“A thrilling spiritual adventure awaits you but it will take courage. The men who dared were the first pioneers to cross the wilderness. They were the front line men in the great war. Courage challenged their inner resources. You cannot climb your spiritual heights without that same courage to loosen the powers that are within you.”

William H. Danforth, 1931

Every day, we are faced with the opportunity to show inner courage or to succumb to fear and anger. How do we tap into that inner spring of mental and emotional strength?

There are times in all of our lives when things just don’t turn out the way we would like. I have experienced these personal tragedies and have stood on the sidelines while my friends have worked through their own. 

We often have a vision of how our life should unfold. But what happens when the road takes a very sharp detour? All that we want to do is resist what’s happening and somehow use our own personal will to set things right.

But life just doesn’t work that way. Sometimes we just have to hang on tight as we bump along the track at breathtaking speed. 

Intellectually, we know that we have to let go of our need to control what is happening. We have to let go of what we consider to be the ideal situation. We have to trust that God has a plan and that we will one-day understand why events unfolded in our life as they did.

But what is easy to grasp mentally can be a bear to manage emotionally. In the face of disappointment and an uncertain future, I think that we can only turn to gratitude and giving. For me, anyway, my heart heals in a place where I am feeling thankful for what IS in my life and directing my energies towards others. 

With Christmas just days away, it is my hope that a little holiday introspection will enable each of us to find and nourish that inner spring of courage and strength to face whatever challenges the coming year may bring.

“If you want to be happy, be.”

Leo Tolstoy

The greatest lesson that I hope to learn from my time with Gracie is not how to live into my mid-90s and beyond, but rather, how to live from this point forward (however long that might be) with the joy and sense of purpose with which Gracie approaches every day of her life.

Each afternoon we share together, Gracie must say, “Aren’t we lucky?” dozens of times. When we sit down to a plate of cookies, when the teaspoon happens to be left on the table from the previous tea-party, when the sunlight falls “just so” across the table …. She lives in a constant state of appreciation. 

Gracie epitomizes the saying, “If you want to be happy, be.” The circumstances in her life have little affect on her overall happiness. She has arranged her mind in such a way that there is cause for hope and celebration in any situation. And in almost 96 years, she must have encountered her fair share of life’s trials and tribulations (although I can only surmise – as she doesn’t talk about them).

I do know that a number of years ago, Gracie lost a young person in her life who was very dear to her.  As painful as the experience must have been for her and her family, she speaks of this young man with a twinkle in her eye and a joyous smile on her face. She harbors not a doubt in her mind that she will be reunited with him in heaven. Gracie is a woman of powerful faith.

Yet her personal spiritual beliefs do not exclude or judge. They are simply a part of who she is — loving, caring, and trusting.

It seems to me that her unwavering faith in God and her attitude of happiness are so closely intertwined – you could not begin to pull them apart. It is her confidence in God’s path for her life that enables her to surmount the fear that keeps so many of us mentally and emotionally under water. 

Not only does she live without fear, but she quite visibly feels gratitude for every moment given to her here on this earth – without worrying about what might or might not be coming next.  Instead, she opens herself up – without a second thought – to anything God might ask of her. 

I want to be more like Gracie. I want to wake up in the morning, as I know she does, with a smile on my face that surfaces from a contented, yet eager heart. I want to live each moment of every day with the unwavering confidence that everything will be just as it should be … and I can stop resisting and start truly participating in the wonderful world of not knowing and not needing to know. 

I can almost see Gracie looking out her living room window at the heavens as she says her silent prayer each night before bed and each morning as she awakes. She is joyful, thankful, hopeful, and above all – faithful. And she never stops asking, “Lord, what can I do?”

About two years ago, I stopped buying the tear-free baby shampoo for my kids in favor of the more “natural” products on the market. On numerous occasions, of course, this “natural” shampoo would drip down into my little boy or girl’s eyes, prompting them to burst into tears. 

I always thought they were overreacting and never switched back to the tear-free brand. But the other night, I somehow managed to get shampoo in my own eyes. Yow!!! I couldn’t stick my face in the water fast enough. It really stung. I had no idea.

At that moment, I was struck by the thought, “Wow – you just never know how someone feels until you’re in that situation yourself.” And then I began to think of all the people that I encounter on a regular basis who are struggling with one life challenge or another.  

As the holiday season approaches, we begin to hear pleas from different organizations to give to those who are less fortunate. We hear accounts of people who aren’t able to heat their homes or put food on the table.  These stories seem more plentiful this year, with gas and food prices soaring, the economy in trouble, and lots of us out of jobs ….

When we’re on the outside looking in, it’s all too easy to minimize the gravity of someone else’s experience. Surely the shampoo can’t sting that badly.

May the hair-washing incident be a lesson to me… to show more compassion. And to recognize the difference between what I think I know and what I really know.

I’ve always made exercise a priority. That’s never really been a problem for me, which is probably because everyone’s telling me that I should do it. I’ve yet to find a health-related magazine on the shelves that doesn’t praise the benefits of sweating-it-out a few times a week. But creating time and space for my spiritual life has not always come so effortlessly. 

I think that many of us today suffer from a dry well when it comes to our souls. We’re just not in the habit of consciously keeping an eye on the water level. Now that I’ve started to become more in-tune with this part of my life, I can sense when I need some spiritual recharging.

Just recently, I began bringing my family to a nondenominational church in town. It feels really good to me. I enjoy just sitting in that quiet, contemplative place every Sunday morning, listening to the music, and waiting for the minister to say something that really hits home for me. He almost always does. And I leave there feeling more connected to God, the community of churchgoers around me, and to the natural world outside those church doors. It’s just a good space for me. I look forward to going — and I think that my kids get a lot out of it too. If nothing else, it’s something that we do together as a family. While so much of the week pulls us apart from one another, church brings us together. 

During other times in my life, church wasn’t necessarily the answer to that spiritual calling. My soul has been touched on a long cross-country ski tour through the mountains or even while soaking in a warm bath with some inspirational reading. I have friends who meditate and who practice yoga. Personally, I find some deep satisfaction in being a part of a community of others who are on a similar spiritual quest. But every person is different. And I do believe that your spiritual life is deeply personal.

But I have challenged myself – and I would challenge anyone – to try and find an hour out of every day (and certainly every week) to be still and feel connected to the world that exists beyond our five senses. I think it’s certainly a worthwhile investment of time.