Posted by Terri McPherson on June 05, 2001 at 05:50:17:
Precious threads of words, offered and accepted,
are woven into the tapestry of my heart. I take
snippets of conversations, whole phrases and single
sentences that offer gentle insight or blazing clarity,
and tuck them away for future reference. Strands of
my own thoughts connect with the thoughts of others,
creating a unique and personal perspective.
Any time I'm physically or mentally unprepared to face
a day, I feel the tug of a small thread that connects me
to Viola. She's a seventy-two-year-old woman I met in
Tennessee. During the course of our first
conversation, she told me she used to be a real
'firecracker' before her bones got tired. Now, all the
'zippity' had gone out of her 'do-da' and some
mornings, just getting out of bed zapped most of
energy.
"But as long as the good Lord sees to fit to bless me
with a new day, I get up on these old feet and rise to
the occasion. If I'm here, I'm here for a reason, and I
sure won't find it laying in bed feeling sorry for
myself."
Viola didn't wait around to see what the day would
bring, she looked around to find what she could bring
to the day.
"Some days all I have to offer is a kind word. It may
not seem like much, but if you were the one who
needed to hear it, wouldn't you be glad I found you
and spoke it?"
Indeed I was.