Sunday Inspiration: A single glorious thing
“In my own worst seasons I’ve come back from the colorless world of despair by forcing myself to look hard, for a long time, at a single glorious thing: a flame of red geranium outside my bedroom window. And then another: my daughter in a yellow dress. And another: the perfect outline of a full, dark sphere behind the crescent moon. Until I learned to be in love with my life again. Like a stroke victim retraining new parts of the brain to grasp lost skills, I have taught myself joy, over and over again.”
Barbara Kingsolver, novelist, essayist, poet
Perhaps this is a way to come out of the darkness of the pandemic, by falling in love with one thing at a time until we’re able to fall in love with life again.
I’m so grateful just to be able to go to the grocery store and to be with friends again and to eat at a restaurant. This has been such a hard time for so many people, but so much awaits us. Just as Kingsolver did, it’s time to teach ourselves joy once more, over and over again.
I think this pandemic has been a teaching time for everyone and a chance to get our priorities straight!
I agree that we have learned different priorities—maybe how much we value contact with family and friends! Many have and are suffering from depression, and that should not be glossed over or ignored. Just about the time I was two weeks out from my second dose of vaccine, my five year old bitchpoo ruptured a disk in his neck and required surgery and really restricted movement. My movement was also severely restricted, and that has been a little hard to deal with—as well as having to carry him up and down all steps—for a lifetime. We are working on ramps, but there are many steps in my home. Focusing on one good or beautiful thing right now is probably a good strategy.
Loved this! Needed this reminder, especially now. Thank You!