To love life, to love it even when you have no stomach for it and everything you’ve held dear crumbles like burnt paper in your hands. . . When grief sits with you, when grief weights you like your own flesh only more of it, you think, “How can a body withstand this?” Then you hold life like a face between your palms, a plain face, no charming smile, no violet eyes, and you say, “Yes, I will take you. I will love you again.”    – Ellen Bass

There have been moments during these last almost five months when the loss and grief I have felt related to my ongoing illness have been overwhelming – when I have felt that my life was crumbling from under me. I confess there were times when I sobbed and screamed at God to tell me what I was going to do with such a diminished life – one where I was giving up my workshops, my retreats, my Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, even my car. Yes, there were even times when I thought I couldn’t continue to have hope in the midst of such pain and sorrow. Fortunately at such times, there was always some person, some event, some phone call, some tiny miracle that brought me back to having a sense of hope and optimism, of courage and resolution to go forward.

One of those “miracles” came from the encouragement I received from a number of my friends – and especially from my amazing colleague Katie Sanborn, who is also my webmaster – to put together a book of weekly inspirational meditations loosely based on some of my blogs. And so in the last months, when my legs weren’t working very well, I found that my mind, my eyes, my arms, and my hands could still do amazing things –more gifts from God.

So I’m thrilled to announce that in the next week or so, a new book, Seasons of Joy: Weekly Meditations on Life and Spirit by Joy Carol with Katie Sanborn will be published. As the title suggests, the book’s structure is inspired by the changing of the seasons, with weekly inspirational meditations for each one.

Please watch for the announcement of the publication of the book on my blog, in an email, or on Facebook. As soon as it is published you will be able to order it on Amazon as a real book. A few weeks later, it will also be available as an e-book.

So there is always something we can look forward to, something we can do when we feel diminished. And we can hold life again in our hands and say, “I do love you.”

• Have you felt disheartened because your life has been diminished in some way?
• What can help you to hold onto your soul and to look at life with love again?

Beloved Giver of miracles and of life, we come to you at times with broken hearts, with diminished spirits. We need so much to feel your presence, to realize that nothing can separate us from your love. Thank you for your endless encouragement, your belief in us as your children – even when we are disheartened. You are our beloved God. Amen. 

Joy Carol
www.joycarol.com