There is nothing like taking care of someone else to distract oneself from worry and pain.
I've had the pleasure all week of helping Matt in small ways as he put in long hours laying tile for the counters and floor. Tiling took a toll on his hands and knees. Being able to wrap his cracked and bleeding thumbs in band aids, prepare his lunches, cook our dinners on the hot plate and wash our dishes in the bathroom sink gave me great joy. Finally, I had the energy to care for him again. I knew when I could give him a neck and back rub that my hands and left arm are getting stronger. It is comforting to know my ability to function on a basic level is returning.
As of late, I've spent many hours contemplating the notion of service. I continue to ask myself, "Who am I here to serve?" In reading mini-autobiographies about the lives of Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Desmond Tutu, I came across several quotes that resonant with my current need to know who I am and what I am here to really do with my life.
"Power is the ability to achieve purpose. It is the strength required to bring about social, political and economic change. Justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love."-Martin Luther King
"Joy is love- a joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love, for she gives most who gives with joy." -Mother Teresa
"The more efficient a force is, the more silent and the more subtle it is. Love is the subtlest force in the world. The law of love governs the world. Life persists in the face of death. The universe continues in spite of destruction going on. Truth triumphs over untruth. Love conquers hate."-Mahatma Gandhi
"Many people ask me what I have learned from all of the experiences in my life, and I say unhesitatingly: People are wonderful. It is true. People really are wonderful." -Desmond Tutu
In addition, I picked this Sufi quote as my theme and focus for the 2011-
"To be a Sufi, is to give up all worries and there is no worse worry than yourself. When you are occupied with self you are separated from God. The way to God is but one step: the step out of yourself." -Abu Sa'id ibn Abi-l-Khayn
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