I know a lot of you don’t like these posts (they rarely get shares or reads), but I feel compelled to write them for the one person who does like them and needs them as much as I needed to experience them. The following story happened yesterday… I get more emotional than I usually do here… True Story…
I ran into the dollar store for Chef Boy R Dee, and a $2 angel hung on the Christmas rack with the word LOVE written across it. Two other wired angels with a beaded head had Peace. I wanted the Love one. I love angels, and it’s so hard to find Christmas decorations of angels anymore (I’m guessing it’s the anti-religious sentiment in all the demographic research). Everything in my house is LOVE and Angels, so to have the word LOVE written across an angel? Priceless. Right?
Except today is the day before pay day. I have $2 to spend on the angel, but I don’t risk buying stuff like that in case what little money I have left is needed for something else, and in this case, the school is having some sort of Christmas week, and tomorrow is Red and Green day, and my little Solma is really concerned about having something perfect for it. I might have to run out to Walmart, and stuff like that could be $100 easy if I’m not careful.
Now today has been a very sad day for me. Nobody died. Thankfully. But I take a pill now for my “moods” because a side effect of my pill for my focus issues is mood issues, and now I actually experience moods if I miss this pill. Well I was out of this pill last night, so I missed one day. I don’t know if it’s the pill or just me, but I spent the entire day crying in my bed for no obvious reason reminding myself how much I’m not loved.
So I got in my car thinking,
“Well if that last one is still there tomorrow, it was meant to be. What the hell am I saying? This is stupid. Wanting the LOVE one in particular is stupid.”
I could feel God nipping at my heart with,
“What’s so stupid about wanting Love?”
Like He knew it was more than just an angel decoration. He knew what I really wanted was love. To be loved. And I was losing faith in love by admitting to myself it’s the dumbest thing to ever want.
Then I was trying to say, with my heart, something like
Look around. Do you fucking see any fucking love anywhere?
But it came out,
“Look around God. What do you see?”
And for one half of a second, I looked around and I saw beautiful trees in the skyline off in the distance rolling off the hills of West Virginia, also known as God’s Country. The evening sky was an overwhelmingly peaceful blanket comforting all underneath it, and the air was full of so much potential and greatness. I felt like I was staring into a Hallmark Norman Rockwell, and I didn’t want to see that because I wasn’t feeling that. What I saw had to have been a lie.
I thought to myself,
“God, you see potential. I don’t. I gave up on everyone a long time ago. I see nothing but a bunch of lost souls wandering about, clueless, searching for YOUR love in particular, but since they can’t find it, they resort to being selfish assholes.
Yes. I did say the word asshole in prayer. I cuss a lot in prayer. God can handle it.
“Why do you think I try so hard to love everyone, especially those who hurt me? Why do you think I write so much about the importance of love? It’s because I can’t find it anywhere, so I make it up myself so that I can at least feel it once in a while.”
Then I got this feeling,
“What about my love? Don’t you see it anywhere?”
Half of me responded…
“Where? I can’t see you. I can’t feel you. Half of the world doesn’t even believe You exist and I can’t even experience You on a level to prove You.”
while the other half of me stared at the empty seat next to me…
“Your love is more of a hope and faith thing, something I hope to feel AFTER I die, something I have faith in that exists. I need something here. Right next to me. Someone I can touch. Someone who puts my needs above theirs. Someone who truly loves me. Someone who wouldn’t hurt me.”
And that last part had meaning because most of the day, I focused on how people have been hurting me, and how they will do it again. How some are in the process of doing it again. How it doesn’t stop. There is a special place in hell where people go where they don’t remember anything but pain, and lately, it feels like that is all I have to remember… that the only memories I’m developing through experience are only painful ones, and some in my past are too painful to forget. It really felt like a child-like part of my soul, the one that still believes in magic, the one that still hoped for love, she was dying.
I wanted God next to me. I wanted God in the flesh. He’s the only one who hasn’t hurt me.
It wasn’t in words that He answered. It was in feelings. It actually took my breath away for a second in one of those ah-ha moments where I found another reason to love God as much as I do, one of the most beautiful things about Him.
Disclaimer to non-believers: I know I sound like I’m a fucking whacko crazy, and I assure you I’m not one of those holier-than-thou christian types, nor do I heal people in the name of God handle snake crazy motherfucker types… I’m crazy, yes, but not nut job crazy.
But to put those feelings best into words into a way you might think God would speak…
“You don’t fully understand love and how it works. Look at that tree. I made that tree with Love. I made everything with love no different than you put your heart and passion into the things you create. Look at that mailbox.
I know right? a mailbox? God? Really? A mail box?
“The craftsmanship of that mail box in particular was made out of love. It’s placement was designed with convenience in mind, an act of love. It holds love letters and greeting cards, sharing love between people. Even the postal workers put heart into their efforts working extra hard to make sure you get that gift someone sends you, despite their salary and workload… All these people, I created with all the Love I have. My love shines through them in their work and their deeds.
