Reruns

Now is the time for reruns, because why? Well two possibilities are that the movie or tv series was so good it's worth repeating, or else there is not creativity anymore. Or at least less than when the movie or tv series was prominent. There is of course the third possibility, no one will watch this movie or tv series because they are watching ball games of the season and this is the alternative for those who don't want to watch those ball games. Too many choices can sap us, too many choices can make us dull. If we narrow everything down to two or at most three choices we are more sharpened. Look at coffees: hazelnut, vanilla, Cafe Au Lait, Latte, Mocha, peppermint coffee, pumpkin spice, Left to our own designs we go crazy with choices. God knows this and gives us two choices, follow Him or not. Sharpen yourself. Pick between just those two.

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When

What does it mean to wait? Mary did it well, and her blessing was the Christ child. The Jews didn't do it well and they wandered for 40 years in the desert. Waiting then in God's eye is to understand that He is coming back and knowing He loves us more than anything in this world and He has a specific time and place for everything. While we may think it's not His timing when two people who got pregnant out of wedlock, we don't understand His timing well at all. Perhaps that was the only way these two people, who may have otherwise not been joined together, would be joined together. God allows certain events, intervenes in others and loves us in all things. May God always bless us with wisdom to pay attention to His nudging and to pay attention to when He stays out of our way to see which way we are choosing to go.

God's timing

I have had so many discussions with people who think that when things happen it is either God's timing or it isn't. I am here to say that it's all His timing. If we believe He is in control, then we must believe that He is aware that things happen that are untoward but because He can use them for good, especially for our good and for His glory may be not now but further down the road. And there are things like the holocaust that people say how can God allow that, if He is such a loving God. Number one, I do not know the mind of God, I do not know His thoughts. I do know the wonderful stories of forgiveness and survival from Corrie Ten Boom and Elie Wiesel came out of such a horrific event. But I also know that it tragically took the lives of at least 12 million people. Why did God allow this to happen and how can He even think He would be glorified in this? Again I don't know. I can with an open mind think that He wanted to demonstrate His goodness in bringing Christ to His side after Christ descended so that we could be saved. And maybe in some way we are saved by looking at the holocaust and thinking this is not what God wants for us, He wants us to live in peace. The holocaust also an example of free will, man's abuse of man, and just how much surrender to God of our free will means to Him.

It is what it is...

Life is hard, folks! It's not always going to be a nice sunny day walking in McConnell's Trace or doing the Legacy Trail. It's going to be frigid or meltdown hot and there is nothing we can do to stop it. On the other hand if we are in the Lord and we walk by faith then we can shrug our shoulders and say, it is what it is. Because God is in control. There is a reason we go out and work. It is what it is. I live with a 93 year old mom who demands a certain amount of attention. It is what it is.I lost one of my most beloved pets in March. Sad but true. And it is what it is. May God open our eyes to see that it is what it is.

Hurry up and wait...again

This past incident of flooding in the house has shown me several things, none more important than while I look like I am patient I am not all that. I had set up to have the new carpet put in, the carpet manager texted me a few days before that the carpet would be in on Wednesday and that as soon as it came in he would call. Early in the morning the day of, I worried, I paced, I could hardly eat. In the mid morning I still hadn't heard from them. Which brings me to the next important thing I learned, obey God's nudges. I was prepared to wait almost all day when a friend of mine suggested calling them to make sure Wednesday was the day. I had thought while pacing that I would wait until late morning then I thought to myself "No that's not showing trust in God". But then I decided to text to see if today was the day. I heard nothing from anyone at the company. I contacted the owner. Nothing. Now I was really getting antsy. Then I called the people that helped me dry out my house and they lit fires under the carpet people to contact me. And they did contacy me.

So while He wants us to wait on Him, He also expects us to obey His nudges. Obey them and see His works. Obey His stays and see His works. He is a marvelous God.

Hurry up and wait!!!

