Life Begins Anew

Literature, History, and all sorts of Mythologies are filled with stories of creatures and people reviving after having been knocked dead by an adversary. Even the popular television, the coyote and roadrunner do this. As many times as the coyote falls off the cliff, he still gets up again to face the roadrunner again. Do you? If life hits you in the stomach do you bounce back up? If not why? I have upon occasion laid down and died and have regreted it. I have also bounced back and been so glad I did. Courage depends on your ability to bounce back. Count the costs go for it and then see what results you have.

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown

My favorite show around Christmas time is "A Charlie Brown Christmas". My favorite part when the disparate C. Brown says, "Doesn't anyone know the true meaning of Christmas?" and Linus says, "Sure Charlie Brown, I know" and he recites from Luke about the birth of Christ. And that is something we have to remember. That's what life is all about, much less Christmas. And that's what our life is all about!

This world

What a wonderful world this would be if we would just stop worrying about what others think of us or if all of us could stop imposing what we think should be on others, even those we say we love. The whole reason that senseless killings take place is because we forget what we've been blessed with and we are greedy out of jealousy. Just watch little kds, "I wanted that", :No! You took that!!! I wanted that first!" And instead of playing nice we are mean to one another. What the world needs now is love sweet love....

Live!!!

What is it to live? Do we live when we moan and gripe expressing the upset and pain we are feeling at the moment? Pain receptors let us know when something isn't quite right yes. But it is not living to dwell on those things that seem not to go our way...Rejoice, says Paul to the Philippians because after all God never promised us a rose garden. In fact He said we would have trials and blessings. And staying steadily His is probably the most important thing we can do...

Loving life despite it all

I've not sold my house yet. I am close but have been close for a year. I have been blessed by a wonderful job which will be even more wonderful because I am going to be in a position closer to home. I've applied for it and the supervisors are considering it. I have no money, but have had enough to get groceries and pay bill and hallelulia!!!Thank you God. I love the Lord. He listens to me cry and rant and rave and laugh and joke and sees me smile and sleep.What a good God!!!!

Thankfully Yours

What are you thankful for? For family? Friends? God? Do you wait for Thanksgiving to tell them? It is something I don't say nearly enough. I am so blessed and so thankful for all I have been given and I pray to God that each and every day I make those who are important know it.

What to be thankful for

1.  My parents and family, including my brothers
2. My education
3. My talents
4. Being able to pay my bills
5. My friends wherever I go, who are my family as well
6. My gorgeous house in KY
7. My first house in SC
8. My jobs, now and throught the years
9. My cats, now and throughout the years
10. AND MOST OF ALL....MY HEAVENLY FATHER, who has blessed me with all of this....

Shake

SHAKE IT, BABY!!! I have never felt an earthquake and this is the second one I missed. But I know that God wants to shake us up and bring us into the reality that we are His!!! And if we use the talents He gave us to be His workers in the vineyards and act as His children...we will be His always...The hardest thing for me to do is to get in front of people. I am not an extrovert. But God has made me able to talk and pray in front of people and dance on stage....Go for it!!! Shake 'em up!!! Use those talents!!!

HIS

Are you His? Or is what you do for you? if that is the case, then check your priorities. Because if you are a great painter, if you write better than any Nobel Prize winner, if you know every chemical formula known to man, but you do not give Him the glory, you may succeed for a bit but it is an empty gain. And you will if you are honest know that it is an empty gain without Him. And it doesn't matter whether you are Da Vinci, Hemingway, if you don't acknowledge God and Christ life is empty.

Gone but not forgotten

Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, all wonderful writers...Olivier, Freeman, Tandy, Gable, Leigh, Hepburn, all wonderful actors...Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Degas...painters that were magnificent...the work continues because of these people, all gifted by God, all created for His wonder...all gone but we won't ever forget them...because of what they meant to God and to all of us...

I'm Scared

With Halloween coming....I am scared!!! Scared that we forget the meaning behind who God is and what we truly need to be afraid of. Only God can put us where we don't want to be...and He wants us all to be with Him. So why should we be scared...Go boldly!!!

Now....

It is time to do what you are destined to do, whether an artist a lawyer, and doctor...it is time to do what the LORD has blessed you with...and to be you!!!

