Living with Grace

January 13, 2024 Sharon Jacobson

Living with Grace

Every moment
is an opportunity to make a difference,
to help someone in need.
We are constantly invited into situations
which enable us to show grace.
They are woven into the tapestry
of every day life.
In them, we find chances to be
creative,
helpful,
healing,
and graceful.
We have a chance to make a difference,
lighten someone’s load,
or just do some good in the world.
Today, I will walk with discernment
and be open to those moments
provided for me to be of service.

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Precious Cargo

March 26, 2021 Sharon Jacobson

Precious Cargo

I have friends who refer to their kids as
precious cargo.
They have signs in their cars, which read
precious cargo.
I may not wear a sign,
but I carry precious cargo.
I move through life
with things that are very dear to me.
I carry grace from the Ultimate.
I carry the talens and gifts
I have been given.
I carry the love from the Ultimate
with me everywhere I go.
I carry all this
precious cargo.
I am precious cargo.
in that I have been entrusted
to move through this world
bringing others love,
light,
and positive energy.
The Ultimate see me as
precious cargo.
You and I are both
precious cargo.

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Giving Myself A Break

February 19, 2021 Sharon Jacobson

Giving Myself A Break

Honestly, sometimes,
well all the time,
God gives me a break,
even when I don’t.
There are days, like today,
where I am my worst critic.
I have a whole list of what I could have
or should have done.
Then I have to tell myself
to give myself a break.
God does not stop loving me
every time I do or say something I shouldn’t have.
God doesn’t stop loving me
when I am not as good at something
as I would like to be.
God doesn’t stop loving me
or sending people into my life
when I am feeling unlovable.
God sends those people into my life.
to remind me of unconditional love.
Not just that God has for me,
but that my friends do
especially when they tell me
to stop being silly and
give myself a break
All God ever asks is
to do my best.
My best,
not the best according to others,
but mine.
I have to
remind myself
to do my best
and if I did then great
and if not
I can focus on being my best
and giving myself a break

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My Places

October 30, 2020 Sharon Jacobson

My Places

There are days
and moments
that I wake up in fear
or in pain,
not physical,
but emotional, mental, or spiritual
and I just want to
curl up and cry
and scream stop.
Then I change my focus and
journey to my places
where I find peace -
my rocking chair,
the shower,
my prayer and meditation garden.
Each has something about it
which allows me to connect with
the peace which transcends understanding.
I find myself alone with Spirit,
experiencing healing grace,
love,
insight, and
understanding.
There is something about these places
which grounds me,
cleanses me
and brings me peace.
We all need those places,
where are yours?

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My Brace

May 15, 2020 Sharon Jacobson

They gasped,
as I took my brace and shoes off
and placed it on the altar.
They wanted me to move them
but all I could ask was
how many braces do you see.
They answered one
and then again requested
I take them off the alter.

For them the table we used
as an altar was holy,
but the brace,
which keeps me from falling,
is not.

When we stop and look at our lives,
we all have ways the Divine
keeps us from falling,
stabilizes us,
holds us,
whether we see it or not.
When they looked at my shoes
all they could see was the visible
they could not see
the presence of the Divine
in the one that
appeared empty.

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Kindness

December 22, 2019 Sharon Jacobson

Piety used to make me think
of those who were holier than thou.
Then I learned that piety meant pious
which meant
kind

Kindess
is about showing
grace,
compassion,
gentleness,
love,
and concern for other

Kindness
is about the body, mind, and soul.
It is about our words
and our actions
being one

Kindness
is about being
loving,
giving,
caring,
empathetic and
generous

Kindness
is about doing unto others
as you would have them
do unto you.

Kindness
is unconditional.
It is about giving
without expectations.
It is about what we
experience
as much as what others do

Kindness
is about blessing
and being blessed.
It is all about being kind.

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The Mirror

November 15, 2019 Sharon Jacobson

I look in the mirror
and sometimes I love
what I see and
there are other times
I don’t
However, there has never been
a time when I hated
what I saw so much
that I could slash my wrist
or poison myself
or want to leave this world behind.

When I look in the mirror
what I see is a reflection
of the Divine,
the one who created me,
the one who designed me
the one who tells me
you are beautiful just as you are.

When I look in the mirror
what I see is a reflection
of the Divine
of the one who is love,
is about healing
is about grace
is about wisdom and
is about listening.

When I look in the mirror
I pray for those who
do not see what I see
or feel what I feel.
I pray for those who see
something so painful
that leaving feels better
than staying

When I look in the mirror,
I remember to pray
for those
I know,
those I do not,
those who are whole and
those who are hurting,
those who have asked
for prayer
and those who have not
because we are all
a reflection
of the Divine

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No More Mine

May 10, 2019 Sharon Jacobson

Mine.
It was a word I used
to say this is mine;
to belongs to me.

It was mine because
I bought it,
it was given to me.
I earned it,
or it some other way
came into possession.
It was mine.

I liked mine,
because it made me feel
as if I possessed,
I owned,
I had control, and
I had power.

So what if stopped saying mine
if I started seeing everything
as being borrowed,
as a gift from the Ultimate,
as a blessing which was with me
for a time,
for a season
but not mine.

