Every day, when I awake, I thank the Good Lord for the new day of possibilities. It is so wonderful to awake to the sunshine (or the quiet rain), stretch and treasure these golden days of life. (more…)
Perhaps because I am having so much fun being with my loved ones in Florida, I think about all of the fun that can be found in life. Sometimes it comes to us as a surprise, but we can look for it as well.
It was fun to ride to the airport with my youngest son, Matt whose sense of humor always brightens my days. I enjoyed the plane trip down, and it was fun to be met by my oldest son, Wes who also has a great sense of humor. The warm welcome by my daughter-in-love, Deb, confirmed that this would be a wonderful visit. It is always fun to be with them and also to spend time with my granddaughter, Claire, her husband, Shaheed and my great grandchildren – Malik who is eleven and Leila who is nine. A rare treat is for Wes, Deb and me to have lunch with Leila and her friends at school. (more…)
The events of September 11 are etched indelibly into our hearts and minds. We remember the horror and disbelief with which we watched the destruction of the twin towers, the clouds of black smoke billowing above Manhattan as a wave of people sought safety.
Imagine, then, if we could travel back in time to the crucifixion of Christ and be a spectator to those events. I think of the battered body of Christ, shrunken and drained by the pain of His final hours. His hair is matted with blood from the puncture wounds of the crown of thorns so roughly forced upon His head. Every rib stands out in His gaunt frame, and gaping ragged holes tear his wrists and feet. The side wound, where the spear was thrust, is sharper and cleaner. Perhaps it was in the tomb that they lay this broken body on His mother’s lap so that she could mourn quietly and privately for just a little while before they wrapped Him in the burial cloths. Did she think of the first time she held Him, when all soft and sweet in swaddling clothes, He began His journey to do His Father’s will? Her heart almost bursting with sadness, did she also remember how she feared they would lose Him because of Herod’s edict to kill all males under the age of two? The trip to Egypt to escape this massacre must have been a lonely one. With no time to lose, they could not wait for a caravan that would afford them some protection against wild beasts and thieves along the way. They could take little with them, and only had time for a hasty farewell to their loving families. With the memory of the fear of that time, of the sorrow of having to leave loving parents when she was so young, also came the memory of the love and gentleness of Joseph. Of how he would stand with his arm around her shoulders as they both lovingly gazed down upon this perfect infant. How His love and confidence in them shone from His eyes and played upon His lips. (more…)
Leaves of orange and red remind me of a little creature that started out as a ball of rough orange fur and became one of God’s most beautiful creatures. How much he brightened our lives!
It all began when our children were small and we lived in a lovely, old, weather-beaten farm house in the middle of 90 acres. My brother used to love to hunt in the woods on the property and often would stop in for a cup of coffee afterward. At that time, we had four children ranging in age from four to eleven, and we all loved to hear John tell stories. He would often take our youngest, Chris, to pick mushrooms in the nearby woods. He loved to repeat the story of how he showed Chris where bugs had nibbled on some mushrooms. He told Chris if the bugs could safely eat the mushrooms, so could we. Tiny Chris looked pensive and then said, “Unless we find dead bugs.” (more…)
In order to have a good garden, we need a good start. Often the ground is hard and needs to be broken up, hoed and raked before the seeds can be planted.
How like that is our life! In order to have a beautiful life, we need to cultivate relationships, whether with others or with ourselves. We need to break through the hard ground of pride or lack of self-esteem. Just as over the winter, the ground becomes dry and hard, we go through emotional winters that harden us. This hard layer prevents the seeds of love, compassion and understanding from ever sprouting. We need to turn this over, break up the clumps of anger, resentment, and hurt. We need to rake the rocks of despair, disappointment and hopelessness out of the soil.
We are then ready to prepare for planting the seeds that will bring beauty and wholesomeness into our lives. When planting flowers or vegetables, we begin by deciding what we want to grow, what we want to reap. We visualize how we will arrange our garden. Usually, vegetables are planted in rows, but flowers often are planted in a myriad of patterns and designs. Gardeners map out how they want the garden to be designed but they must take into consideration that some plants need a lot of sun, while others require more shade. (more…)
After this blustery snowy winter, I delight in magazines and seed catalogs that herald the approach of spring.
Never the less, I do love the beauty of winter skies and landscapes pure and white. The skeleton shapes the trees take on remind me of dry times in my life when I was tempted to give up hope. They also remind me that “this, too, will pass” and that those down times were followed by rebirth. It is the very stark whiteness that highlights the colors of nature. How much more beautiful is the scarlet cardinal against a backdrop of pure white. Even the black of the crows is enhanced by the contrast, much like the black print on white paper that create words that connect us with the world and others. Perhaps some of the wintery times of our lives can be a backdrop for the beauty we often overlook. (more…)
In this day and age, we are constantly bombarded with intense images. The video games played by the younger generation have intense graphics and audio effects. TV movies are more extreme, and often more explicit, than ones we used to view at theaters. When it comes to discussing our faith or beliefs, we pull back. We tend to downplay our perspective for fear of offending others. What if we took the intensity of today’s society and applied it to what we commemorate on Easter?
I think of the battered body of Christ, shrunken and drained by the pain of His final hours. His hair is matted with blood from the puncture wounds from the crown of thorns that was so roughly forced upon His head. Every rib stands out in His gaunt frame, and gaping holes adorn his hands and feet. The side wound, where the spear was thrust, is sharper and cleaner. (more…)
To all seniors – do you know how special and wonderful you are? Not just because of longevity, as that is decided by God, but you must have lived most of your life well or you would not have lived this long. Think about the warehouse of knowledge stored in your brain; the warehouse of love stored in your heart! You have the ability to begin each day with joyful curiosity.
When we were young, the telephone was in its infancy. Placing a phone call was pleasant and exciting. When you picked up the receiver, a lovely voice would say. “Number, Please” and she would connect you to that number! I treasure the true story about the little boy who was lonely and called the Information Operator and was comforted. It is too long to retell but she was his invisible friend to adulthood! It wasn’t until I was a pre-teen that phones appeared in homes. Now, many homes have several, and it seems that almost everyone has a cell phone. (more…)
In these troubling economic times, we wonder what we will be able to leave to our children. Will we be able to help them financially – give them a healthy inheritance? Will it be a small amount but one that they could build? Or, are our debts all that we will leave behind? Without a crystal ball, those questions remain to be answered.
However, we leave more to our children than material wealth. During our lives we work and live our lives in a way that keeps our finances strong. Without realizing it, how we live our lives also affects the lives and health of our children. We can leave them a legacy of a good immune systems. What we eat and how active we are will affect on them as well. Just looking at families, we see that in general, overweight parents have children who are overweight; slender parents usually have slender children. In overweight families, slender children show how the children can change their physical inheritance. (more…)
I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
This has been a winter of frigid, often single digit temperatures, and a startling 13 degrees below zero! We have been challenged by icy roads and an abundance of snow. As we struggle to keep warm, we often hesitate to brave the elements. How have you been keeping warm?
The words of the old song entitled “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” are as true today as when written years ago. During the bitter cold of this winter, it is comforting that this means of keeping warm is available to everyone! The energy generated by love is free! (more…)