This is another quote from "The Art of Mending."
"This is my true religion: arbitrary moments of nearly painful happiness for a life I feel privileged to lead. Think of the way you sometimes see a tiny shaft of sunlight burst through a gap between rocks, the way it then expands to illuminate a much larger space - it's like that. And it's like quilting, a thread surfacing and then disappearing into thte fabric of ordinary days. It's not always visible, but it's what holds everything together.
Here's another quote: A woman is telling her friend her experience with helping a blind man cross the street and the hesitation she felt before actually assisting him. She's crying and is feeling very emotional and saying it must be hormones or . . .
"Maybe it was the tender irony of the way that we, blind ourselves, offer our arm to others, hoping to ease the crossing. Maybe it was the odd surges of love one can feel for an absolute stranger. Or maybe it was the way we give so little when it's in us always to give so much more. Thomas Merton wrote about feeling a sudden awareness of a profound connection to others, understanding that "they were mine and I theirs." I always loved reading things like that, things that pointed to our oneness and by extension, our responsibility to others. It's the execution of anything specific that's the problem. It's kneeling down to meet the eyes of someone slouched on a sidewalk that you'd so much rather walk past. It's bothering to listen with an open heart to someone who smells bad. It's hard."
I just want to end this post with thanking my cyber friends who stop by this blog and offer me their arm in the form of encouragement and wonderful comments to ease this newbie into blogland. I appreciate all of you and am so thrilled and thankful for the wonderful comments and friendship.
