Your Dying Spouse 524 - Listening To Myself {FMF}

Ommmm.....

I am mine own Guruuuu......

Ommmm......

Well, no, not really. But on reading Beth Vogt's blog In Others' Words on October 2, I was challenged by the subject...to whom are you listening? From whom are you learning?

Here's the comment I left:

"My favourite Blackwater poster carries this message:

“Sorry, I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.”

Seriously, though I’m not awesome, I AM in a place for which no road maps existed for me – terminal cancer, no insurance, and a physical support system that is by necessity sketchy at best. My wife has to make a living, and however horrid the day becomes, I have to meet my responsibilities for myself, and for the dogs.

No matter who made the mess (usually me, now), it has to be cleaned up.

I thereby have to listen – carefully – to myself, because my words can bring calm or storm, hope or despair. If I hear myself asking ‘Why me?’, I’ve got to jump all over that with a ‘Why NOT me?’

How I got here doesn’t matter. It’s what I do, RIGHT NOW, that makes a difference.

It’s up to me, and having responsibilities to others, I won’t let them down.

And I’ll listen to me, and won’t let me down, either."

This is NOT to say that others' views are not helpful; Kara Tibbetts' lovely Mundane Faithfulness blog (maintained and continued by her friends) is invaluable, and books like The Last Lecture and Why Bad Things Happen To Good People have given me both pause and perspective.

And I hope that this blog does the same for you.

But the internal structure, the framework for how we choose to live, we've got to develop that ourselves.

God gave us free will.

It's our choice how to use it.

Music from Sha Na Na, with the best cover of Blue Moon, bar none!

Please pardon my slow response to comments. I do my best, and your comments are really precious to me. Barb is answering many of them now. I'm running on fumes, if you don't mind a macho metaphor.

I'm grateful for the energy to have written this. I'm so glad Barbara's stepped in for many of my posts. I'm really not doing well at all.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley, the canine waif from Afghanistan, whom WE helped save, has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.