BREATHE. PRAY. BE KIND. STOP GRABBING.

Annie Lammot.
Her words have been running through my mind all week.
She just knows, bless her diamond meatball heart.

First it was . . .

“I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.”

And then . . .

“I’m doing whatever I can that I think would not horrify Jesus . . . I just want to be one of the people who’s not a right-wing fundamentalist who totally loves Jesus.”

And then, finally . . .

“I tape things to the wall that give me some light to see by: One pink card says, Breathe, Pray, Be Kind, Stop Grabbing. One says something I heard recently, that you can either practice being right, or practice being kind. Screaming in the car helps. But what helps most of all is walking. I have been going up on the mountain to walk and be quiet and pray nearly every morning for two years now. I started to do this because I had always heard that this is what Jesus did, although my priest friend Tom has recently corrected me. He said we are not sure if this is actually what Jesus did. He said they had to explain his going away by saying he was going up to the mountain to pray, but for all we know, he went off and had a few beers. Then he may have gone bowling, slinging the ball bitterly down the alley until he felt better.”

Thank you, Annie.