Thank you for the rain. Today I am really grateful that there is no reason for me to have to drive my car anywhere! I have a warm home, a solid roof and plenty of wood for my stove. I know this is not everyone's reality... So, I sit here at my desk and organize the rest of my tax info. I am, also grateful that I earned enough to have to pay taxes this year!!! There have been many years when that was certainly NOT my reality!

As more than significant amounts of water are currently washing thru New England and other parts of the world, many opportunities for us to review all that we are grateful for are being created. I am grateful that I live on a bit of a hill, that almost all the rain flows downhill eventually, but I know that it ends up in the river, the marshes, the streets and in my neighbors yards and basements... It is easier for me, than someone with 3 feet of water in their family room, to appreciate the rain.

Still, I am grateful that all this rain seems to be just falling from the sky, tho' often in downpours, and that the wind gods are less present than in previous storms. I am grateful that we are being given lots of time and information about necessary evacuations. And even in the light of devestating damage to homes along flooding rivers & low places, I am grateful that in most places it isn't coming in with hurrican force winds or as a 30 foot wave, clearing away thousands people, lifetimes of culture, homes and history.

Yesterday's Abraham 'message' suggested that "anything you do to overcome or prevent, causes a spotlight on the very thing you are wanting to overcome and prevent. You cannot take enough action to compensate for the Energy that you're flowing.' http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php  Wow! how many times have I heard folks this spring complain about all the rain... Someone said... 'Worrying, it's like praying for what you don't want!"

So, I'm giving thanks, in spite of it all...  intending abundance in all things... is that balance? acknowledging gratitude for all that is... and I'm 'tappin' when I feel that charge around something I don't like, don't want, can't stand. I'm standing up, clearing out, transforming my resistance and giving thanks for the opportunities to see where I still can get knocked over, pushed off balance. It takes more these days for me to get out of balance... and it is easier and quicker for me to regain my sense of center when that does happen... an unexpected tax bill, 3 feet of water in my little old basement could do that...

In the passed, crisis & chaos & conflict seemed huge to me... and may were! Today, looking back, I learned just how strong I could be, just how creative & innovative and smart I could get when faced with a challenge... What is the worst that could happen, I've come to ask myself... (And in the face of giving up a home in the late 1970's and again in the early 1990's) I figured it would be unlikely I'd ever have to live in my car, given the support I had, my health, family, etc.... Several weeks later, I unexpectedly found myself sleeping in the front seat of an old Dodge Ram pick up truck... however, it was my choice, a week long outdoor antique show... street food, portajohns, etc... admittedly I had had a different plan... but there I was! Metaphore Mary!) 

My mother passed away in September, 2007, after a year long struggle; a significant friend, mentor unexpectedly & tragically died in December 2008; another, a girl friend, younger than I, passed in January, 2010. When I think of these women, and others, I am grateful for their presence in my life; I appreciate, often beyond words, that we were so connected. And yet, I am profoundly sad and sometimes even angry that they are gone. (and,yes, I know only the physical has changed, they are still with me, available for conferencing, etc....) but it's not same... and I miss the way it was... or do I? The last few years were not easy for any of these great women, there was struggle, fear, sadness & frustration for all of us. Can I appreciate that we have moved thru much of that? Can I appreciate that I am still here and know I have some choice about my own struggle, frustration & fear?  Aaahhh... I also have to choose to appreciate that I have a choice? Yikes! 

K often suggested that it was in the struggle, in the give & take, that we accomplish, learn, evolve... Perhaps it is in the comparison of light & dark (as our ego-y human minds like to define it), in the polarity that identifies what we want and what we don't, that we begin to understand that it is sometimes how we perceive and respond that creates the conflict, the chaos.

My Mom used to say "D**m! I hate it when you kids spring things on me!"  and then there would be the requisite harangue before we could get down to the business of figuring out just how we were going to get a dozen cookies ready for the next day's school birthday party, or what to do about missing homework, or too many places to be with only one car! And it always worked out! Even though it's taken years for me to realize I often do the same thing when presented with something I didn't expect and even though I know it always 'works out' I still can  overreact... it just doesn't take me so long to come back to center, to take a breath, look at it clearly and step into it... with intention for resolution and appreciation for the experience... now that, for me, is abundance... and, for this moment, I am grateful for knowing I have choice...