Getting things done is stressful!! It is stressful because time seems to go faster when one is getting things done but has more to do; it's stressful because one is tired but has a task to complete. and well let's face it, life wouldn't be life without stress. That's why I think that the gospel writers not more than once said, "God is with you, God holds you close, God is in control". Repetition does wonders for remembrance. Once more. Repetition does wonders for remembrance. That's why God wants us to spend time in His Word. Because so much scripture in the past foretells and for warns and so much tells of the promises of God. And we can stand on those for those are solid and true. What ever we go through. This makes hurrying up and waiting easier, doesn't it? Remember Him, remember that people waited for the fullfillment of God's promise in Jesus. And remember that God is in control.

Even More

Ever been in a flood? There are many kind. I am dealing with the aftermath of flooding that took place when my 93 year old mom forgot to turn off a water faucet because she likes to clean her clothes by hand. I am physically displaced until everything can get restored. But there are more floods than just physical. There's emotional when we lose someone that was near to us and we cannot help but cry and hurt. There is physical illness that brings its own issues.  How do we regroup? Rest. God is our refuge, our rock. May He always always always be sought after when we feel overwhelmed by flooding!!!

Interruptions, interruptions interruptions

Life. What is friction? Life is friction. When Adam and Eve were walking with God, was their friction? Hmmmm good question. What about gravity? Hmmmm another good question. The answer to this is probably yes there was friction and gravity because without either of those nothing grows, nothing knows how to right itself. So yes I would say friction and gravity were there from the word "Eden". On the other hand life is friction because much of life is based on interruptions. Remember Newton's law says a body at rest stays at rest unless acted upon. The same with life. Life moves on until acted upon. What we don't expect is more the norm that what our imaginations tell us what is going to happen. God says it's much more in heaven than we can see, touch or think about. So grateful to the King!

Where was I? It is a simple concept, time, space, being and location. So where was I? We all have those senses of being somewhere, and not being someplace else. It's what makes us a living organism. Plants have a sense of space and time even though most cannot move. Animals have a sense of space and time and most move.In fact organisms that are ill often lose this sense in favor of increasing the immune system to beat the disease that they might be inflicted with.We call it amnesia and sometimes we call it having no recall. But whatever we call it it is always sad to see. We have no concept of time and space so how can we define ourselves in terms of us and not us. It's sad to watch someone dealing with this. It's even sadder dealing with it ourselves.

And again we ask: where was I?

When Satan thrusts a big one in my stomach

Things are going along well. Mom is doing great. My business is doing what I want it to do. And I have the most adorable cat in the universe. Although I am not prejudiced. (hehehehe) So I never saw it coming. Never saw Satan throw this punch that for several days knocked me down emotionally.

I had gone to see a sick cat to euthanize because it was ill and not going to get any better. I had gotten the phone call about 5 days prior to going out and a gentleman asked me if I would come out. Scheduling it I thought nothing of not going out immediately. When I went out the lady was on edge, quite understandably. But it just went down hill from there. I couldn't find my keys to my lock box. (euthanasia solution has to be under lock and key). From there let's just say that the lady questioned in a rude tone everything I did. The cat was euthanized, the lady left the room and slammed her door in a furor the man paid me and I went home. At any rate I sent a poem in tribute to her pet a few days later like I do every pet that I put down or that dies and the pet parents are clients of mine.

A few days later, I heard from another client that this lady contacted and said she was filing a complaint against me. To date I haven't heard from the KVMA but that doesn't mean anything. Anyway I felt like I'd been punched. It is hard as it is to euthanize an animal but to have a rude individual say that I did things the wrong way through every step felt as though I was Rocky in his knock down. So instead of dwelling on this I called some friends and spoke to them and they said that God has my back and that there were always one in the pack and that's the one that makes us always feel bad. With God all things are possible. And this is true. With God all things are possible. I love Him and know that He will take care of me. And He will chase Satan away from me.

