
So, the problem is that I don’t know how to begin.
I'm just . . . I don’t even know what I am.
I’m sitting here alone in my chilly kitchen this morning. It’s dark and quiet and all I hear is the sound of the coffee machine bubbling behind me. Hurry up, coffee.
Every so often I also hear the stairs creak and I pray it’s not one of the kids. Not yet, not yet! I’ m not ready. I need some time to talk to my Monkees.
I’m tired. We three (Chase, Andrea and I) were up late into the night counting bids and crying and celebrating.
The auction was a success beyond what we’d allowed ourselves to imagine. When all is said and done, we will have raised close to $4000 for our friends, Evy and Rocky. Crazy, right? Crazy love.
But we all know it’s not about the money. For me, it’s not even really about Evy and Rocky. Those girls are gonna be all right . . . I know it. For me, it was about Jill and Tova. It was about taking care of mamas. About proving to them that people will show up. It was about creating balance. When something awful happens, so will something wonderful. Keep watching. It was about being Sisters. And Brothers. That’s what it’s always about here.
Six months ago, I got some world shattering, faith shaking news from a friend. And I was in my car at a stop light and I was crying and I was really, really angry at God and the whole world. And in my head, I spat at God, “What the hell?? Is this the deal down here, then? Does love even really win? EVER?”
And I am telling you that I sensed Him answering: “I don’t know, G. Does it?”
And so today, I can finally answer Him.
Yeah. It does.
Yes. It does.
Love wins.
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Listen, I’m just a mess this morning. When I first got to the computer, I was okay. I had a writing plan. But then I opened up an email from a new Monkee who loves us and whom you will love that was so honest and beautiful that it knocked the wind out of me.
She closed with this:
There is a song by Bebo Norman, called "Borrow Mine." It is a song he wrote about a conversation heard between two friends; one, who was going through deep personal troubles, told the other, "I just don't know if I have faith anymore." The other fried replied by saying, "Then, you can borrow mine. I'll have enough faith for both of us."
I know.
My favorite part is that the friend didn’t say, “I have enough for both of us.” He said “I’ll have enough for both of us.” Because love is an act of will, isn’t it? It’s a choice. Always a choice. Love is a stubborn, willful act of hope. Loving is saying I believe. And the only thing that matters is faith expressing itself as love. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing else.
Here, we are making the choice to believe and behave like We Belong To Each Other. We believe that Love Wins. We believe that at any given point in time, some of us will have enough faith in that to carry the others through. We have decided. That’s what God meant, I think, when he said, “I don’t know G, is it?”
He meant: “It’s really up to you, honey. What do you think? And what will you do about it?”
It was up to us to take care of Tova and Jill this week. And we did it. With our art and our money and our enthusiasm and our time and tears and keyboards and prayers, we loved them. We had enough faith for each other.
You listen to me. Don’t be afraid. You can rest and relax. Just breathe. Because if you lose your faith, we’ll have enough for both of us. We will carry you through. You belong to us. It's True.
This thanksgiving, I am so, very, incredibly thankful that Love Wins. And I am so thankful that we are helping each other prove it.
A million blessings to the Whole Monkee Family, immediate and extended. When I take my first bite of thanksgiving dinner, (which obviously I will have had zero part in preparing) I am going to think of you, and of us, and of all the Monkee Miracles.
Love, Love, Love forever.
G
PS. Please head over the auction page, when you get a chance, to check out the results and next steps.
Amen.
ReplyDeleteawesome, friend. my prayers were with you...and those mamas and still are. have a GREAT thanksgiving!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful. The post, the community, the individual people that make it up, and the love. I love love and love it even more when it wins. When I choose for it to win. Wishing everyone a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving! xxxx
ReplyDeleteJesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
ReplyDeleteLove always wins, even when we don't know it because love is what it's all about.
Happy Thanksgiving!
:)MK
so true and so much to be thankful for!
ReplyDeleteSo amazing and wonderful. One of my favorite quotes by Mahatma Gandhi..."You must be the change you want to see in the world".
ReplyDeleteJill and Tova, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Happy Thanksgiving to all! ~Shanna
From a Monkee in response to the "A Mountain I'm Willing to Die On" post...
ReplyDelete****
You might appreciate one of my favorite quotes, from the leader of a Sikh congregation in Birmingham, England:
"My faith tradition tells me that to have a 'tolerant' society is to demean society. If I say that I will tolerate you, I am demeaning you. If I say that I will accept you, I am still demeaning you. Now if I was to say, 'I will respect you,' that would be slightly better. But what if I said, 'I will lay down my life for you!'? You have to try and have that kind of spirit of sacrifice."
