My Dear Friends,

It has been far too long since sharing with you. Perhaps, like myself, you have been engulfed by the undertow of negativity and sadness and division that is so public and hurtful currently. Perhaps you are amidst life changes that have called your attention to tasks that are new and overwhelming. And then again, it might be that you are marching along to your sweet drum beat as you always have with contentment and joy.

Wherever and however this writing today finds you, I am being called with love to join you within your world. How are you out there in “your” world? Is there anything you would particularly like to share and discuss that we can address in this world the internet calls “blogging”? I was asked to give a proper answer on a computer skills test to what exactly “blogging” is and how it is appropriately defined. I was given a choice of four answers to choose from, one of which was supposedly the correct answer. I do not know if I chose the correct answer or not because, truthfully, I am not sure there exists “one” correct answer to what blogging is or is not or can be that is universally true for all. For me, blogging is a source of comfort and joy. Writing brings me clarity. When I can read my own heart in words of print, I believe I understand my heart better. When I write about my life, I believe my life becomes clearer to me and my deep prayer is that because that is what happens to me  it also often happens for you. In the moment when we come together via the written word  our energy shares love and perhaps a cyber hug or an inner smile because I know that even now as I sit before this keyboard someone will eventually read this when it is complete. In that moment, after I finish and in the space when, where and how you read it, we  will magically become one in the spirit of the struggle or joy that the writing expresses from me or elicits in you.

And, so it is, my dear friends, that I come back to you today with my spirit greeting your spirit simply because it does good things for the soul.  From that perspective how can I “not” write then? I must. I will. I am.

Again, the greatest of these…reasons to do what I do in my blog is YOU ! How are you doing out there? What have you done to celebrate breathing again today? Are you sad? How can I hear your sadness and help you walk through it? What are you celebrating? What joy or longings have been fulfilled since our last visit? I  believe that this earthly experience is rarely meant to be walked solo. I am spending more time now, in my “official” retirement from a “paying job” world, alone than ever and some days I really enjoy it. Other days, I find I miss very much the inclusion of hustle and bustle and buzz of the world of “work”. What I am learning slowly, and when I say slowly I mean S- L- O- W- L- Y…Like “SNAIL PACE SLOWLY”….is that the energy and love that is “the greatest of these” that we share as fellow sojourners on earth in the year of our Lord, 2017, is the reality that we are all still here together-whether we are physically able to be together or whether we are together in spirit and heart. You are still there. I am still here. Together WE still are and we are breathing and we are trying and we are walking one foot in front of the other to live. And that, my dear friends, is an absolute gift of immeasurable proportion. Let me repeat that so you hear it clearly.”The mere knowing that you are there and I am here is an absolute gift of IMMEASURABLE proportion”. And for that gift I must humbly and most graciously thank you.

Perhaps the greatest gift we give to those we love, and sometimes even and, maybe especially, to those we find difficult to love, is for them to know beyond any doubt that we are still, in fact, here for them, with them, and in their lives for a reason.

The greatest of these my friends, is US!  The greatest of these is us. We are a “we” and that matters. It matters alot!

Please let me know what you would like to discuss or if there is any particular topic you want to share in this forum. It is my blog. It is your blog. It is our blog. This is a place where we can be one in spirit and heart and that is a worthy and lofty agenda. It is an agenda and gift I plan to take better tender care of and pay more loving attention to in the future weeks ahead of us as we live this year of 2017.

KNOW you are loved today. KNOW you are cared for today. KNOW that you matter today.

The greatest of these is…US!  The greatest of these is…YOU!

Until again,

I AM,

JO