Life is beautiful

So what is a journey? What do you want from your journey through life is the more important question. It doesn't matter whether or not you go through like Indy 500 or you plod like Francis the talking mule in a corn patch. What do you want from your journey? Are you expecting something? Or. if not. are you will to take the ride God puts you on. You can do both, but I am hear to tell you that expectations almost always turn to dead ends. Nothing is what we expect. May you be blessed in this life always.

God's view vs our view

Prayers unanswered? Maybe, maybe not. God is an awesome, wonderful, holy God. God comfurts us; when we are fatigued He endows us with the Spirit of strength. But sometimes "No" or "Not yet" fulfills His purpose better than "Yes". Perhaps "Yes" is not the best case scenario. His love extends way into the future, for only He knows the future and He has decided and decides He loves us regardless. Father God is a great and awesome God with our best interest at heart. How can not fulfilling our request be in His best interest when obviously to us the situation needs to go the way we think it should go because certain situations look as though it should go the way we think they should go. He knows best, and while it may not work out now, it will work out in His purpose and grace at a later date.He wants us to learn to wait on Him. Which involves us deciding that His grace is sufficient. He always wants to bless us. And sometimes answering the way we don't want Him to answer is a blessing in the long run.

God the King

All of us can look back on circumstances that God's hand is definitely present. When accidents occur and we walk away, when near accidents occur and we were oh so close but were not touched, when there was the possibility that mistakes we make are truly bad but turn out to be for the better.Do you know that God is always present? He is always there when we eat, sleep, praise, gripe. And there are things in our lives that look bad, but He uses those things according to His purpose. What is His purpose. Colossians says that it is to demonstrate to principalities and other heavenly realms His glory. Why? If He is King He truly doesn't need to. But because He made us with a free will (because He doesn't want robots) He gives us a choice between following Him or following Satan. And Satan puts up a good fight. But in the end whether or not we believe, whether or not we follow, whether or not we humbly come to Him, He is glorified in somewhere, something, or someone. May You choose to glorify Him always.

God the Father

The Father above is King. Yet He has chosen on numerous occasions to mingle with us, to be a part of our lives. Most outstanding is of course His Son, who is of course Himself incarnate. But there are other instances, the Angel that wrestled with Jacob, the Angel in the fire with Daniel's friends, and many, many others. It is His attempt to plead and love and show us the way. Not to point out our wrong doings, that's what the purpose of the law is, but to show us a better way. Thanks be to God, who loves us and cares so deeply for us that He would send His Son. Have mercy on us Beloved Father and King.

When God is talking....

God does His talking through events. He does has a small thin whisper called a conscience that either we don't listen to or we hear it and don't believe it. But most of His talking is through events. I prayed in 1977 that if He wanted me to be a veterinarian that I would pass a chemistry class that I was having problems with. On the exams following the one I did so poorly on I made a 95 and 103 and wound up with an A- in the course. God talked. When pet Helper was is a slow period, I prayed if this is what He wanted me to do then let it grow. It has exploded. My faith has tripled and I believe there is an Almighty God who does His talking through events. May God continue to bless all of those who believe and do their believing through events.

Wrestling

What is the most important position for wrestling? Face-to-face is probably a good answer. Always looking your opponent in the eye. Always. When Jacob wrestled he actually looked God in the eye and according to the scripture almost won. Did he really? Don't think so but I do believe that God knew Jacob was not going to give up. And so God struck him in the hip. God does that to me always. You can vie face to face all you want with God or you can run away but God calls his own. Hang in there bow to Him, love Him. And Limp on!!!

When the fur flies

When things go well, I feel great about life, and am glad to walk this planet.When I have struggles in my relationships,especially people who are biochemically challenged and trying to bite my head off for not agreeing with them, it wears me out until I feel so worn down I cannot walk. I forget things, especially that the Lord is my Shepherd. I forget the God of glory and comfort. I internalize. Sadly more times than not I react, but God did not make me like that. That is my difference with animals. I am not made to react, I am made to choose. I am made to perhaps think about reacting but then choose a higher better way. May God bless me in this, that the better way come to be my way of dealing with struggles.

