Welcome back to #OnlytheGood! I hope you enjoy this edition. If you have something to share, please do so through the comments or through a private message to me!
You're My Favorite - this one is just delicious! I've linked before to Lisa Ferland's work and this one is just as lovely as the last.
An excerpt:
ou crawled into bed with me this morning after the sun rose. My arms wrapped around you and I breathed in your hair. You smell of the shampoo you didn't wash out of your hair last night when you giggled in the shower with your brother. Your little body nestled against mine and I felt your bones relax. Your soft cheek brushed my chin, and I thought, "Ahh, you're my favorite." I would never say those words aloud, of course, because parents aren't allowed to have favorites. But, at that moment, in that space, my heart was full of you.We are Reclaiming Chicago One Corner at a Time - This one is such a great picture of what it is to become a community that watches out for each other and our kids.
" What we do is simple. We sit on the corners and watch over the children in the neighborhood. My two children always behaved better when an adult had eyes on them. So I thought this would work for the other kids here, too.
" This is not exactly an avant-garde idea. I learned it from my mom, who learned it from hers, and so on, back until what I would imagine was the dawn of time. This has always been the role of the black mother in the community. We watch the kids. All of them. This is that "village" that we hear so much about but that has somehow been forgotten. All I've done is try to revive its spirit."
The Unexpected Secret about 'Boring Men' - and the Women who Love Them by Ann Voskamp
My mom found this one and sent it to me with this message: "Have you seen this? It's too beautiful, made me cry because your Dad was one of those faithful, committed men."
An excerpt:
Romance isn't measured by how viral your proposal goes. The internet age may try to sell you something different, but don't ever forget that viral is closely associated with sickness - so don't ever make being viral your goal.... The real romantics are the boring ones - they let another heart bore a hole deep into theirs. Be one of the boring ones. Pray to be one who get 50 boring years of marriage - 50 years to let her heart bore a hole deep into yours. Let everyone do their talking about 50 shades of grey, but don't let anyone talk you out of it: Commitment is pretty much black and white. Because the truth is: Real love will always make you suffer. Simply commit: Who am I willing to suffer for?#OnlytheGood quote: "What's lost is nothing to what's found, and all the death that ever was, set next to life, would scarcely fill a cup." Frederick Buechner
#OnlytheGood book: I'm reading A Crazy, Holy Grace: The Healing Power of Pain and Memory
This is a new book by Frederick Buechner, a collection of writings not previously published. His editor says it well in the foreword of the book:
And that's what this new collection of Buechner's writings, including a lecture he gave that has never before appeared in print, aims to help us realize-that when we enter the gates of pain and use the healing power of memory, we will hear God speaking, and we can take comfort and rest our weary souls in his crazy, holy grace.#OnlytheGood Picture - "Home" can feel complicated for me. Where I feel at home and where I make my home are often two different places. But right now, I've made my home in Cambridge, Massachusetts and I recently rearranged my furniture instead of heading to the international terminal. A sign "Home is Where Your Story Begins" reminds me that home is simultaneously transient and permanent. Below is a collage of pictures of the place I currently call 'home'.
