Your Daily Miracle: Vocation

Thank you, Mr. Trump, for shaking me from complacency.

Thank you for reminding me who my neighbor is.

Thank you for showing us that our country is broken and divided.

Thank you for moving me to compassion for the refugee, the poor, and the disabled.

Thank you for getting me out of my comfortable house to march alongside thousands, including my daughters.

 Thank you for reminding us of the power of words and their corresponding actions.

Thank you for forcing my daughter to examine her own religion, making her understand that no religion is free of a history of violence and power abuse. Thank you for the tears that streamed down her face as she asked, "How can we exclude anyone because of their religion?"

Thank you for teaching us that wealth is defined not by money but by moral courage and imagination. 

Thank you for reminding us that facts are undeniable and unshakeable, no matter how we feel about them.

Thank you for moving me to consider in compassion the angry and disfranchised in our country. 

Thank you for reminding me that my ancestors were immigrants to this country, too.

 Thank you, for by teaching my daughters words like "pussy," you forced us to examine what it is to be women in this society.

Thank you for making me discuss history and thus remind my girls of their worth, power, and dignity.

Thank you for shaking me into wrestling with what it means to love with knowledge, wisdom, and mercy.

Thank you for tossing away programs I love and reminding me what I treasure.

Thank you for reminding me that to stay silent is to be complicit.

Thank you for breaking my heart for those standing courageously through the bitter winter along the Dakota Access pipeline.

Thank you for reminding me of our careless abuses of the earth.

Thank you for showing me that we cannot be isolationist but that we need others.

Thank you for making me remember the injustice of expensive healthcare for a privileged few.

Thank you for reminding me of the freedoms outlined by the constitution, and for making me angry that even those protected rights can be trampled.

Thank you for making me recall our cruel treatment of the earth and her people.

Thank you for reminding me that what I say, what I do, what I believe, and how I treat people daily is vital.

Thank you for burning down the flimsy structures of my reality and making me homesick for a country that never really existed, but that I long for.