AFTERMATH

We are all children. If you are a mammal, much less a human being, you are born, not hatched, not formed in a soft or hard shell and exuded out of a body cavity, not deposited in water. We are born. We were formed in our mother's womb. By cells coming together, yes. But under whose direction?Reductionists would say the cells did it on their own. Creationists would say that it was under the direction of God. What is the answer? Can birds fly on their own? Where did animals get instinct? While cells once started develop a certain way, who tells the cells, who communicates to the DNA which way to go? What an incredible concept! That there is a being there that communicates to something as tiny as an angstrom (much, much, much less than a millimeter) to form cells, which then form an embryo, which then forms a fetus, and so on and so on and so forth. Instead of being afraid of that being, celebrate Him. God wants you to.

A Good Day

What is a good day? Is it a day without an accident? Is it a day without losing one's temper:? How about a day without 1 meal instead of without 3 meals? Often this is relative. Good days for some people mean different things and are no less important than one another. What brings us all together is that we are different parts of the same body, different planets in the same solar system, different dialects of the same language. Nothing is truly new under the sun but we are all prisoners of the belief that we are different and therefore special. We are different, we are special, but not in a way we normally think. We are special to God because He loves us no matter who we are or what we do. Does that make us right ? Not always, it just makes us His. And when we realize we are His workmanship designed to do good things, no matter whether digging ditches or leading as president. He can use us all.

Complain, complain, complain

We all complain. Even the most optimistic of us complain, such as myself. It is a human trait, just like survival through eating or protection. God is so awesome He gives us enough rope to -- pardon the expression -- hang ourselves. We are free to come to Him in humility or come to Him in  awe or not come to Him at all. He has not complained without justification, as we including myself often do. God help us to look for Jesus in everyone we look, or at least in every situation may we see Him and feel His hand in ours and His arms around us.

Who will you choose?

There are people and I confess I have been one of them who like sheep go where they are led even if it's to the road of destruction. Who cares as long as it is somewhere, right? Wrong! One of the things that I have learned in growing older in this universe is that God gave us a free will for a purpose. For His purpose. And He wants us to use our free will. To figure things out that He is actually in control. We often decide that no, God is not in control, and we decide to follow what we want to control us. Money, power, reputation, intelligence... all of these control us if we decide to let them. But ultimately God is in control of all of these things. And He rules with love because He is love and can do nothing else according to His nature. May we ask and seek His guidance in our paths always.

INTROSPECTION

One convention down and one to go. I wonder if the Liberterians have one, surely they do. But I am not sure. All I know is that ever since I was a little girl this world has been in sad shape and the US hasn't been the Isle of Paradis that was originally planned. We've been a part of wars, domestic and abroad, we've been a part of scandals, domestic and abroad, and we've been a part of the lax and lapse in morality that infects and affects everyone of us. Is this world any different than 30 or 40 years ago probably not except more is out in the open and more is considerred acceptable behaviour, The only acceptable behavoiur is that which is acceptable to God and none of us have cornered the market on that one. May God grant us the wisdom to make wiser choices and to be ready to serve all humans.

Facebook

So on Facebook this week I was called someone who didn't know their facts. Even though they were presented by one of the most prestigious fact finders in the nation and all I was doing was reiterating what that fact finding organization said. I have been bullied in my life, and made fun of because my opinions are not neccessarily those of other people. But all in all what is my main goal is to put this aside, realizing that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and under the constitition we all have the right to "speak our mind" no matter how harsh it may come across. By the same token, would it hurt to use a little discretion and be careful of those we speak to? And if we call ourselves Christians, that is the highest form of love, putting someone's feelings above our opinions.

