Dear America,

You know what's a beautiful thing, besides the weather under this glorious southern California blue sky, is that we share much of the same thoughts throughout the country.  We feel each other and gravitate to those who share the same concerns, the same worries, the same love of country, the same pressures to raise a family, the same faith or something quite similar to -- we feel much of the same things.

They say the inherent need for human touch is vital to our well being and security; I believe it to be true more than ever.  While being able to actually reach out and touch someone via the Internet does not allow for the physical connection, emotional and intellectual minds can come together and find peace.

If you noticed the latest addition to my page includes the characterization and belief system created by the brilliance of Glenn Beck's 912 Project.  I think I'm going to keep it up for awhile.  It comes on the wave of my latest attachment to an organization called simply, As a Mom; a "sisterhood of mommy patriots". I latched on to it only yesterday and already find myself returning to a deeper sense of calm.

I didn't need anything more than feeling the sense that I am not alone.

Last evening, after my girl and I ate breakfast for dinner -- our favorite thing to do combining comfort food and the smell of bacon -- my girl just stopped me, dead center in the middle of the room, and gave me a hug.

It was a good hug.  It wasn't the kind with the pat on the back; it was a solid thirty seconds at least of both arms wrapped around me and mine around her and we both just stood there.  Now, given it was initiated by my little teenager, that in and of itself makes a mama's heart sing; but more than that, in all of it's simplicity in the moment it stood as the very reminder how important it is to teach the importance of touch, and the strength we can gain from it, in a matter of seconds. 

My girl, at some level, recognized this; and whether for her benefit or mine, that reach, that extension, proves as humans we yearn for it, rely on it, and sometimes we just need it.  I didn't ask her if it was her need to be hugged or her sense that mama needed some love that propelled her to wrap herself up and around me.  It didn't matter.  But through her action we both stopped and took it all in...

Our children have been used in the discussions of the day -- from both sides of the aisle -- to impress upon the opinions of constituents and fellow members of congress of what changes must be made and why. What immediately comes to mind is how our children must be feeling, having been the subject of what debts we burden them with or what our world will simply look like when they are all grown up.

and later in the evening I got my answer -- like someone shaking me to the core -- my baby girl actually turned to me and said that she "didn't want to hear any more about it." She was so sick and tired of hearing the news of climate change, Obamacare, the deficit, the national debt, death and taxes -- she wanted none of it and just wanted it all to stop.

It became a teachable moment for both of us, again (don't we love it when we become the student and the child, the teacher).  She is old enough now to understand the bigger picture and questions how things may or may not affect her years down the road; but the realization that she feels the trouble of the world too is unmistakable and without question, commands our attention as parents.

As a mom, we feel everything through our children; we wish they would never feel pain, never have their hearts broken, never be without, and never lose their faith.  We ache when they ache and smile when they smile -- and if they feel stress, yes, we stress.

How do we thoughtfully and carefully maneuver the world and it's events and challenges around the lives of our children without ultimately scaring the living daylights out of them?  They hear things.  They see things. Matter of fact, they say children see more and know more than we may think at any given time; those spectacular little creatures that they are. 

The thing is, the decisions we make today ARE being handed down to our children and on some level they actually know it; scratch that, they feel it.

I am reminded of the importance of our mindfulness through the words of Daphne Rose Kingma, in a little book of hers called Heart & Soul.  It should be noted the book's intent was for the rediscovery of a deeper connection in our intimate relationships, but I think one of her observations applies here:

"There is no neutral moment or action in our experience.  Everything we do, every action we enact, every nuance of movement, each word we utter either creates the further illumination of our souls, or moves us in a direction in which, in a moment of dark unconsciousness, our souls can be utterly compromised.


The potential for loss of soul -- to one degree or another -- is the affliction of a society that as a collective has lost its sense of the holy, of a culture that values everything else above the spiritual.  We live in such a spiritually impoverished culture -- and in such a time...

In such a world the soul struggles for survival; in such a world a man can lose his own soul and have the whole culture support him, AND in such a world, conversely, the light of a single, great soul that lives in integrity can truly illumine the world."

As parents to our children, we are given this great responsibility of choice every day; what power we have to create their world securely and with accountability -- with love and understanding, peace and grace.  Yet, along side this parental right and loving obligation, we must also be on guard for what they absorb from outside sources --when not under the protection of our home -- or within, and under the influences of television.

For our children hear it, know it, see it, fret about it and feel it.

The makings of the day and the legislation of our lives within the walls of congress are testing our culture, compromising our values, and causing so many of us to STOP and share in the same thoughts.  I find comfort and joy in both the season of honoring the birth of the baby Jesus and in the arms of fellow patriots whom I don't know.  Just knowing we share in the same thoughts wraps a warm blanket of hope and faith around me.

I find myself at peace and give great thanks this morning for the "minute-moms" around me and the father of Re-founding America, Glenn Beck.  I would wrap my arms around each and every one of them this morning if I could; and I'm pretty sure it's not because G wants a hug -- I'm quite certain it comes from a place in my heart that feels the need to show how grateful I am for them, for their influences on a culture gone wild, and their ability to connect like minds and affect change for the betterment of the whole.  Giving thanks for the people in our world who love us, nurture us, teach us, enlighten us, protect us, save us or just plain touch us with their soul is what life is all about.
 
I would like to think that was why my girl stopped me smack dab in the center of the living room and cradled me in her arms -- coming full circle thirteen years later and dozens of times over -- it doesn't even begin to tell you how proud it makes a mama feel each and every time. The power to illumine is inside each of  us -- including our children.

Is there a chance today our congress may finally feel that way too -- that they may return to a level of integrity, find a deeper connection to the American people, revealing a much higher consciousness -- worthy of transforming a culture back to it's founding values and principles?

I have to believe they, Congress, are mamas and papas like us; understanding the responsibility of raising America with "honesty, reverence, hope, thrift, humility, charity, sincerity, moderation, hard work, courage, personal responsibility, and gratitude" (9:12) -- and a little less fear, control, manipulation, deception, waste, fraud, overhead, redistribution of wealth, corruption, darkness, and loss.

Perhaps today will be the day Congress STOPS the madness, becomes illumined from within, and blankets the nation with a feeling of warmth, security and the return to grace...a girl can only hope.

Make it a Good Day, G

Hug a tree, your children, your dog -- just reach out and touch someone and let them know you care and redistribute the wealth that's inside you -- or not, the choice is yours.