Beautiful truths

Laughter is carbonated holiness. Quote by Anne Lamott.

Anne Lamott gave a beautiful TED talk recently. I love TED…but wow, sometimes it exceeds my already high expectations.

Wow!!

Being full of affection for one's goofy, self-centered, cranky, annoying self is home. It's where world peace begins. Quote by Anne Lamott TED 2017 with background of man with goofy grin

Regular readers know how much I love TED generally…and when it’s Anne Lamott…well…who can resist?

I love how Anne gently and wryly speaks truth…sharing of her own beautiful, messy, now-sober, grace-filled experience to share what she has learned in ways that have us be all wiser. Doncha just wanna sit and have tea with her…and soak up the wisdom?

Anne Lamott reminds us of the value of family…even while she acknowledges that raw toughness of family:

Families are hard, hard, hard, no matter how cherished and astonishing they may also be. Again, see number one* [see below]. At family gatherings where you suddenly feel homicidal or suicidal —remember that in all cases, it’s a miracle that any of us, specifically, were conceived and born.

Earth is forgiveness school. It begins with forgiving yourself, and then you might as well start at the dinner table. That way, you can do this work in comfortable pants.

When William Blake said that we are here to learn to endure the beams of love, he knew that your family would be an intimate part of this, even as you want to run screaming for your cute little life. But I promise you are up to it.

*(Number one: the first and truest thing is that all truth is a paradox. Life is both a precious, unfathomably beautiful gift, and it’s impossible here, on the incarnational side of things. It’s been a very bad match for those of us who were born extremely sensitive. It’s so hard and weird that we sometimes wonder if we’re being punked. It’s filled simultaneously with heartbreaking sweetness and beauty, desperate poverty, floods and babies and acne and Mozart, all swirled together. I don’t think it’s an ideal system.)

Earth is Forgiveness school Anne Lamott on background of sand for Conexus Counselling

I love that her top 12 list of Life lessons includes grace. We are wired for connection…and every single one of us is messing up constantly. The whole connecting with others thing quickly falls apart if we expect and need the people we love to be always present, always cheerful, always accepting, always available, and never disappoint or hurt us. It just ain’t gonna happen.

Without grace in relationships, we are all doomed.

Anne Lamott says:

Grace.

Grace is spiritual WD-40, or water wings. The mystery of grace is that God loves Henry Kissinger and Vladimir Putin and me exactly as much as He or She loves your new grandchild. Go figure. The movement of grace is what changes us, heals us and heals our world.

To summon grace, say, “Help,” and then buckle up. Grace finds you exactly where you are, but it doesn’t leave you where it found you. And grace won’t look like Casper the Friendly Ghost, regrettably. But the phone will ring or the mail will come and then against all odds, you’ll get your sense of humor about yourself back. Laughter really is carbonated holiness. It helps us breathe again and again and gives us back to ourselves, and this gives us faith in life and each other. And remember — grace always bats last.

Grace finds you exactly where you are, but it doesn't leave you where it found you. Quote by Anne Lamott with pic of a woman sitting forlorn on ground, hands curled around her lower legs.