Today marks the day before a season of fighting cancer recurrence with a new combo of chemo drugs.
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Writing Through Cancer with Sharon Bray
by Sharon Bray “Before you know what kindness really is,” poet Naomi Shihab Nye tells us, “you must lose things…” Loss. It’s often synonymous with cancer. Loss of hair, parts of the body; loss of self-image, of dreams, or loss of loved ones. We feel overwhelmed as we face a landscape defined only by losses, hopelessness and grief. Before you know what kindness really is –from “Kindness”, by Naomi Shihab-Nye in The Words Under The Words ©1994
For the Week of January 15, 2012:
Lost and Found
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
Here’s a suggestion for writing. First, take a blank sheet of paper and list all that you have lost. Don’t stop there. Turn the page over. Now list the acts of kindness that you remember, the ones that made a difference. And gave you hope, rediscover what you thought your lost or help you see things in a new light? Explore what you’ve lostand what you’ve found
More V-blogging
V Blog Experiment
A Word of the Week for Me
1 I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; 3 The cords of death entangled me, 5 The LORD is gracious and righteous; 7 Return to your rest, my soul, 8 For you, LORD, have delivered me from death, 10 I trusted in the LORD when I said, 12 What shall I return to the LORD 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation 15 Precious in the sight of the LORD 17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you Praise the LORD.a]” style=”font-size: 0.65em; line-height: 0.5em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: text-top; “>[a]
Psalm 116
he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“LORD, save me!”
our God is full of compassion.
6 The LORD protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
for the LORD has been good to you.
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”
for all his goodness to me?
and call on the name of the LORD.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
is the death of his faithful servants.
16 Truly I am your servant, LORD;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.
and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD—
in your midst, Jerusalem.
Tuesday Emotions
I have been reading a blog since my first diagnosis. This was way before I realized that I, too, may be dealing with a chronic cancer diagnosis. Turquoise Gates.
Pan Mass Challenge
http://www.pmc.org/about.asp?ArticleID=18

Power Port Saga
Family Covenant
Always be honest
Proverbs 12:22
Count your blessings
Psalms 34:1-3
Bear each other’s burdens
Galatians 6:2
Forgive and forget
Micah 7:18
Be kind and tender hearted
Ephesians 4:32
Comfort one another
I Thessalonians 4:18
Keep your promises
Romans 4:21
Be supportive of one another
Acts 20:35
Be true to each other
Revelations 15:3
Look after each other
Deuteronomy 15:11
Treat each other like you treat your friends
Matthew 7:12
But most important
Love One Another deeply from the heart
I Peter 1:22
I thought about what I want to bring into this new year all day long as I prepared to journal my first entry with the “Writing Through Cancer” project. As I was eating dinner with Elisha tonight, and looked up at our funky kitchen wall pictures and sayings, I saw our family covenant. I typed this out the day we moved from the comfort of Abba’s House to our new home here. I wanted so much to uphold these biblical principles. I fall way short, but want to bring these into the new year to continue to grow in these commitments to my family members much more deeply.
That is what I want to bring into this new year.
Also, I want to carry the rich and good memories from my lifetime, so far, and leave the bitter moments behind.
I also leave in 2011 any unforgiveness in my heart towards anyone in my life that wounded me. No need to bring that in. Done.
Writing Through Cancer
“I beg what I love/ and I leave to forgive me.” What in the years past do you want to leave behind? What do you want to retain in the coming year how will you shape the life you want out of the material of your past and present?