Sunrise Service

I rolled over in bed this morning. The house was still cold. The muffled noise of my daughter sleeping from the other room. I stared up at the darkness. 

I breathed a quiet 'thank you' without anything specific in mind. Then I laid still and watched the sun come up slowly as if to say 'you're welcome'.

Swimming Upward

“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.” ― Elizabeth Gilbert,