On Friday, we’ll remember Christopher Reeve on the tenth anniversary of his death. This quotation from him is a reminder that all things are possible.
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.“
– Christopher Reeve
If you decide to use this prompt and want to share what you’ve written with others, put your posted link in the comments. If you’re an artist and use this prompt, please share that as well. We’d all love to see the creativity around us, and that can inspire us too!
Hot Water
(*Suggestions for a better title welcome!*)
Prompt: Squash, gourd, and/or pumpkin
Photo: Snowdon (taken in 1987)
I kind of failed Rosh Hashanah this year. I mean it’s still my responsibility to model for my kids and teach them how to observe. I feel as though I’m failing them in this area. I am also not ready to give up all of my traditions, and Yom Kippur is one of those thoughtful observances that gives you a mandatory stop and take inventory of where you are, where you’ve been, and we’re you’re going.
Yom Kippur is a little different today. For me, it’s less about what you can’t do, but what you can; what you do.
Fasting isn’t the absence of food; it is the presence of G-d as reminder of not only my failings of the past year, but also where I’ve succeeded.
Lighting candles for my parents. The reminder of where I’ve come from, how much I miss the every day, and it tells them that they are not forgotten.
Not working. No writing has always driven me crazy, but it has also afforded me the opportunity to slow down and think; to meditate. I am “forced” to something else.
My usual Yom Kippur activity is reading. Harry Potter was one of my Jewish holiday books and look at all my life has changed because of that beginning of that New Year. Overall, wonderful things from deep friendship to finding parts of me and knowing that are still parts missing; left to find.
This year’s book is Jesus: A Pilgrimage by James Martin. I know, an unusual choice for Yom Kippur. I’ve wanted to read it for some time. It was a gift from my godmother, and I look at the spine nearly every day and thinking I don’t have the time, I go back to my Kindle.
Yom Kippur will give me the time.
It is a whole day where I can read, pray, meditate, pray the rosary, light candles and no one questions the whys or the wherefores.
It is the one day out of the year where I don’t have to explain my actions.
It simply is.
Why are you….?
Because it’s Yom Kippur.
The simplicity of not apologizing for who I am or who I am becoming is part of my day’s meditation.
I do ask guidance and forgiveness for those I’ve wronged even with the best of intentions. Enlighten me how I can do better and I will do my best to try.
I will let my faith continue to guide me.
I will question what I don’t understand.
I will defend the wronged.
I will be the friend I’m supposed to be.
I will be the person I’m supposed to be.
My first smartphone wasn’t smart at all. It looked like an iPhone, but none of the icons were actually apps. I could surf the net but it wasn’t until the Android system that I finally understood and began to use apps.
I’ve been using apps for a few years now, and my favorite, most useful, the one I recommend to all, glowingly and effusively, is Evernote.
I have the app on my phone, my Kindle, and my computer plus I can access it from any computer by signing in at Evernote(dot)com. It is all synched and ready each time I open it up.
While I was still experimenting with this type of organizational app and trying out different ones, I was always drawn back to Evernote.
It really is the best one out there.
Evernote can be as general or as specific as you need. You decide how many notebooks you create. You choose and create your own tags. You can save things to a top menu for shortcuts if you’ll be using something more often for a period of time. You can even share your notebook with others if you want or need to.
Currently, I have seventeen notebooks and way too many tags, and I’m working on paring it down.
In addition to my long-hand notes, I also use it for checklists and collecting photos and links for other projects. It’s an all-in-one app; there are things it does that I haven’t even discovered yet.
I find it essential for my writing as well as organizing the information in my personal life.
It’s also free if you use the basic program.
Give it a try. You won’t be sorry.
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”
-Albert Schweitzer
Griffins and Ginger Snaps 