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Friday, October 15, 2010

The Woman Next to You

I received this blessing (or something close to it) while sitting next to two dear friends. The words filled me up with love and understanding for the many women I am blessed to be surrounded with every day. Won't you take a moment to read these words and think of the women next to you.

Look around Sisters, look around you!

Who is the woman sitting next to you?

The woman next to you is an inexhaustible reservoir of possibility

With possibilities that have never been completely realized.

Full of necessity and possibility, dread and desire, smiles and frowns,

laughter and tears, fears and hopes,

all struggling to find expression.

The woman next to you is striving to become something in particular,

to arrive at some destination, to have a story, a song,

to be known and to know.


The woman next to you believes in something,

something precious,

stands for something, counts for something,

lives for something,

runs runs towards something.


The woman next to you, has problems and fears, wonders how she is doing,

and often doesn't feel very good about it,

is often disorganized and sometimes close to chaos,

but endowed with great toughness in the face of adversity,

and able to survive great difficulties.


The woman next to you is a colony of persons,

persons all met during her lifetime...

father and mother, friend and enemy.

The woman next to you has something she can do well...

something she can do better than anyone else in the whole world...

there is something that she and she alone can do...but she may not dare speak of it to you.


The woman next to you is a mystery

and the word made flesh is mystery.


The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us...

and so my Sisters look around you...

for Christ is here, He died, and is risen,

Alleluia!


-found here


(I have been in a quiet space these past weeks... a happy space, just one where I find myself talking less and listening more. Thank you for your patience, and I do hope to be back here tomorrow to share a few more words)

5 comments:

Kerry said...

So beautiful Adele and so timely for me. I spent time this weekend sitting with my mother, grandmother, daughter, and dear cousin. All amazing women, all miracles in my life. Thank you for sharing!
I love your collage too. Really inspiring!

Adele said...

I'm so glad! Yes, I feel the same way-- thankful for these miracles that surround me.

eKay said...

Is it just as bad as patriarchy to say that female is by far the superior gender?! I jest, and I know I don't know the other side of the coin, but thank GOD I am a woman!! If only to be in the club that the most wonderful people I know occupy. However, I also thank GOD that there are equally wonderful men in this world to love and support all of us women.

Unknown said...

This is so beautiful. Such a perfect way to live, to remind ourselves that everyone is trying, differently but the same as we are. That we're each a colony of people, the people who have loved us have shaped us. Love this!

Vicki said...

Hi Adele. I just read this tonight. It is so wonderful. Oddly, I just posted a little fragment of the love I have for the gals in my life. Feels like a God thing to me!
I'll muse over this for a while, I'm sure and I really want to share it with my daughter. Thank you. Thank you.