If you want to feel loved, look at the trees. I made them for you. Look at the stars, I made them for you. Look at all the people. I made them for you.
Look at yourself. I made you for them.”
And I had an overwhelming sense of,
“Look at all the fucking love around you!”
And He’s right. I’m probably in one of those moods where a Prince could show up on a white horse, jump down, hand me flowers and 3 million dollars in cash and take me on a date he spent the last 3 weeks trying to prepare, sing a song he wrote for me with an orchestra playing a harmony, and I still wouldn’t feel loved because that’s how I feel. My feelings really are not dictated by anyone but myself, and God is the ONLY one who can jump in and show me how to feel better.
So I walked into my house appreciating trees and bushes like Henry David Thoreau’s Walden Pond, climbed up the steps admiring the hard work of splintered hands of a man who slaved to provide for his family, comparing those hands to my father’s hands. Walked in my door passed the coat rack of cheap coats imagining the callouses on a woman’s fingers in some place like Vietnam or Bangladesh and all the pricks she endured to feed her children and keep mine warm. I passed the beaded angel coloring my window that took more talent and patience than the dollar I paid for it at a craft show could ever afford.
My kids ran up to me curious of what was in my bags making all the cute faces they always make, and I thought how their smiles are so uniquely different between them, and then I realized the LOVE and nurture, the nights without sleep, every bandaid, all the love I put into my craftmanship as a mother.
And my message from God on my Message from God App today was…
“Today, Michelle, we believe God wants you to know that the sun and the stars are reminders of God’s eternal presence, as are the ancient mountains and the deep ocean.
Look upon the stars, or sit atop a mountain, or swim in the sea to realize that the world is very big indeed and your problems, though they may seem big, are very tiny in the overall scheme of things. See things from this larger perspective.”
As I’m writing this, I realize all the things people do for me, for a second time in the last 24 hours (remember, moods. Pills).
It all started actually when Lisa Nolan gave my book a good review. I didn’t really expect that kind of kindness or love from someone.
Then people left notes of some form of appreciation of me, whether as a comment or a private message.
Then I remembered all the posts people tagged me in, warm wishes and funnies they think I’d like, and not that they do that just once a year, but how they do it regularly for me. You know, it’s easy to take that in particular for granted, but to think I’m the one that popped into their head when they want to put a smile on someone’s face…
So I want to start a thing. I would love if you joined me on this. I want to brighten people’s day like they have mine. I want to remind myself of the love people have shown me by showing it back.
Copy and paste the following into your social media, and then do it.
November was Gratitude Month with 30 Days of Thankfulness. December is Kindness Month. #12DaysOfKindness On the first day, send a compliment, blessing or wish to someone in your social media. Something straight from your heart. On the second day, send two. On the third day, three. On the 12th day, twelve. You can send them in private messages, post on their media, or tag them on an inspirational picture. You can send them to friends or strangers. The important thing is you give kind words to someone; show them love. Give sincere compliments on what you appreciate about their value in your life.
I started my #12DaysOfKindness with a compliment to someone who may never see it. Erykah Badu. Someone shared a video of her recently that just was deep, and awesome, and gave me happy feelings like she always does. She has always been a role model to me. So I wanted to share some love her way. I want to share it with you because it’s one of the best compliments I have ever given, and it’s straight from the heart.
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If you want to up your game. Add #12DaysofGiving to your calendar. There are many ways you can show kindness this month, and many more ways, and you can also get your kids involved. Kindness has its own karma that exceeds Times Three (really click this if you want to cry happy tears; I read this while medicated). Remember, from the mouth of a child, “You should be kind all the time; Christmas is just a holiday that honors kindness.” Don’t forget to be kind to people who don’t deserve it too. They probably need it more than those who do deserve your kindness. This is part of the #12DaysofBlogmas Follow Girl on the Move’s board 12 Days of Blogmas on Pinterest.//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js
And I did get my $2 angel…
What I wanted to put in my book but didn’t was homemade butter. When I was a child, my mother would put some Heavy Whipping Cream and a dash of salt into a small Jelly Jar, seal it tight, and hand it to us kids. My sister and I took turns shaking it all day before a major Holiday dinner. As I got older, I got more creative with my butter adding things like honey.
The photo candle craft was one of my favorites from my book, The Underachiever’s Guide to Perfect Holidays.
Etching Pens can be found at most craft stores, and even my Dollar General carries one (though a little pricier than the craft store). Pat Catans is selling them for about $5. You push a button as you draw on glass, and it etches. I do store mine taken apart so nobody accidentally gets hurt. You can also buy etching chemicals to smear over a stencil, though those are pricier.
Crumpets and Bollocks 