CELEBRATING TODAY

By Ms. Dinorah

I’m going to celebrate my day! There is so much to be thankful for, extraordinary simple things that nourish our souls. Nobody, except God himself, has the power to keep us from experiencing the joy of the Lord. People may take away other things but never the joy of having God in our lives. The joy of the Lord fills the living pictures of naughty squirrels I look at near the Menil Collection. It fills the music I love to listen to. It fills my students’ faces and the classroom atmosphere when I show up. It fills the sky when I feel tired of sitting in front of the computer screen. It fills my dream.

Even disappointments can bring occasions for us to experience the joy of the Lord, if we are willing, if we focus on the good, if we have confidence in the good that is larger and more significant than any kind of disappointments one may go through. When the joy of the Lord is the ocean we bathe in –and all credit goes to Jesus-, customary disappointments may even bring us to laughter instead of tears.

I am going to praise God for all the good I have in my life, plenty of good. What can I say? I don’t have any good excuse to be unhappy because: 

• I have received massive measures of good for all the wrong directly or indirectly done to me by others, myself, or the devil.
• I  have received mercy and learned good lessons from all the wrong that I directly or indirectly have done to other people.
• I am confident I will always enjoy an abundant life for all the wrong I have brought to the devil by directly or indirectly doing good and showing mercy to others.

I will celebrate today, with songs of love and Jesus overflowing my life. Storms may hit, but they can’t defeat us. Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning in so many forms: sunshine, a cup of coffee, especially if it’s Cuban, the blue skies, healing opportunities, books to read, real people personifying the love of God. (Unless we use misery to create artworks like Hamlet, or The Hamletmachine, or Roberto Zucco, or Charlotte Corday. Poema Dramático –a masterpiece by my friend and writer Nara Mansur, which I will publish on the blog shortly- I honestly think just being plain happy is more beautiful and meaningful).

I will enjoy dreaming

I will enjoy reading (...Great works of art, including those portraying the misery of humankind, can lead us to appreciate the abundance and healing power of God's love all the more!)

I will enjoy writing, taking pictures, loving, dancing, his presence everywhere, my family, breathing, seeing, feeling, building castles on the clouds, and knowing that I am alive today.