Being children

Do you remember when you were kids? You spent the night with your best buds. Walked or rode your bike down to the corner drug store. Picked out candy canes or whatever your favorite candy was. Rode to the park. When I was growing up, there was a corner grocery 4 maybe 5 blocks from where I lived. And they had good candy, YUM!!! Sometimes the brownie troop would go to the park. We skated around the gardens and went horseback riding and climbed a mound called Monkey Hill. So much fun. Isn't that what heaven is like? Isn't that what it will be like with God, except that candy is free? May we re-learn to laugh like children and enjoy what we have because This is the day the Lord has made, for His children!!!

Here we are

We always come to a crossroads in our life. Whether we fall or rise doesn't matter. It's how we deal with whether we fall or rise. And It will always be like this. Do we have to the character to withstand both situations? Falling will put us into depression if we let it winding up in a crash if we believe what is being told to us that we are no good, just a lump on a log or just plain dumb. What a despairing thought! And if we rise our pride will tell us we can do no wrong. We have to learn to give credit to God. No matter what fall on our knees to Him.

So here we are! What will we do?

All you need is love

Many say we need money, we need time, we need a gun, we need protection.... The Beatles said all we need is love and that is actually what I am thinking as well. All we need is love. Love conquers everything. Love covers all things. It covers elder parents that still treat their 57 year old daughter as though she were 10 years old. It covers people who lie to others. It even covers murderers and pedofiles. We cannot see it but we cannot stop any division or hatred by dissallowing certain objects and tools that we want to use for evil desires. Any more than we can grow more hair. God is love. and it is His choice not to control our use of such weapons. He chooses instead to teach us a better way. May we all learn more and more how to love one another.

God vs. me

Is it God that is to blame when I fall on my face? Is it me? Is it Satan? Answer: yes, yes, and YES!. I don't know that blame is the word for anyone in the above question, but I do know that three are involved in falling, whether God allows or directly intervenes (by stopping me before I fall too far or maybe by putting whatever made me fall in my direct path), and whether or not I chose whatever direction made me fall, and whether or not Satan pushed my buttons that caused my bad choices or he himself gave me the the push. I don't know what is more significant, what is more important, and what is more pronounced. But I do know that what ever event occurs we have a choice to either act or stop and that God is in control of all things above and regardless of what happens, He is the author of our salvation!! And Satan is the great deceiver!! Run to God!!! Run!!! Your life depends on it!!!

Entitlement vs help

What is the difference between entitlement and help? In religious terms it's doing good deeds so that one can be in heaven vs there is nothing we can do so God's grace covers us like a poncho in rain so that we can get into heaven. There are two maxims in this world: 1) there is no free lunch, 2) one cannot simply cannot prep oneself by saying, "I'm entitled because I am poor" and expect to ride on someone's coat tails forever. Actually these are both different sides of the same coin, namely that do not expect that help will last forever because it cannot. Think about this, because of welfare, the working class' taxes rise. The money has to come from somewhere. There is no free lunch. On the flip side, nothing I can or you can or anyone can do will entitle us to anything from God. Yet God says He will save us and gives us His Son and Spirit that we can conquer anything this world throws at us. Is that a payment for work? No we work because that is how we were made, to be His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), thanks to Adam and Eve who really never had to work for anything until they were thrown out of paradise. When Jesus arrived on the scene, His blood and Spirit covered us so that we could be saved but it was not because we worked hard for it but because of God's grace we are able to work for Him.

Summertime....and the living is easy

Such a wonderful God we serve to allow us the beauty of all seasons. Whether or not you care for a particular season all are usefull and necessary for growth of animals and crops and for people. We have had a particularly wet spring and that is ok. I praise God that in His wisdom He knows what we need when we need it. And so I don't stress over not being able to mow or to walk outside or whatever... it is what it is. God has a plan. And He is the one in chargel

He has done marvelous things!!!

There was a Christmas commercial when I lived in New Orleans about God not being dead. NEWS FLASH!! He is NOT dead. He lives and walks and guides us all. And He did, does and will do marvelous things!!! Thank You God for Your Spirit and for being Love Incarnate. I am so grateful to Him for what He has done with me and my new adventure. And pray He blesses not just me, but my brothers and sisters and their work (especially in Christ with missions or with edifying and building up the church) and the community that they come to Him and love Him as He wills.

