Dear God...
Dear God,
I'm writing this letter to say thank you. Life moves so quickly that I hardly slow down and truly appreciate the gifts you've provided me. Thank you for all of my blessings.
Thank you for my family...those here and those who are now with you. I'm grateful to have a family that loves me and knows me....a family that can be crazy and loud, but a family that always loves and forgives.
Thank you for my friends...my friends filled with faith and love and goodness. My friends who show me who I want to be and love me for who I am right now. My friends who pray for me and pray with me, my friends that laugh with me and cry with me. My friends that have taught me lessons of patience and forgiveness and have shown me how to live an authentic life. My friends that inspire me with their own lives.
Thank you for my home, filled with treasures like photographs and notebooks and drawings from my niece and nephew...that reminds me thank you for making me an auntie. Deep inside my heart I have always wanted to be a mom and that hasn't happened...yet, but I am an auntie to kind Jack and spunky Jillian. I'm an honorary auntie to the children of my friends. I'm an important figure in the lives of my students....so if a mom is someone who loves you and cares for you...thank you for giving me the small opportunity to do that with other children in my life.
Thank you for my career as a teacher. You blessed me with gifts to inspire and teach and in turn I get to spend my days doing something I love and working with amazing kids! I get to spend my days reading books and sharing them with enthusiastic (and sometimes not so enthusiastic) readers. I get to share the idea that everyone is a reader, they just need to find the right book! I get to write with my students, for my students and I get to read their writing. They inspire me, they surprise me and they motivate me to always do my best.
Thank you for the pain and loss I've experienced in my life. In the moment, it's hard and terrible and I pray for relief from it...but with time comes perspective. These are the moments when I learn, grow, and change. Thank you for the mean people, they've taught me how valuable a kind word is. Thank you for the loneliness, it's taught me how to turn to you and how I can be alone and not lonely. Thank you for the loss, it's taught me to appreciate every moment of every day.
My days begin with a practice of gratitude. Every morning I send an email (two actually) with a gratitude list and those who receive the email reply with their own list. It's changed me. It's changed my perspective. In this letter to you, God, I realize that all of the things on my list come from you...so, to you, I say thank you.
This post is inspired by Chris Asaad's Open Letter to God. I was inspired reading his, so I wrote my own version. Thank you, Chris!
Sharing this for my celebration on Ruth Ayres's blog
This is very beautiful, Michelle. I'm sure you'll come back to this post again and again, and it will help you heal, and help you stay grateful for all you have. Thank you for being so open and sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteQuite appropriate as we move into a season of Thanksgiving. I do hope you find the peace you are searching for. Although I do not know you, you seem to be a very positive person, and I do not understand why someone would use words against you. Stay strong and focused on Who is important.
ReplyDeleteThis really moved me. Feeling grateful to God for your words tonight...and for you.
ReplyDeletewhat a beautiful letter! and I am thankful for YOU!
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you took the risk to capture these words. Thanks for trusting us enough to share them. Your gratitude is contagious.
Ruth
And thank you for sharing with us. It is always good to remember that there is a lot to be thankful for.
ReplyDeleteI think remembering to be grateful impacts so much of our daily lives. I am glad that you took the time to consider so much that is going well in your life as well as recognizing the positive in challenges.
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful, Michelle. Right from your heart. Those are always the best words.
ReplyDeleteThis is a gorgeous letter. You make me want to write one of my own.
ReplyDeleteYour letter is beautiful and poignant. It inspires me to write my own and I love your gratitude emails. How wonderful that you can take the negatives and turn them into positives. Those challenges in life often make us stronger (whether we want to be or not). :)
ReplyDeleteMichelle, you have been an inspiration to me as a friend, teacher and all around person in the last few years. Your words have helped me steer through the most difficult time in my life. So thank you for being you.
ReplyDelete