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ginny McDonald's avatar

Eyes!

ginny McDonald's avatar

Linda this is so beautiful and true it brought tears to my eues!!

Linda S Clare's avatar

Oh Ginny,

Any disabled person automatically feels "less than" in our society. I'm proud of you and all who stand up for hope and love and equity. Much Love, Linda PS: When are you coming back to Eugene? :-)

Kira OC's avatar

Those cereals are actually expensive! I am grateful that even tho I missed the awesome amazing food bank I attend monthly (bc I was in the ER the night before), I have just enough until my food stamps hit my account tomorrow. Grateful I learned expert frugality from my beloved grandmother!

Linda S Clare's avatar

Kira, Bless you. And yes, even the cheap house brands are spendy now. Thank God for grandmas! My dear Grams taught me to ask, "Do I need it or do I only want it?" Pray you'll be able to make it to the day the new food stamps drop--and that you're OK. Much Love, Linda

Susan Wingate's avatar

Absolutely perfect, Linda. xoxo

Linda S Clare's avatar

Susan,

Reading about all these rich & powerful folks makes me feel glad I'm a nobody. How sad to only center one's life around things that either don't matter or are actually immoral. Much Love, Linda

Dr. Nicole Mirkin's avatar

The orange-haired woman in the cereal aisle is such a vivid snapshot of that impatience flipping into compassion. As a psychologist who writes about scarcity mindsets and abundance online, I love how you weave Mary’s Magnificat into a call for nobodies to claim enoughness and act from it, even when culture screams otherwise. Your nudge to buy the cereal anyway captures that small yes to overflowing love perfectly.

Linda S Clare's avatar

Dr. Mirkin,

I believe that we can all act on that nudge if we stop the idea that some are better than others. Small yeses ripple through the cosmos, changing the fabric of everything. Thanks for commenting--please consider a free subscription if you don't already! And thank you. Much Love, Linda

Christine Hirst's avatar

On the most challenging, darkest days; I’m grateful for the capacity for compassion and kindness the creator gave all of us to be used to lift up others where we can.

I remind myself perfection is not required to offer my help or be lifted myself; this soul is like a crazy quilted patchwork of mending, knitting, crochet, or darned, and whipstitched, the ancient iron on patches of my youth have curled up along the edges.

Sometimes you have to get messy in the trenches to know the signs someone needs, like putting cereal boxes back on the shelf and walking away, something that would probably go unnoticed if not experienced.

If I go home a crazy quilted patchwork at the end of my time on earth, my time here will have been not perfect, but well spent.

Bless you for noticing her need.

With much love to you, Christine.

Linda S Clare's avatar

Hi Christine, I loved your line, "the ancient iron on patches of my youth have curled up along the edges." Beautiful! Much Love to you, Linda

Christine Hirst's avatar

Do they sell them anymore? I omitted the occasional rusty safety pin, and drafting tape emergency hem repair!

We are having a slight break in the winter wonderland today, snow is melting adjacent, hope you’re getting some warmth too. 🙏

Back to trying to get my printer to run with a roller cleaning tutorial, maybe a few more years use in it yet. 🔧

Linda S Clare's avatar

Christine, Haven't shopped for them recently, but I still have a pack left from my 3 sons' childhood years. :-)

Andrew Budek-Schmeisser's avatar

I have been the Grey Man,

who you don't see and never will,

but I bid you understand

that I was made to kill,

to move quiet in noisy sea,

like a fish with dreadful task,

and when the moment came to be,

it was not mine to ask,

"Is this moral, is this right,

is this God's instruction?"

In the raw heat of the fight,

my job was the destruction

of those who would destroy the sense

that there could be innocence.

Linda S Clare's avatar

Andrew, Well, we're all in process of becoming. I think your heart holds a lot of love. You're such a good Nobody! Much Love, Linda PS: How's Daphne? Is she giving you enough slobbery kisses?

Andrew Budek-Schmeisser's avatar

Here, no need to look up Housman's poem...

These, in the days when heaven was falling,

The hour when earth's foundations fled,

Followed their mercenary calling

And took their wages and are dead.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended;

They stood, and the earth's foundations stay;

What God abandoned, these defended,

And saved the sum of things for pay.

Andrew Budek-Schmeisser's avatar

Linda, the protection of innocence was always my highest good. The mates I led died for it, to the last man but me. I live though them, and for them. It's a terrible and lovely responsibility. You might look up Housman's "Epitaph On An Army Of Mercenaries."

Daphne is a hoot. She gives slobbery kisses, yes, and right now is sleeping on Barb's bed (Tashka' The Monster Anatolian is sleeping on mine).

She can stand on her hind legs, put her paws on my shoulders, and look over the top of my head, and I'm almost exactly six feet tall.

And she's got at least two more years of growth!

Kim Amabile's avatar

What a beautiful, inspiring to me, story! I was feeling “not enough” have been a lot lately. The constant cold temps, snow and ice hanging around for 2 weeks in Virginia is not normal, so been feeling so unmotivated and down, not to mention the worrying about my son and the strain in our household, probably as a result of scarcity thinking - so thank you for this!

Linda S Clare's avatar

Kim,

This morning, Middle came in drunk and he's the m**h kid in the fam. So boy, do I get it. I am so happy to know you were inspired. I too struggle with scarcity thinking, but God reminds me of what I do possess and all the ways I can give it away. Bless you, dear friend. Much Love, Linda

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Feb 8
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Linda S Clare's avatar

Thank you so much for the kind words. I felt ashamed--I've been that woman on food stamps with four children to feed. But moments like that are so teachable when you open yourself to compassion and kindness. Keep listening for the nudge.

Linda