Gifts to Myself

When I clear the kitchen counters at night and straighten the dish towels so everything will look pleasant and sweet in the morning, that's a gift to myself.

When I don't stress-out about my poor ol' over-50 memory, that's a gift to myself. (Stress worsens memory.) And when I forgive my forgetting and also research online ways to improve it, that's a gift, too.

When I clean-up around the house after Tom without any resentment, but only chuckling acceptance, that's a gift to myself--and for Tom, also. (Anything which keeps me from nagging and inciting bad vibes around the house is a Great Thing.)

When I take good care of my body, give it real food, exercise and hours of moonlit sleep, that's a gift to myself.

When I take breaks throughout the day to rest, read favorite books or to walk our country lanes, those are gifts to myself. When I approach my chores with acceptance and playfulness, that's also a gift.

When a friend and I chat for hours over coffee, dessert and a pretty tablecloth and china, that's a gift to myself.

I notice a pattern in those gifts. They tend to be gifts from God, arriving from wisdom, but appearing as though they came from me. But true wisdom comes from God, even though He sometimes disguises Himself, unselfishly, in the giving. He's funny that way.


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Wow. And here is an amazing gift for you from Anne.