Legally something may be
mine,
however, if everything I have
is from the Divine,
then it is not mine.
It is a blessing,
a reminder all my needs
are met.

Things may come and go,
they may break,
they may be stolen,
they may be regifted
but they are not mine.
They are things in my life
for a reason and
a season,
but they are not mine.

Removing the word mine
from my vocabulary
changes my perspective.
It recognizes my blessings
changes my connections,
and opens my eyes,
to the presence of God
in my life.

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Learning about Kindness (part 2)

May 27, 2016 Sharon Jacobson

So many people in my life have inspired me with their ability to be kind. Tristine Rainer was write when he said that writing about these people help me to internalize and possess the very qualities that intrigued me the most. I have been doing this for a while and realized as I sat down today that I have internalized some of the qualities of someone who showed me intense kindness when I was in graduate school.

Her name is Dr Diane M Samdahl and she is one of those people who has left her name inscribed on my heart. She taught me so much about life, not just recreation and leisure studies. When I look back on my relationship and journey with her, there is one moment in particular that I will remember forever.

A Measure of Grace

October 31, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

It is funny how grace seems to pop into our conversations with people this month even when I am not expecting it to. So many of my conversations with people this month have been about our own experiences of grace and the ways it has happened to us. However, the other night at our Living the Five Agreements group, we began to talk about how we need to be a grace in other people’s lives as well. There is a line from the play The Man of La Mancha, where Don Quizote says "I just wanted to add a measure of grace to the world."

As I have thought about this line I was reminded of a song I once heard at a Mormon church, it was all about the call to add a measure of grace to the world.

My Amazing Grace Experience

October 23, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

This has been one of those weeks where I have had to practice grace on myself as I took time to keep myself from getting sick and cutting a cold off before it had time to develop. I gave myself permission to take time away from work to spend time with friends and do something fun with Zoe on her day off, now that she actually has them. I forgave myself for not getting my blogs written on grace and practiced grace as I could with my students and others in my life.

My friend DeeDee talks about how so often people will say “You didn’t have to do that” when you do something for them. Then she or her friend would say “But aren’t you glad that I did.”

Releasing the Pride, Receiving the Grace

October 10, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

I wanted to take a minute to thank you for helping me learn to accept the help of others. I have always been good at giving, but not so great at receiving. I think part of that came from me not feeling worthy. I doubted why anyone would want to give to me or to share with me when they could share with someone of greater value. I even had problems accepting a compliment. I struggled to believe that anybody could think there was anything nice to say about me.

Then I hit bottom. I lost the feeling in my right leg and the ability to drive. Then I lost my paratransit services. With each loss, I had to open myself up to asking for help. I had to ask friends for rides to work, to the grocery store, to the doctor’s office. It was so humbling, and still is, when others so willingly give so that my needs might be met.

The Thanks Continue

April 10, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

Last week I wrote a letter to my Mom thanking her for being one of my spiritual and moral mentors. She and my Bubby are the first two, which came to my mind. As I have thought about all the spiritual and moral mentors in my life I have come to realize that while some of them were people I knew, others were people I have never met. Some of my teachers have been people who served as examples of how I did not want to be because I saw the harm they inflicted on others. Yet I need to give thanks to them as well, although I will not mention them by name as the lessons they taught me were decades ago and I would not want them to be judged, by this one incident.

This reminds me that Sister Helen Prejean, one of those women I have never met, taught me a valuable lesson.

Week 3, Day 5 – Accepting and Reaching for Support

January 2, 2011 Sharon Jacobson

I guess there are all kinds of ways of dialoguing with people. for me, one way is through poetry. I have so many memories of times when I have felt supported and of times when I have supported others. The first person that came to my mind was Mikey. I have no idea where you are right now, but I have never forgotten you. It was 1970 something and my high school sweetheart gave me this ring as an expression of her love and commitment to me. She tragically died in 1975, at the age of 19. More than a decade later, I had very few things in my life that reminded me of our relationship, but I had this ring. It wasn’t anything fancy. It was this cheap little ring with an open heart, but I wore it all the time. That was until this one particular day in 1980 something. I can’t remember the exact year or dates, but what I do remember is this young five-year-old boy. His name was Mikey. What I remember about Mikey was his first day at the summer day camp. It was his first time to be separated from his mom. He was terrified and scared and nothing seemed to keep him from crying

Week 1, Day 6 – Grace

December 20, 2010 Sharon Jacobson

Here I am at towards the end of this first week and loving that I am taking the time in the midst of grading papers to take care of me. as I sat down to read Janelle’s reflection on grace, I found myself giggling like this little school girl because she talked about sitting at a church that I had once visited, MCC San Francisco, and the pastor there was in charge of education for the denomination when I was considering being ordained through MCC. What a small world this truly is. It is moments like this, when I become aware of how interconnected we truly are. How, even when we do not know it or realize it, the Creator has this way of bringing us all together at just the right time. And some folk do not think the Creator has a sense of humor. Ok, so I was giggling until I got to the choices and I realized I do not have a book of poetry

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