Monday Inspiration: October 5, 2015

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Hello, my people!

On Friday, I spent a good amount of time fighting with my umbrella in torrential rains. Thank God I wear shorts under my skirts because the wind was looking for its next Marilyn.

By the end of the day, I looked like I had walked through hurricane Joaquin– hair-in-mouth and everything; like a mad woman.

Because I hadn’t learnt my lesson, on Saturday, I walked down Park Avenue from 87th St. to 59th, this time through a light cold mist, but still fighting to keep my skirt down. To those who saw my shorts in the last couple of days–you’re welcome.

The temperature dropped. It dropped enough to make landlords everywhere turn on the heaters.

And while this year is my first year since kindergarten where I have not gone back to school, in the good tradition of autumn, I am still learning a lot. That is the beauty of life. It never stops teaching us, if we pay attention.

I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of love. In many ways we can be self-preserving, defensive and even prideful. We can even be logical and think in terms of what people deserve. But I then was thinking about Jesus. Jesus showed a different kind of love. A very sacrificial, expect-nothing-in-return kind of love. We, as a society, fall so short of that kind of love.

So, this week, love grandly. Give, knowing that no one can take away from you the love you freely give. I guess the main point is give love even to those who don’t deserve it; to those who won’t say thank you or apologize. Just give. It’s one thing to say it or believe it, it’s another to think of someone who has hurt you and then decide to love them anyway. Love can heal all wounds; especially our own.

I hope you have a great week. I hope it’s less windy on this end. Let’s rock.

XOXO.

[All images are from Tumblr]

“September slipped by into a gold and crimson graciousness of October.”

“Autumn is here
The air is crisp and clear
The leaves are amber, red and gold.

There’s cider on the stove,
It’s cozy in our home,
I love this time of the year.

I love this season and I’ve got every reason
Autumn’s when we first fell in love.
The town will soon be white,
snow’s moving in tonight,
I love this time of the year.

Autumn is here
We’ve all got coats to wear
There’s gloves of every size and hue.

The wood’s all chopped and dry,
The family’s gathered near,
I love this time of the year.

I love this season and I’ve got every reason
Autumn’s when we first fell in love.
The town will soon be white,
snow’s moving in tonight,
I love this time of the year.”

Bruce Adler, “I Love This Time of the Year”

“Bittersweet October. The mellow, messy, leaf-kicking, perfect pause between the opposing miseries of summer and winter.”

Carol Bishop Hipps, “October,” In a Southern Garden, 1995

“I urge you to please notice when you are happy.”

Kurt Vonnegut 

“When you write with a bruised, aching heart, I hope there is a finality to it.
I hope every chosen word takes the weight off your chest in fragments and towards the sky. I hope  when you put your pen down that the tears on your cheeks are a cleanse, the ritual of letting go being finally complete.”

incandescentghost  

“He also loves. He also has suffered. He also has waited a long time.”

C.S. Lewis // The Great Divorce

“We need never shout across the spaces to an absent God. He is nearer than our own soul, closer than our most secret thoughts” 
― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

“To think that before the hills were formed, or the channels of the sea were scooped out, God loved me; that from everlasting to everlasting His mercy is upon His people. Is not that a consolation?”

Charles Spurgeon

“The reason we know so little about God’s wisdom is that we will only trust Him as far as we can work things out according to our own reasonable common sense.”

Oswald Chambers

“Loving someone should be hard and active, not easy and passive. When you sign up to actually love people – no fakers allowed – then you sign up for a life of runny noses, awkward car rides, hugs that last too long, pauses that demand no noise, and admitting you were wrong. If you want to actually love people then you have to be willing to be wrong.

Love is forgiveness. And it’s atonement. And it’s basically like putting your soul in a washing machine – it’s not some gentle cycle, it’s a fierce whipping that rings you out good.

It makes the stains fade.

Best of all, it fills the holes.”

Hannah Brencher

“Take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You’re doing just fine.” Charlotte Eriksson

“What am I? I am myself a word spoken by God. Can God speak a word that does not have any meaning?”

Thomas Merton