What happened?

When I recieved a microscope the LED portion stopped working. I had to have the part sent off. But in the meantime to get this part off I had to unscrew what I thought was the tightest screws I have ever felt. In the process I prayed that God help me to screw it. Almost immediately I was able to remove the screws as if they were butter. I prayed for a promo for my business to work and all of a sudden I had three calls. I applied for three teaching positions and one editing position. I was not what they wanted. Obviously God is telling me I have enough with petHelper. He wants petHelper to succeed and for me to stay with mom and do petHelper. So I will stay. I love God. What happened? God happened and showed me His wisdom and strength.

Where did my life go?

So many people say "This is my life". And there is no room for God, Jesus or even close friends. They are consumed with money or power or sex or whatever controls them and don't even realize that is what will cause their death. Not God. Not Jesus. But their choices. They choose to be guided by their desires. God may take them in the middle of those desires or He may not and that is His choice. When bringing someone into judgment meets His purpose. May we be sober in our decisions and choose wisely, because what we do will make us say, "Where did my life go?".

OUCH!

OOOOPS!!! Falling on my face is sooo hard and hurts. however what would hurt worse is not rebounding from falling. IN other words, staying on the ground. That is never ever good. I am so glad I am made of rubber and go straight to what hurts look at it laugh and say whoops there goes another rubber tree plant. I hurt when initially stung, then grasp my fist, shake it at the devil and tell him he's not going to win. God is great. And loving and caring.
And may He be there for all of us.

Where is love?

Where is love? Does it fall from skies above? Wrote Leslie Berceusse in his musical Oliver!. Answering that question is never easy, especially to abandoned and orphaned children. Never easy in that that sentiment stays with us through life. What Paul teaches us is that love is not a snap, just like knowing and being in the Spirit is not a snap, but it is something that as we progress through life we grow into, but we have to be willing to grow, and like little shoots that have to push their way through dirt, endoparasites, ectoparasites, heat, cold etc,  we must be willing to bear with pain and hardships and as we grow we walk and become perfect as He is perfect in His love. May God bless us with His Spirit during our walk as our walk becomes His walk.

Family

I am not a reductionist. I do not believe that things should be reduced to the least common denominator. I do not believe that things should be brought to the prime number in which they exist. I do believe in complexities innate in all of us, from the smallest amoeba to the largest land mammal. That being said, I am definitely not with those who would define family as genetic in origin. That is definitely a part of it, and in my genetic family I have one living brother and mom as well as cousins and nieces and soon to be grand-nieces. BUT that is not my only family. My family is the family of Christ and God. More than spiritual are many of them but definitely when I commit to God to be His and His alone the Spirit makes me Him and then makes me part of us. I love being in my family, we fellowship, we have regular fun days, spring and fall fests, and we come together as a family to take a meal at the Lord's table. I am often proud of my family in their achievements in school and in their turning of their lives toward God. And that decision is the best decision we all can make.

God hugs the stuffings out of His children

Whoever thinks we have an impersonal foreboding God has 1) never had a loving father in their house, 2) has no idea of what the scriptures say about God. God is a great and holy King, yes, He is mysterious, yes, He is God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit wrapped in one package deal yes. But He is anything but impersonal and foreboding. I will tell you that there were times I was terrified of the punishment I would get from my father when I did wrong, and it was truly because I deserved it. But there was always an air of love and being proud to be my dad, and call me his child. The blessings that God gives me, above and beyond my requests and expectations, that to me is God hugging the stuffings out of me. And I love Him for it. Numerous times I have felt myself sitting in His lap while I cry and He comforts me. No, God is very very personal. And I am so blessed and honored by Him.

