So much to be thankful for, how could anyone ever be sad?

I had one and half PBRs last night which was one and half too many. I forget that it's cheap beer for a reason.

I woke up this morning angry at work, angry at my messy room, my upset stomach, my headache, and just existence in general.

But, I'd made plans with AB and RG to go to Harmony Church this morning for Sunday service.

But before I tell you anymore about today, let's skip back to exactly one week ago.

I'd gone to Harmony with AB last Sunday.  The services began with the choir standing in front of the congregation, prepared to perform. As the members began to settle in their seats, a little girl began to sing solo: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so," and it was adorable. I smiled and then sighed resignedly to myself, believing that I was about to go through visiting yet another church service full of talk about Jesus as my saviour and Jehovah as my master.

But then the child finished singing, and the choir picked up where she left off. And their words were, "Spirit loves me, this I know, for the conscious tells me so." And my jaw dropped and my eyes teared up and I whispered, "Yes, yes, yes..."

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. I was unabashedly elated to see that these people had put away their childish things and become men.

Throughout the service, this esoteric language that AB and I had created between ourselves -- this language that danced with ideas and that exasperated others who listened to us speak it -- was being spoken fluently by every Reverend and every member of the congregation. Every word that AB and I had said to one another, all our particular semantics, all our logic... it was all manifest in the middle of this tiny sanctuary on Henry Street in west Tampa. It was mindblowing and revolutionary, yet comforting and familiar and completely mother at the same time.

The rest of the service impacted me in similar ways. The choir sang Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram. One of the Reverends led us on a meditation during which my spirit left my body and renewed itself with a vigor and a passion I'd not felt in so long. Another Reverend anointed my head and chest with oil and blessed me, as I offered her peace and thanks.

My head spun and my heart cried and I praised the Source for Being and for Guiding.

I walked away from the service with wet eyes, an open heart, and a reaffirmed belief in eternal trust in the Source to provide guidance, direction, and wisdom for me in every aspect of my life.




Skip to one week later -- this morning:

I woke up pissed at PBR.

But, as I said, I'd made plans to attend Harmony again with AB and also RG this time around.

I made myself roll out of the bed, grumbling, but knowing that the service would renew me spiritually, emotionally, and mentally, preparing me for the coming week.

The service was beautiful this week, as it was last week, and I left happy. I came home and gathered up lots of things I'd been meaning to drop off at Goodwill, then drove out to a drop-off zone in Carrollwood. I was playing Liquid Swords by GZA when I pulled up in my quarter-life crisis car (a silver 2-door, 5-speed Civic), and one of the gentlemen manning the Goodwill truck (whose name I soon learned was Junior) walked right up and promptly asked if I was donating the items in my trunk along with the car itself. I laughed and said, "Yeah, take the whole thing! I can walk home." He laughed also, and then gathered up my grocery bags of clothes and purses. As he started to walk back toward the Goodwill truck, he turned around and asked for my car keys. I laughed and said, "Okay, maybe I won't donate the car today. But I'll take you for a spin!" Which made all three of the Goodwill gentlemen laugh. And then another one of them (whose name I soon learned was Chris) said to me, "Are you happy today?" I said, "Yes, I'm elated today, in fact." He asked me why, and I told him that I had had a lovely church service earlier in the morning, and that I had enough money to pay my rent and buy my food, and that I couldn't think of a reason to be sad today. Chris smiled and asked me if I would pray with all three of them.

I was flattered and accepted. And we stood in the middle of the Home Depot parking lot and held hands, and I thanked our Father for everything that He has blessed us with so far, and asked for His continued blessings, particularly upon the work that Junior, Chris, and Ivan were doing in Tampa Bay.

And then Chris asked if I'd like to fellowship with him sometime, because he goes to church every Sunday at a congregation on Dale Mabry and Kennedy. I told him that I'd love to, so we exchanged phone numbers and planned to see each other at church soon.

Kisses,
M

So, thank you. Thank you, everyone, for being community, and creating community, and giving and taking love and compassion. Because community, love, and compassion are the only things that really matter, right? Everything else falls into place when we practice these things.

There is so much to be thankful for, how could anyone ever be sad?