A Thousand Reasons: Canto IX

{64} Thank You, Elyon, for work I can love. Much as all labor can satisfy, there is something very unlike anything else, when you set yourself to work, grinning, and think, "I am getting paid for this?"

{66} For stories that make me cry.* There is something so relieving in shedding tears for someone who is not myself—for someone who is not even real. To be able to just feel for them and with them and grieve, and then it is over and I do not have to be sad about it anymore, unless I want to be. And of course sometimes we do want to, because those characters meant just that much: enough that we don't mind continuing our sadness for them, from time to time.

Origin

{67} Amazingly, I have not done this one yet, so thank you, my dear God, for music. For good music: the kind that it doesn't even matter if the lyrics are absolute nonsense, because they are not trash and the sound of them as sweet and the melody is just that beautiful.

{68} For water, and the wonderful, satisfying feeling of re-hydrating.

{69}  And thank You, Creator, for the water I do not drink: the water that I get to watch go laughing by in brooks—the water that I get to sink into and embrace the feeling of being submerged. Because there is something magical about that water. Something that conjures deep rooted daydreams of Atlantis. Something that is never not exciting.

{70} Praise God for the ability to change: that, no matter how old of dogs we become (says the woman of twenty-three; I suppose I should not suppose too soon), we can in fact still change things. With your grace, always, of course, but that the change can happen. No matter how small and how step-by-step, it is still possible. Possible enough to find yourself grinning, looking up to God like a proud child.
"Look, Daddy, I did it."

{71} For cleaning. Not because I enjoy it (I will not kid myself). But because it is always, consistently, therapeutic. Good work that is good for the soul.




*For the curious, this particular time the story was a movie called About Time. While not for younger audiences, it is a story about every kind of love (romantic, familial, and friendly) that is entirely worth it, albeit with one or two scenes worth skipping. But I have a number of other movies and books that will almost always make me cry, and if you ever want a list, you can feel free to ask me. Because crying is good for the soul, and I don't mean that in a depressing way. Tears are actually scientifically proven to make you feel better. Look it up. ;)