—Bhai Sahib Bhai Mohinder Singh,
Chairman, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha
Just thought it applies to, well, everything. Always.
Love you.
Love does win. Happy Thanksgiving Glennon and everyone XO
ReplyDelete$4K!!!!! That is going to be SUCH a huge help. I didn't participate in the auction but I did give earlier this month to little Evy. Believe me ... I wanted to buy EVERYTHING. Such nice stuff out there! Had I known the Monkee sign would be auctioned I would have waited as my mom bought it for me for my birthday.
ReplyDeleteGlennon, I think our faith is tested all the time. I guess that is why there is hope too. Without the two ... I'm not sure how we would get along in life.
Happy Thanksgiving Monkees!
I am thankful for .... MOMASTERY! tee hee. Love to all.
This made me teary. Thank you Glennon for putting this place together. Thank each and every Monkee for showing up, supporting Glennon, commenting, guest posting - just showing up.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you.
{love}
I've been sitting at my computer for awhile now. My house is still quiet which is only because the toddler had us up three times in the night.
ReplyDeleteI want to say something profound. Something that you will all see and feel my gratitude. That you will know exactly how I feel. (and husband too, but he cries less then I do)
But here's the truth. I sat here for so long with no comment because I was crying too hard. that's a first. To cry so hard that it would be impossible to type. And G. you are right. It's not just because of the money, although every amount makes me feel like I can breath a bit more deeply. Makes me feel less alone. It's about that. It's that you all have truly created a community where I belong and am not alone.
That might be as profound as I get.
G, the words of this post just shimmered for me. It's a holy and sacred post in my mind and heart.
Thank you everyone. (that feels so inadequate) I feel overjoyed to have you on this journey, because I know that I have a gift for you too. I get to share the rest of the adoption process with you, and you will get to meet Rocky one day. I am trying to make sure that we have great tech support with us when we travel so that we can have video of those first moments and days. I'll bet it will make us all cry then! :)
Love, love, love,
Tova
PS. Jill, I'm so excited for you and yours. I really want to hug you even more now, and maybe even hop up and down with some laughing and crying thrown in.
My word verification was scar. So weird. My breath caught. Because Momastery and Monkees represent a huge amount of healing in my life. Maybe I have a scar now, but I sure don't have a wound anymore.
ReplyDeleteG, Tova, & Monkees,
ReplyDeleteI have chills.
Beautiful.
Happy Thanksgiving.
We belong to eachother.
LOVE
XoXo Susie
PS I am so glad the jewelry was a hit! Awesome!!!
I am loving your posts... sincerely. its rare that when i am reading people's blogs that i feel so inspired and so invested in the post, and really think about what the writer is saying. for me, that is a sign of an amazing blogger...and you have over 600 followers! that is why!
ReplyDeletealso, as i was reading, you used the term monkee several times, and i am not so sure that i know what you are referring to. do you mind explaining just a bit, or referring me to a post or something where i can catch up? :)
thanks for sharing.
Indeed, Love does win. Especially when you're a Monkee! It feels so amazing to be a part of this circle of Love and to know we can borrow each other's faith when we need to. So much love to Tova & Rocky and Jill & Evy. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful <3
ReplyDeleteCorey,
ReplyDeleteI could not be more excited that you want to catch up with us. We will wait for you.
There is a "Who are the Monkees" tab on the left side of the blog...but in short . . .I think the way we got our name was that we thought "monks of the momastery" was a little too serious for us. but we DO study love and God and hope and faith...like monks. and we love each other and honor each other and really, really like quiet time like monks.
so we went with monkees. monkees of the momastery.
We Belong To Each Other.
Welcome Corey!!!!
Thank you for this post-- I agree that love does win, but there's a choice to be made. Letting love win means opening up to the pain of others and being honest about your own pain. So much of our culture tells us that this isn't the way to go-- that the world is harsh and competitive and that there simply isn't enough to go around. It's not that there is no competition and harshness, it's that we don't need to create more artificially.
ReplyDeleteThis place is so nurturing because G was looking for a place where she could be her true self. She had to create one, since it wasn't happening on the playgrounds or in the neighborhoods or in the workplaces. And once she started telling her truth and inviting others into it, it became magnetic. So here we are, sharing the beauty and the pain and CHOOSING to be in a place where tears are not a sign of weakness, but of honesty.