When we are alone

I lost a dear pet a few weeks ago. I loved Henry, a black cat starting to get grey around the gills. He was 15, and he had a massive heart attack. I loved him. And now I freak out with every little twitch the other love of my life, Robert, makes. But what I forget is that even though I feel alone I am not alone. Even when mom passes, when Robert passes, when all my friends (pets and people) pass I am not alone. God is always there. Jesus walks with me. Jesus loves me.And He knows I hurt. He lived through it.

Bleeding Hearts

What makes life hard? Is it the inconveniences? Is it the inhumanity to man? All it amounts to is man's selfishness to man. And forgetting there is a God. And forgetting the love that God maintains and sustains for each of us, and that He calls us His children. So glad He is God. What makes life hard is the pity parties because of man's selfishness, man's selfishness resulting in violence toward man and death and carrying out satan's wishes rather than walking in God's will. Father God loves all of us. But does that love mean that life will be easy if you follow God? No, we are not given any promises, we are not promised roses, not promised candy, and not promised an easy road. All we are promised is if we continue to walk in the light of God we will get heaven and all the promises of no more hard life, no more tears. Praise God for His love and life.

God is good!!

I lost a cat last week. All of a sudden. No warning. He had a heart attack. I was shocked.And think I still am to some extent. I had him for 15 years and cannot imagine a day without him. But on the flip side, I prayed for a quick death. My prayer was that if God was ready for Henry, that Henry not suffer but go quickly. And God answered my prayer. After clearing my head when he passed I thought about that and said God will always answer His children's prayer. It was not what I expected and certainly not what I wanted. But the alternative was for Henry to revive, me run back and forth with him to the emergency clinic probably going through procedures and living another period of time in pain (possibly). And then being euthanized. That would have broken my heart worse. As bad as this was that would have been worse. God is faithful. He is good and He loves His children. Thank You God for Your many blessings.

AGING GRACEFULLY

I have 2 cats, both elderly, but both staying young in Spirit whether it is from what they eat or how they are taken care of. My mom is 92. Physically she watches what she eats and takes care of herself which explains her age. But her spirit is drained, tired, without hope for a pain-free life. Some of which is an oxymoron, because life is not without pains, it's really not. Pain was given to us to know we are alive. And our pain doesn't end until we are in heaven.  On the other hand, a lot of anguish is not what life is all about. That's when abuse of pain, excessive pain when we encounter horrific suffering. We are not promised a rose garden on this earth, and that includes falling among the thorns. And as we age, those thorns really come on strong. The Lord is strong though and His promises are true. We are promised no pain, no tears, no darkness.

When life is fun

I frequently watch my cat Henry play with his circular scratching post circumscribed by a ball inside of an open tube. He chases and chases that ball trying to figure out how to remove it from the tube, which of course he can't. And I laugh because he will twist and turn and run around that tube batting at the ball and flip over and finally stop and stare at it for a little bit before batting it again. How much like that are human when confronted with situations they cannot get out of? We chase those results or events and chase and chase and turn and flip around finally stopping until we chase those events again. When living peacefully and understanding there are things we are not going to be able to understand/do/avoid so the key is to look to God and ask for His wisdom. And His presence will give us strength if we promise to be His.

I want to be alone

Ever heard the Greta Garbo expression, "I want to be alone". While that was always attributed to her, it may or may not have been her words. The further time gets away from events the cloudier it gets and gets and gets until it looks like we are looking through a fog or out dirty window. It is what Lillian Hellman would call Pentimento, like a picture behind a picture from when a painter changed his mind. How often do I change my mind? How often do I not change my mind? When should I and when shouldn't I? I ask my self these questions over and over and over until my mind is as muddy as the events that passed before me. The only thing to straighten everything out is to sit still and clear my mind, and rest in the arms of God. May He grant me peace and lead me where He wants me to go.

