Great beautifiers

Today was rather a day of luxury for me – with a massage and haircut and color. What indulgences; I am truly grateful. I’m reminded that though everyday does not contain extraordinary luxury they still holds bountiful gifts, and am appreciating this quote as reminder to embrace whatever this moment offers (and not just for appearances-sake):

“Cheerfulness and contentment are great beautifiers and are famous preservers of youthful looks.”

-Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870)

All-pervading grace

"What I got from Merton most of all was this:

'the grace of God utterly and wholly permeates our lives, just as they are in the present moment. All of our failures and weaknesses are absolutely irrelevant in the face of such all-pervading grace.'"
- James Finley

Generous kindness

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

- Proverbs 11:25

With Valentine’s Day coming up, let’s take a quick look at something that contributes to strong relationships.

I quote from The New York Times online Health section article “The Generous Marriage”:

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“Researchers from the University of Virginia’s National Marriage Project recently studied the role of generosity in the marriages of 2,870 men and women. Generosity was defined as “the virtue of giving good things to one’s spouse freely and abundantly” — like simply making them coffee in the morning — and researchers quizzed men and women on how often they behaved generously toward their partners. How often did they express affection? How willing were they to forgive?

The responses went right to the core of their unions. Men and women with the highest scores on the generosity scale were far more likely to report that they were “very happy” in their marriages. The benefits of generosity were particularly pronounced among couples with children. Among the parents who posted above-average scores for marital generosity, about 50 percent reported being “very happy” together. Among those with lower generosity scores, only about 14 percent claimed to be “very happy,” according to the latest “State of Our Unions” report from the National Marriage Project.”

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Kind generosity in the daily ‘little’ things is definitely a contributor to “very happy” at our house. Especially during the winter, each morning I bless my spouse Gregg for allowing me the luxury of a warm vehicle (the car I drive sits overnight in our heated garage/workshop). It is a self-sacrificing act of kindness, and just one example of his generosity.

What acts of generous kindness might you consider offering to family, friends, and strangers? May you be generous and see kindness all around you!

Hallelujah

Everyone should be born into this world happy
and loving everything.
But in truth it rarely works that way.
For myself, I have spent my life clamoring toward it.
Hallelujah, anyway I'm not where I started!

And have you too been trudging like that, sometimes
almost forgetting how wondrous the world is
and how miraculously kind some people can be?
And have you too decided that probably nothing important
is ever easy?
Not, say, for the first sixty years.

Hallelujah, I'm sixty now, and even a little more,
and some days I feel I have wings.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Evidence)