Freedom

We hold these truths to be self evident...the right to freedom of speech...the right of expression...without fear of reprisal or worry that someone will try to stop me from expression of my opinion by word or force. May God bless us with the wisdom of how to express our freedom with Christ's love and mercy.

Believe in yourself

Believe that you can do anything that you want. Believe it! You are a wonderful human being, created and designed  by God to be His. Even if right now the road doesn't quite seem to meet your expectations. Believe in you. You are important. You count.

Disappointments

Disappointments will happen...always. People are here to discourage other people and it is up to those being discouraged to say "Thanks for your opinion but I believe I will do this this way". Disappointments only work if the person being discouraged lets it happen. GO TEAM!!!

Movie anyone?

I love movies. Better reflection on what people percieve or feel I have not found with the exception of books. I don't care whether the book or movie is a fictional account or non-fictional documentary. And without them no communication exists and our pulse goes faint. Doesn't matter whether or not you are a million seller or simply someone who likes to write.

My first love

Ever met your first love? Mine is writing. But mine is writing. Reading comes a close second. Music. Etc...John in Revelations said that the church at Ephesus had truly lost its first love, that of Jesus Christ...the passion for following His commands. My first love is writing, this is true, but it is developing the gift that God gave me to write and to write expressing His love....I love God very much and want to do whatever He wants me to do...

These are the Times

This was a really frustrating week, I am trying to sell a house and the buyer's bank is dragging its feet and the real estate agent is not as sharp as I have seen...but I was told these were the best and not to jump from agent to agent. And the upshot was that all worry and mulling and over and over and over gets is ulcers and grey hair. I've already had an ulcer many years ago and I already have grey hair and so I decided I need to listen to God and just wait on Him. Just wait on Him. He helped me sell my books. He helped me get this job. He gave me two beautiful cats. All we have to do is put our trust in that hope....easier said than done. But its either that or wind up with a holy stomach and white hair.

The other side

Well the impending hurricane Isaac threatens the peace of many...I remember when Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965. We were preparing to evacuate and stayed in my parents room, me, my brothers and my parents were all there, bags packed and ready to go. We were all asleep, except me. I couldn't sleep...I had the worst feeling that an eye was looking through the window, as the winds blew and the rain fell and thunder and lightening hit...and we made it through...I am sellling a house and have at times felt like I see that eye, but it will sell...and that happens when I write....I feel as though I have something within me, but there is that eye...and I hear my Father through my father that is long gone say, "It's OK/" and I come out on the other side...better than when I went in. He can lead you, if this your talent...or whatever is your talent....

Beginning again

Life begins anew in September. Students of all grades come back to school. The dormant time of vacations and swimmings and camps are over and ready to grow and blossom into ready minds. It's football season. Time to take what was learned in training camp and put it to work. All this to say our lives go in seasons, whether we are in school, or on a sports team or have another occupation...all things in comd in cycles...that's why it was written "To everything there is a season", because time is not linear. We are in sadness now, then we will be in joy...we are in darkness now, then we will see the light...the light of day, the light of hope and only if we realize it's coming to pass that we will be with Jesus if we walk the walk and talk the talk

Trying to let God....

It's hard to pray and not try to fix things. Especially for the old fixer like me. I have felt like Abraham who when God spoke to him trusted God on "the big things" but daily struggles in which God didn't speak to him he tried to get out of by himself. And let's face it, don't we all do that? All of us look for ways to get out of the struggle without consulting with God first. And that is where I am really learning to rely on Him. I have for instance worried about the roofer (of all things!) but the minute I prayed about hearing from the roofer and let God work on it then I heard from the roofer and arranged for him to come. Now whether or not he makes it, I'm not going to sweat it because God has it. When I truly turned over selling my house in SC to God, I immediately heard that I had an offer. As long as I fretted and fussed....I knew God listened but I pictured Him with a spoon cooking gumbo or etoufee, turning to me to say,"Now...this is ready...are you?"

Thank God for His eternal mercy!!!

Old Friends

The best things to write or draw or sing about are memories. Good, bad and whatever you've learned from them. Garner each memory like sweet candy and then put your impressions. What a wonderful weave!!!

Frustration!!!