What a year, what a day! We all breath a collective sigh when Friday gets here or when the next morning gets here or when December 31 turns into January 1. Whew! All done with. Never more never more. But did we learn? And what have we learned? Have we grown from our bad year and have we shared our good year? What are we going to do? Most of the time all I do is store the information for a better day, sometimes I used the information I've been given and improved or taken a step back. But you know, most of the time I have to jog my memory that whatever happened, whatever I stored, God knows what I did and what I am doing with the information and He in His infinite wisdom blesses that knowledge to make it wisdom or else allows me to fall on my face again. Which the older I get the less often that happens. But being human it does happen. While I may not see it I do in some way process the information for His purpose. And He is always aware of how the information needs to be used. To meet His purpose.

A tangled web

"What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive", said Sir Walter Scott in Marmion. My goodness this is never more true than in our politicians. Think of our politicians from those involved with the Teapot Dome Scandal, to those involved with Whitewater, from the reneged treaties with the Indians, to the officiousness of Homeland Security. We really love it when people can go before the press and be smooth talkers and down play those that will not talk until it suits them or until they feel it suits the moment. We are all for the pioneer, the rugged individual, yet we do not like someone to be their own person, to have raw emotions, in fact we don't get it. We don't get that raw emotions are the elemental foundation of all of our psyche and that most of us choose to hide those raw emotions. What gets me is that we often find ourselves in the same boat as someone that would show us raw emotions and yet we have no clue how to deal with neither the emotions nor the person. It makes us uncomfortable. And we hate jumping from foot to foot as our toes are being shot at. May we gain strength from one another and from God during our times of web-spinning so that we don't sacrifice our integrity in order to "make the deal".

In times like these

In times like these people want to be politically correct so the concept of being offended is more apparent than ever in history. I have met more people who are concerned with polity, with being afraid to be direct and honest out of fear that what they earned (position or salary) might be taken away and public opinion might be harmed. Amazing....if people would just be open, it may hurt at first then it doesn't and respect is earned. As it is who do you trust? Hard to tell if someone would rather be dishonest and protect themselves then to tell the truth and perhaps in the long run be respected and perhaps still be protected. May we learn to love one another with God's love, speaking the truth in love, not polity.

Outdoing God

Ever prayed to God saying, "God this really needs to happen but if You can't do it I can do this this this and this." Right, that's telling God His job. I do it quite frequently because I'd like to have things go my way because for me they work. But what I've come to see is that God always knows what's best, even if I think I have it covered. He knows what is the right thing to do when. May God open everyone's eyes to this and may He forgive me when I forget it.

Worry vs. Concern?

Worry is not the best thing to feel. God tells us not to, mostly because we have a tendency when we worry to 1) do nothing, 2) forget God and take matters into our own hands. Concern on the other hand leads us to approach the Father in prayer and to ask for His guidance. Both may look the same but with different results, Both are quite normal and take will power. It takes will power not to turn concern into worry and that takes understanding and knowing in one's heart that God is in control. It takes not trying to be controlling even though the desire is there, May God bless us all in our knowledge that He is in control.

New Year

I had a fabulous New Year. I was taken to dinner by a good friend of mine who came to visit me because he was visiting relatives that were not that close by but as he said he would not have the opportunity to visit very often. I got a call from one of my clients and worked on 1/2/16 vaccinating and checking for parasites. And I was relishing the holidays. Not since I was in vet school have I had that kind of an opportunity. So God is wonderful. God is awesome. He answered my prayers to protect me and my mom as we traveled back from Birmingham, and there was no rain until we entered Lexington. If there had been rain, we still would have been protected by God. It was just a bit of icing on the cake, a blessing upon blessing. And that is God. That is God. He is totally powerful, totally awesome, totally wonderful. That is God.

Remember

New Years is a time not only to look forward. Not just a time for change. It is a time for reflection. After all why would anything need to change if the past was not perfect and needed to be reconsidered in terms of re-direction. This year, let's look forward positively and see what worked in the past and keep that and whatever didn't work discard. And may we be blessed in our choices so that those choices can be made in wiser and more powerful. And so we can in fact look back on this year and say wow that was a great year!