This place is a refuge for me (and will hopefully remind me not to be a jerk while in the midst of LOTS of family togetherness this week!).
Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm so impressed -- on so many levels :) And happy and blessed. I know, know, know God brings us exactly where we need to be, when we need to be there. Normally I would caveat that with, "If only we ask" or "when we want Him to," but now, I don't even know that we have much of anything to do with it. It's all a God thing.
ReplyDelete-Sharyn
P.S. Sorry I threw you off your groove! :)
g,
ReplyDeleteLove this post.
i think on this side of heaven.
Love is a memory of Love.
Love is gratitude for Love.
Love ebbs and Love flows.
but mostly Love grows.
Love grows from Love.
thank you for showing us
and showing up for us.
and taking care with us.
thank you for Loving us.
crazy Love,
lou
Happy Thanksgiving Momestary!!!
so thankful for this place.
Love does win. It really does. Being with Evy through this last year has taught me that profoundly. In the end, love is all that matters. And when we die, the love we gave and shared will live on in the people's hearts we touched and in the beauty we left behind. The Monkees have touched my heart. I love how it was about helping other mamas. Treating others how we would like to be treated. With love. Amen to that.
ReplyDeleteThanks to all of you.
Forever a Monkee, Jill
I posted something and then it disappeared...
ReplyDeleteYou said it beautifully, Glennon! Thank you:)
I had no idea when I asked Glennon if we could do something for the Carrolls that it would play out so well. I have been moved beyond words by the generosity of the women who are part of this community and feel proud to know you. Glad I took the leap into the blogosphere. Thanks for showing up:)
Love,
Andie
PS spent my morning with Jill, Stella and little Miss Evy herself which was wonderful. Oh how I love them:)
PPS Happy Thanksgiving!!
OOPs Men and women!
ReplyDeleteMonkees,
ReplyDeleteI have not posted in quite some time, but I have been watching and listening on the side.
One of my closest and dearest friends this week opened her heart wide. We work together as Family Nurse Practitioners. A patient of hers has Stage 4 Breast Cancer. This patient called her at work this week asking, "Will you please come see me tonight?" Not a second went by of course she said I will. She drove 45 minutes into D.C. to the hospital to sit and talk with this patient. She ended up cleaning her, massaging her back with lotion, fixing her hair, changing her linens, and then talking with her for hours. Her beauty is genuine love.
Monkees you are love and you give love!!
Happy giving thanks to all. Hugs, Cindy
So first I echo everything, everything that was said - I agree that this is a magical, wonderful place that has taught me about God, myself and women and friendships. A special place of connectedness. Thank you G.
ReplyDeleteSomething else important that struck me in this post is the mention of the tragedy of your friend...the faith shaking news. It scares me how many times a day/week/month we get this kind of news but I want you to know that this place makes those days better. It makes the news feel less awful and makes people feel less alone. I'll keep your friend in my prayers, in that place in my heart and prayers reserved for the Monkees.
xoxo
vrwfox - WORD!!!!
ReplyDeleteMagnetic!
Glennon and ALL of you Monkees, are glue and I am stuck, happily, to this place in cyberspace.
Has anyone heard that song by Katie Perry called "Firework"? I LOVE that song. I blast it. I think everyone here has that spark to start something no matter how big or small. A simple smile to someone (out of kindness) or raising funds to a good cause. And when you Monkees get together, wow, what a glow.
Monkess Unite!
Love this post. I, too, received some faith shaking news six months ago (that's why I have been laying low). I thought I was going to die of a broken heart, but I didn't. And I won't. Love wins!
ReplyDeleteAdrianne,
ReplyDeleteYour news was my news.
Love you.
G
Missing you and your insight and your humor Adrianne. Glad to hear you aren't dying of a broken heart and glad to put a name to the prayer. xoxox
ReplyDeleteYea, Yea, Yea for LOVE! We've been internet free for the last week in HHI - sooo sorry to have missed the auction, but super excited to hear that it was so successful on so many, many levels. I'm a big believer in supporting the mamas!
ReplyDeleteGreat Job Monkees!!!
Tears. Again. Love totally wins. It's certainly what got our family through our darkest hour when our baby was on life support. And faith that love will win has kept me loving through all the craziness.
ReplyDeletePreach it girl, preach it. I love what you do.
Love does win! What a wonderful Thanksgiving this was. Taking care of mamas is a beautiful thing. You do it so well Glennon. Thank you for taking us along with you.
ReplyDelete