YOU ARE THE PLACE WHERE I STAND ON THE DAY WHEN MY FEET ARE SORE.

This is the literal translation of “mo sheasamh ort lá no choise tinne,” the Irish phrase for trust, as noted by Pádraig Ó Tuama.

As the summer has advanced, I’ve started to see my situation as a kind of fractured fairy tale, one where the character has her wish granted, only to realize it was a foolish and incomplete choice. Here I am, so lucky – healthy and employed and living in a place where I’ve always dreamed of waking up every morning – yet instead of being a dream come true, it’s felt like I’d made the wrong wish.

Then last night I climbed up to the top of the silo to get a better view of the trees I’d just planted, with the beehives I’d tended earlier off in the distance. On one side of the field the deer were eating my smallest apple tree, again, and at the edge of the woods a fox was leaping straight up in the air, and as I squinted into the setting sun I realized with a start, Oh! This is no foolish wish! This place has been holding me up!

Dear ones, for the luckiest among us, it continues to be a challenging year, and for so many of us, it’s way more than that. But something, somehow, is helping us through, and for that we can give thanks. Maybe it’s our faraway best friends on zoom or our spouses who are now also work-from-home colleagues or the nurses that still tend our children with care. Maybe it’s the novel that helps us travel from our living room sofa or the research project that is revealing new insights or the puzzle that gives a little spark of joy when solved. Maybe it’s the tomatoes that our neighbor shared or the smell of the woods after the rain or the way that the late-day sun strikes a flower.

Maybe it’s faith.

Maybe it’s hope.

Maybe it’s love. 

Whatever it is, here we are.

Whatever it is, we are here.

And for that, let’s give thanks.


**You can hear more about this – and many other insights – from the conversation between Pàdraig and Krista Tippett at the terrific OnBeing.

** And for some late-summer reading…

Many of you have followed our book lists for years, and we are delighted to note that our latest is available on Bookshop, which links to indie stores all across the country. 

And of course our own new publication, Month of Sundays, can be found pretty much everywhere, thanks to the magic of print-on-demand technology. Thank you to those who have supported this endeavor, whose proceeds will be recirculated to some of the most vital nonprofits around.

Thank you for asking how to further support this project!

• Spread the word – on social media, or to friends and colleagues. We are @mofsundaysbook on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
• Write a review on Amazon (this is easy, and matters more than you’d think). Just scroll down the book listing to the “reviews” section and there are easy instructions for adding your own.
• Gift a copy to a friend (or two or ten).