a bit of cheer
This morning we’ll be out in the rain cheering our niece Andrea, running the Boston Marathon. Thirty thousand runners, for almost that many reasons, sploshing through the wind and rain for 26.2 miles. Elite athletes will run it in a couple of hours. Some people will take 6 or 8 hours. It takes a lot of commitment, perseverance and spirit.
Second only to the commitment, perseverance and spirit of the runners is the commitment, perseverance and spirit of the spectators. They’ll stand out there for hours and hours even in the rain cheering all along, cheering every runner, cheering indiscriminately, selflessly, cheering with admiration, hope and encouragement.
I cheer today for everyone who is on a long, hard journey—physical, mental, legal, relational, medical, professional, marital, artistic, spiritual—whatever their marathon is. And I cheer for everyone who is out there cheering them on. This is what God means for life to be like: all of us cheering all of us, everyone wanting everyone to do their best, hoping for victory for each of us, encouraging, believing in each other, sharing hope and amazement. Maybe even a little inspired by each other.
Cheer somebody on today. Cheer indiscriminately. You don’t know what long, hard journey they may be on. And trust this: when you’re in the thick of it, struggling to keep going, slogging against wind and rain and exhaustion, you may not hear it, but God is there, cheering you on, believing in you—maybe even a little inspired. Keep your head up.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
Blessed are those who keep watch
through the day and night
Blessed are those who hold them up and those who stand in with them
Blessed be the good shepherds who watch over the watchers
Blessed are those who do not count the cost, yet know this spending is the greatest treasure life can afford
Blessed are those who remember how little it takes to encourage and lift another
Blessed are those who retain the ability to give and keep giving in feast or in famine
Blessed are those who pour generously for another from the rarest vintage
Blessed are those who never, ever, ever quit
Blessed are those who understand and respond with open invitations
Blessed are those who visit and bathe and wipe and watch and hold and kneel and pray and cook and shop and weep and love and clean and share and laugh and crawl into bed with and sing and dance and do all sorts of other wonderful and miraculous works
Blessed be them all – each and everyone
Blessed be the path of the caregivers, may they be given the greatest gifts of all – Love, grace respect and the most tender care in return
❤️
Amy Lloyd
The beginning is such a good place to be, my darling. There is much in store. But there is acknowledgment of what came before the beginning to mark this moment as a beginning. And in that place I was there, too. But let’s start where beginning is—the union of Me and you, the awakening of your heart, bit by bit, to Me.
I awaken you further, now.
These first starts are for you to appreciate the moments that came before them—to see where I was, what I was doing, before you recognized my presence. Let Me take you back to where I was when you couldn’t see Me there. Perhaps the definitions of beginning will need to be rewritten.
I always begin again in you, child.
I am the discovery of the beginning—all hope and life in you. I will give you a fresh start this day. I give you new breath, new eyes, new adventures to set out on with Me. But I want to start this beginning by going back to where I’ve always been with you.
I have always been with you, child, even when you couldn’t see it. I want to show you now.
– Loop
life: acoustic & amplified 