Rainy Day Edition: I’m grateful get to watch a thunderstorm roll in this morning. I’m grateful for a gray, pewter sky and flashes of lightning. I’m grateful for feelings of peace and connection. I’m grateful for a couple of pennies when I needed them. I’m grateful for letting the right things happen. I’m grateful to be sober today.
Hansel and Gretel followed their father and stepmother and stepmother into the forest and left a trail of breadcrumbs to help them find their way back -- the birds ate the crumbs and they became lost, which is how they stumbled upon the witch's candy cottage. I like to think, in this metaphor, that the breadcrumbs/pennies are markers we leave for ourselves that disappear, and so we end up on the path our Higher Power intends for us instead, which leads us where we need to go (usually out).
Thank you--I had this vague recollection that breadcrumbs were involved somehow! And as far as taking things too far, I think there's about 16 minutes of audio of me discussing a theology based on finding pennies. I really like your take on it though---what we think of as "being lost," is actually "being found."
I listened to the podcast late yesterday after spending three days with my loved one who is in recovery at a family workshop (where I also had to sit in a room with his father for three days, too, but we won't talk about that). Your story of the pennies was incredibly helpful--pennies ARE humble and the act of picking them up IS humbling.
My grandmother used to send coins taped to cards for my kids when they were little. After she passed, I found myself thinking of her when I found a penny. I kind of got out of that practice. Maybe I should start again.
Hansel and Gretel followed their father and stepmother and stepmother into the forest and left a trail of breadcrumbs to help them find their way back -- the birds ate the crumbs and they became lost, which is how they stumbled upon the witch's candy cottage. I like to think, in this metaphor, that the breadcrumbs/pennies are markers we leave for ourselves that disappear, and so we end up on the path our Higher Power intends for us instead, which leads us where we need to go (usually out).
Probably I took this too far 😉
Thank you--I had this vague recollection that breadcrumbs were involved somehow! And as far as taking things too far, I think there's about 16 minutes of audio of me discussing a theology based on finding pennies. I really like your take on it though---what we think of as "being lost," is actually "being found."
Exactly.
You took it just far enough, Sarah, because I needed to read that. Beautiful and profound.
I'm glad.
I listened to the podcast late yesterday after spending three days with my loved one who is in recovery at a family workshop (where I also had to sit in a room with his father for three days, too, but we won't talk about that). Your story of the pennies was incredibly helpful--pennies ARE humble and the act of picking them up IS humbling.
My grandmother used to send coins taped to cards for my kids when they were little. After she passed, I found myself thinking of her when I found a penny. I kind of got out of that practice. Maybe I should start again.
I'm really glad you liked it!
If the piece you read lives anywhere in print, let me know. I'd love to print it to share with my son (no phone/computer yet!).