please send me an email. I hope you do. <[email protected]>

Living with hope on Election Day

11/8/2022

It’s a beautiful fall day in Massachusetts. My husband and I were in the voting line at 7. It was a short line; we were home by 7:20. For those of us who love silence, solitude and simplicity, it behooves us to lives this election day honoring that space where love resides.
This morning I will walk, write, and read; this afternoon I will sit with a friend in her back yard. We will not talk of politics, not because we disagree, but because we want to live our lives being positive, grateful, and hopeful.

Hope in the younger generation

10/9/2020

Last week a friend and I visited a mutual teacher friend, now living in an assisted living facility. We had made an appointment on-line and were greeted by two women who took our temperature and asked those usual Covid questions. The older woman was a nurse, the younger, a nurse in training. Both were incredibly kind. The nurse helped the trainee with the procedure of asking the questions, and then the trainee wheeled our friend out to the tent, helped her get comfortable, and at the end of the visit facilitated our saying goodbye.
As I drove away I felt deeply hopeful because I had witnessed this compassionate, caring young person whose had opened her heart to my friend. This young woman has chosen caring for others as her vocation. Let us be ready for the younger generation to show us a loving way.

April 01st, 2020

4/1/2020

I wonder if anyone is playing April Fools’ jokes today? My hat goes off to that little imp who is putting plastic wrap on the toilet seat, pouring salt into the sugar bowl, or even telling someone that an ant is crawling up her let. I hope kids, young and old are letting a few laughs seep into their four, socially distanced walls. I hope somebody can because I believe that a joke is a sign of hope.
     As a teacher I was elated when April 1st fell on a weekend. I’m not a joking kind of person. I can never pull it off. I’m too serious. And in the classroom this seriousness could easily multiply. After all, we had important work to do. Plus, there was the control issue. What if things really got out of hand? Hey, lighten up .
    I don’t like this about myself. Thank goodness I only think about it once a year on April 1st Nowadays every day feels like the weekend so even though today is a Wednesday, I let it go. There must be other was to demonstrate hope.

Here's a little history from Grammarly.com
www.grammarly.com/blog/april-fools-day-explanation/

It started with Constantine, a Roman emperor in the fourth century. The rulers of that period entertained themselves and their guests with “fools,” court jesters proficient in music, storytelling, acrobatics, or other skills. One day, a comedian joked that he would make a better king than Constantine. The emperor called his bluff and crowned the entertainer “king for a day.” The first thing the jester did was institute mandatory merry-making. Each year afterward on the anniversary of the jester’s kingship, the inhabitants of Rome remembered to have a little bit of fun with each other through jokes and pranks.

Harbinger of hope

3/28/2020

I am sitting in the Angel Room watching the birds swoop from the trees to my kitchen window bird feeder. I have to believe they are a harbinger of hope during these poignant times. I believe that the way we respond will make a difference as this plays out, both immediately and in the future, in the micro and macro, and personal and globally I do my best to clear my mind of negative thoughts, open my heart to everyone, and send positive energy.

Be hopeful, let go of frustration

12/11/2019

Hope

I’m feeling a little frustrated with my blog server. I add a picture, click ‘post’, and the wrong picture appears—a picture from a recent post, or from my other blog. Ah, you ask: you I have two blogs? Yes, this one, and www.aprayerdiary.net.
Enough about my frustration of misplace photos, enough negativity, enough of the blame game. Hopefully, my blogs are positive, one about silence, solitude, and simplicity, the other about my faith journey.
So, as you continue your day, which could be filled with frustration about the weather, the negative language by the president, blah blah blah, I hope you will stay positive and go out and do something for others, something that will bring peace to them and the world. AMEN

Always have hope

2/18/2019

My church in the distance.

First of all, a update on the various components of my silent, solitude and simple life on this snowy Monday morning.
• Family is doing great: healthy, proactive, positive. I’m very grateful for this.
• Church is doing great. It is one of the most welcoming places I know.
• Friends. Some doing great, but not all. Regardless, they are trying to stay proactive, positive, and faithful as they deal with health and family issues.

Secondly, a few headlines from my world of silence, solitude, and simplicity.
• I’m trying not to get drawn into everyday politics but I must admit it is a challenge not to turn on the T.V. and tune into what I call, ‘My Sources.’
• I give myself an A in reading. This year I’ve read 12 books; only 68 to go to meet my 2019 Goodreads Challenge of 80 books.
• The front room is clear of stuff we don’t want. If we ever decide to move, what’s left can be boxed up in a couple of hours.
• My upcoming trip in April to Italy with my daughter and granddaughter is competing for center stage with all the other good things in my life.
• Every morning I start my day naming five things for which I am grateful. The usual list, which I learned from my mom, holds steady: family, friends, health, life and faith. But there are always others.

Very grateful, very hopeful~

11/7/2018

I feel mysteriously calm about yesterday’s election results. No, not all of my candidates won, but enough did to make me think that democracy is still at work. It’s not the thinking that brought on the calm, but the realization that not everyone agrees with me, and that’s okay because good is prevailing. I feel hopeful.
My words may sound trite and obvious, but my feelings aren’t. These feelings of relief, acceptance, compassion, and love for all human beings are hard to come by. They are deep and yet light. This morning they got me out for an early walk to appreciate the beauty and freedom of the moment. Very grateful, very hopeful.

Hopeful speaking and writing~

11/3/2018

During these contentious political times the words Richard Rohr posted last week prompted me to reflect on the tone of this blog and the underlying message I want to convey.

My hope, whenever I speak or write, is to help clear away the impediments to receiving, allowing, trusting, and participating in a foundational Love.

     Yes, Richard Rohr, my hope and your hope are similar, but sometimes I think my posts are rather boring and self-involved. The two go together; boring because I don’t tell stories about other people, and self-involved because I only tell stories about myself.
        Thus I don’t let you know about the many friends I see in person, talk with on the phone, and keep up with over the internet. On this blog they are pretty much invisible, although their lives, with both joys and concerns, are blessings in helping me lead my life and write about silence, solitude, simplicity.
     It would be much easier to share my friends’ stories, and it would be much more interesting for you readers to hear a good story. But as you know, I work hard/struggle not to judge, gossip or speak at another’s expense-- impediments to Love.
       Consequently, I’m left with one main character—me. My word choice is self-involvement, but hopefully not self-promotion. I want to share my thoughts as I strive to receive, allow, trust, and participate in love.