None of us are self-sufficient – we all depend on the work of others for our comfort and our daily survival. Whatever the work you do, perhaps you can take a moment this Labor Day to honor all the ways in which the work others engage in contributes to your well-being.
What work would you love to do? What work are you really grateful someone else takes on, and you don’t have to?
For most of the year blackberries are a scourge: a thorny, invasive vine that is impossible to get rid of. But for a few weeks of late summer the blackberry vine redeems itself with mouthfuls of tangy sweetness.
What in your life that you mostly find annoying periodically gives you something wonderful?
X-rays allow us to see below the surface, outlining bones where we would ordinarily see only skin. While we can’t manage such feats with our eyes, we are gifted with a different kind of vision that allows us to see beneath surfaces, to pick up feelings that don’t match with people’s words, or to find significance in the everyday objects and events around us.
How have you recently used your ability to see through surfaces to something deeper below?
In the world of Harry Potter, there are Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans – jelly beans in every flavor, from buttered rum to vomit. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to risk eating jelly beans when you never know if you’re going to get mocha or mucus, but isn’t life pretty much like that? Any day might be the day you meet your one true love, or the day you get hit by a car, and there is no choice but to reach into the bag and see what you get.
How do you prepare yourself for reaching into the bag of a new day?
A snow-covered mountain is an image of pristine beauty, “white,” as they say, “as the driven snow.” But when you actually get up in that snow you will find the perfect cover is marred with the tracks of animals and people, with dust and twigs and droppings and all the imperfections that come with the presence of life. Other people’s lives often look smooth and glossy from a distance, but not one of us lives in a place of purity and perfection.
How do you embrace your imperfections?
