Today I'm wondering what did gratitude look like in your household growing up?
I can remember once as a kid getting a coloring book from a relative that was obviously already colored in by another kid. Sigh. Yet, still I was expected to be appreciative of the thought. It's the thought that counts, right?
This week's word speaks to what we accept in moments like this: crumbs. Crumbs is a very small amount of something.
Though of course we normally think about crumbs in terms of food, I think we all know what it is like to receive something from someone that is a crumb. It's obvious to that a "fit" is not there between the gift and the receiver. It's obvious to us that no thought or attention to detail has gone into the offering.
But we say thank you for crumbs because gratitude is everything right?
Recently I've been thinking about how often our acceptance of crumbs goes against the SOUL WORK that our hearts are longing for us to do.
Well, what do I mean? Well, accepting crumbs in the bigger picture of your life can look like staying in relationships full of abuse, control or just plain meanness simply because it's expected or easier.
Accepting crumbs can look like planting yourself in a career pathsimply because it pays the bills but is draining the life out of you every day.
Accepting crumbs can mean saying in older age that "this is just how life is going to be" without any fight in you for what might bring YOU joy in the now (even if you have to work around your limitations).
Why do we do this? You might accept crumbs believing that it's the best there is. Or it's all your worth. Or that your gratitude for something that is obviously painful will somehow make it less painful (but it doesn't).
I want to say to you today: you are worth the having your cake and eating it too as my grandmother used to say. You are a beloved child of God with needs that deserve to be met. Your acceptance of crumbs as all there is robs the world of YOU.
You are allowed to be the gatekeeper of your own life. You are allowed to stand up for what is not serving you and choose another path. You are allowed to let the crumbs be crumbs on the floor and not have to pick or clean up after others.
Of course, this doesn't mean that a rejection of crumbs in your life will mean that everything will be instantly better or that new things will show up on command. But it does mean that IF you let the crumbs go, THEN you'll be ready to say yes when "the whole pie" finds you.
On the journey with you today of rejecting the crumbs and believing in beautiful wholeness in the days to come-
XO
Elizabeth
