Every day there is an affirmation, a reading and a short biblical text based around a particular theme... and every day I never cease to be amazed at the wisdom and love it offers. It seems like, no matter how I am feeling, the words are always perfect.
There is this wonderful booklet I read almost every day (sometimes I forget...) called The Daily Word. Although it's Christian-based (from the Unity Church), it is truly one of the most heart-opening publications around. I received a year's subscription as a gift from my Godmother shortly after my mom died ten years ago, and I've renewed my subscription every year since because it really helped me get through that first year after mom's death.
In 1984 I was 28, married and had two young children. I was a carpenter by default and my experience was we had no money. I remember wanting to go to the movies one night and scrounging for lost change in the sofa cushions. On my father's 70th birthday, my family missed the celebration. I had neither a car that would make the five-hour trip nor the money to rent one. While I longed for more material security, i rationalized my circumstances as the result of my Spiritual focus. I believed that Spirit and matter were irreconcilable. I "chose" the Spiritual life. I was sure money and God were not compatible. I couldn't see that one aspect of my belief system was a smoke screen for playing it safe and avoiding failure in something I termed the "real world."
With my Great-Grandmother passing on last week, I am fully present to how blessed my life is and how it wouldn't have been possible without her (and all of the Grandmothers who have come before me). I realize how blessed I am to have known my Great-Grandmother and to have had her in my life for so long. I was truly raised by a village. Not only did I know her, but I lived with her, was raised by her, held by her. I come from a line of powerful women. My Great-Grandmother, Grandmother, Aunt, and my Mother all raised me. Alongside them stood my Great-Grandfather, Grandfather, Uncle, and (step)Father (who fully stepped in to be my father and take me as his first child when I was a baby). They've watched me grow, learn, stumble, get up, take a stand, love, find myself, be myself, graduate, get married, move away, move back home, loving me through it all. Through them, through my Great-Grandmother, I have learned (lived) community. Living with her has taught me so much about loving and taking care of each other. It was never anything that was considered as a decision in my family. It was just what we did for each other, even when it was hard. It was (is) a way of being. 
Happy New Year to everyone,