What a week!!! What a last couple of days!!! Ever have weeks like that? Even if you may know it will end that doesn't stop the stress while you are going through this. But life does go on...and you survive...and survive to go through another day...this is the strength that God gives you. All you have to do is to ask for His help and He is there.

God is in control

When all else is falling, our spirit lifts us up or brings us down. When the sky is blue, our spirits are lifted up or down. God on the other hand keeps us steady. And we can rely on the Rock of Salvation.

Fridays

Time to breath is important. Thank Gods for those days of rest. Time to shut down...Hoping and praying those are rejuvenating times....

The Best of Times

When is the best of times? Could it be now, recession, no money and all? Sure, and I know people who look back on the 1930's and 1940's as being the best of times, despite the Depression and World War II. The best of times is now, because we are alive, we are here and we are loved right now here and now by God. And whatever we live through it is to help those that later will need help.

What a gorgeous day!!!

Love the blue skies and breezes, I really love this. Even in the heat. Everything has its time. We may get a lot of heat but that may mean the harvest is wonderful/ Animals not only go into hibernation, some go into estivation and the growth will take over again in the fall and that animal may have a softer coat, more beautiul song, or whatever God has in mind...While we all complain about the heat, the flip side is that God may have something in mind far greater for us than we realize.

Praise Him in all things.

Refreshed

Sleep is not overrated and neither are vacations. They are important as exercise. There are times when you may not get the rest you normally get but be sure to take time for you, or you will not be able to function, at least not for long. That's why God rested from work on the Sabbath.

Exhausted but OK

Always say I'm going to accomplish on Friday what I never do. That's just the case of the mind be willing but the flesh being soooooo weak. And it is the part where God says rest. God is in control and He knows when I need rest. Thanks God it was wonderful.

Writing the familiar

Many many writers want to experience things so that they can write, Writing however is not for some foreign correspondance, it is not going to meet with the Lost Generation, or even boldly going where no man has gone before. It may be, but most of us are plain ordinary people and stories and novels about those plain ordinary people are the best understood and best fitted to suit. Write about what you know. I have written five books, a children's book about cows, a book about living a lifetime dealing with manipulators and controllers and finally becoming oneself and living one's life for oneself, a book about a shepherd boy during the time of Christ, a book about New Orleans and finally a book of poetry. All of these I have experienced, either through vet school or scripture studies, or living in New Orleans for over 30 years. I do not believe in what-ifs except when it comes to reading or writing fiction novels. It is fun to speculate but realize that speculation is not truth not always. So write what is in your heart, write what you know. Most importantly, write!!

It's nice to vacate!!!

It is nice to have a vacation, that's what this title means. To step back, look at what you've done and rest a bit for the next round and the next and the next...Oh I have new book finished. I am going to get it designed by a good friend of mine. If I can email it to him!!!

TO ERR IS NOT ONLY HUMAN BUT EXPECTED

Whatever we do, we have expectations. We dream, we strive, and we make mistakes. But it is those that get up and dream again and strive again and again and again. Because of God. We can do all things in Him.

What a day!!

You know that a day is going to go sour when your plans become the best laid plans. But do they really? I am sure Christ didn't plan to have needs interrupted, to go without rest, to lose his friend only to raise him or allow God to do His stuff and work a miracle. You see Jesus knew the end result, even if he had to give up his freedom on earth. God blessed Him by placing Him at the right hand. And that is where our journey goes. Are we walking as Christ walked? Then we have no free time, we are doing the Father's work and we are serving each other even if it is inconvenient. That is where we go. We write with others in mind, we compose with the same intention and our lives hold that behaviour close to our heart.

The smoke cleared.

You've moved. Your house in your old location is on the market. You took a new job and had to leave before you could sell your house. You are getting ready to buy a new house. What a feeling!!! Mostly world-wind but you can do it...the smoke will clear...and you will write again!!!

Kiss me once and kiss me twice...

It's been a long time but I am finally done packing and settling into my new position. And that's what happens. People move, some like me to the land of their dreams. Some like others away from the homes they love. Whatever it is...you must you must you must continue to write, to do that which keeps you sane, to do that which helps you see things more clearly. And that is the lesson learned from all of this. Never leave your first love.