Recently I had a conversation with someone who had been going through a challenging time and was beginning to find a new space and place in the world to heal and grow. The conversation reminded me of other times in my life when things had been so difficult that I didn't know how they would ever get better, and that somehow they did and somehow here I am in a time and place where I can look back and see that not only was I able to find places and people to bless me on my journey, but that in every case the time that I went through not only helped me learn something that was important, but also helped me to make necessary changes in my life that led me to much better ways of living and thinking and being.
Twenty years ago I began the search for someone to partner with to create a community space for art and performance and health and wellness and educational programs in topics like sustainability. As I've written in these pages before, I found the person to partner with, but somehow at the end of two more years everything I cared about seemed lost. And now here I am after having gone through such a dark night of the soul all those years ago, having had a spiritual awakening in the process that led to a relationship with God and so many other life changing and miraculous experiences along the way, here I am looking back and realizing that it was twenty years ago when the seed of an idea came into my heart to start the community center and now it has become a reality at YES Gallery.
This past week marked the third month anniversary of the gallery opening, and it was the day before Thanksgiving. As I began to think back and be reminded of other times, I thought about Thanksgivings in the past when I was dealing with so many things that were so difficult, times when I wondered how I could find a way to feel thankful and grateful when it seemed that life was not ever going to be the way that I had always hoped it could be. During one of those times, at the end of that two year partnership that ended in what felt like the worst kind of disaster, someone I knew directed me to begin making gratitude lists and speaking gratitude into my life every moment of every day. I wrote a short story at the time with that name, and it is one of my favorites still. And as strange as it may seem, just speaking gratitude began to make things feel like there was a change for the better. It is now as I look back that I realize how far and wide things have changed, and as I remember that time and those gratitude lists I begin to understand just a little that perhaps in the process of trying to find something to be grateful for I was able to begin to focus on the God that I began to know and to understand that though the world around me seemed bleak, there is a God who is always there with us, helping to guide us to a better place to be.
In the gratitude that I learned to live out in my life, there was a part of it that began to help me understand that I was loved and cared for. Being grateful for the things and people that appeared in my path to help and share kindness helped me receive the gifts and blessings they offered with a heart that over time began to be so filled that it could open to others and share what had been shared with me. I was speaking with someone the other day who said they loved the name of YES Gallery because so often what we all hear is no. As I've written before there are all kinds of inspirations behind the name, but perhaps that is the best one of all. Saying yes is not always easy and hearing no is what we so often expect, so here's to the blessing of having a space and a place where yes is the way of life.
