At the beginning of every recent year, I search for a word and / or quote for my year ahead. It’s something that is a balm to me for the coming changes and the daunting climb ahead through a new year.
The team at GreatNewBooks.org all talk about our words / quotes / or lack thereof. I’m fascinated by others’ choices and reasoning behind them. Definitely, listening to friends working through their hopes for the year ahead affects me. This year has been one of a prolonged search.
I first found this quote by Saint Teresa of Avila:
It is not a matter of thinking a great deal but of loving a great deal, so do whatever arouses you most to love. – Teresa of Avila
Guidepost: Love
My word for 2017 is love. Love works through and in everything for the better. There is no one situation that love will not solve. Even (especially) in a house full of teenage boys, love smoothes out each day, each interaction, each word.
I tend to overthink things. I appreciate Teresa’s words on not thinking a great deal, but simply doing what brings us to act in love. Yes.
Another Outtake
A writing friend I met several years ago at a conference, and have stayed in touch since, has been through tremendous pain and suffering in the past month. Her daughter, who had cystic fibrosis, was put into surgery for a lung transplant after more than 2 years of waiting at the hospital far from their home. She didn’t make it, after all the complications. My friend has written prolifically since then. Part of their story can be found here: https://9livesnotes.com/
One of Maryanne’s photos she shared was of a quote by Tennessee Williams, which her daughter Caitlyn wrote out. This quote has not left me. This is the truth of life …
Isn’t this the truth of life?
“The world is violent and mercurial–it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love–love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.”
― Tennessee Williams
There are only so many days ahead to love well those who have been placed into our lives, whether they’re a passing stranger or a family member. More than anything, we need to love.
To love in 2017…
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