Thursday, September 30, 2010

Pray for me? :-)


I'm coughing more today. I don't feel bad... kinda tired but not any sicker. I'm just wondering when it's going to end. Please pray that I'll be able to kick this *soon*. :-) But please pray more that I'll be a joy and comfort to those I am around. I am not worried really but I know how easily my focus is shifted from God and those in my life to me, me, me. :-P And I definitely need to be thinking about God right now. :-) :-)

Thanks. :-)

I posted this verse on my FB yesterday:

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11



Theater... my new role



Director: All right! Now -- I need one of you to take the Colonel's place."

Others: That shouldn't be hard. What does he have to do? Absolutely nothing!

Woman [Me]: I'm good at that!

How is they peg me every time?! Lol. ;-) Oh! You say. That's not true. You do a lot. You keep busy and accomplish much! But have you any idea of the secret desires of my heart?

To sit outside in the sunshine with that special someone (I don't even know his name yet...), a good book and fine chocolate.

So you see, it may have been a lucky guess to assign me that role but... ;-) Hehe.

I love theater.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Love Is Home -- George MacDonald

LOVE IS HOME.   
 Love is the part, and love is the whole;     Love is the robe, and love is the pall;   Ruler of heart and brain and soul,     Love is the lord and the slave of all!   I thank thee, Love, that thou lovest me;   I thank thee more that I love thee.    Love is the rain, and love is the air;     Love is the earth that holdeth fast;   Love is the root that is buried there,     Love is the open flower at last!   I thank thee, Love all round about,   That the eyes of my love are looking out.    Love is the sun, and love is the sea;     Love is the tide that comes and goes;   Flowing and flowing it comes to me;     Ebbing and ebbing to thee it flows!   Oh my sun, and my wind, and tide!   My sea, and my shore, and all beside!    Light, oh light that art by showing;     Wind, oh wind that liv'st by motion;   Thought, oh thought that art by knowing;     Will, that art born in self-devotion!   Love is you, though not all of you know it;   Ye are not love, yet ye always show it!    Faithful creator, heart-longed-for father,     Home of our heart-infolded brother,   Home to thee all thy glories gather—     All are thy love, and there is no other!   O Love-at-rest; we loves that roam—   Home unto thee, we are coming home!
--George MacDonald

Monday, September 27, 2010

Energy! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Thank you to all who prayed for me. I had a really good day today. And it wasn't just good in the sense that I am feeling much better today than I have in a long time (yay!!) but God has brought some understanding to me about certain things in my life. Even though this or that may be less than comfortable, and maybe even a little embarrassing, it's ok. He will make all things beautiful in His time. Right now, I need to sit back and enjoy the ride. :-) I need to trust in the Driver. :-)

This morning I...

Got up.
Tidied room.
Practiced piano.
Prayed.
Prepared for teaching tomorrow.
Turned computer on.
Ate lunch.
Asked if I should make cookies. (Positive.)
Answered phone.
Walked to Main Street.
Mailed parcel.
Got cookie making ingredients.
Got Vitamin D.
Got candy for my kids.
Came home.
Watched movie.
Made soup (which is a story all in it's own... someday I shall tell you).
Made cookies.
Ate supper.
Helped with kitchen clean-up.

And am sitting before you now, with some energy left. I can hardly believe it. :-) I feel *so good*. Thank you, Lord! :-)

Btw, I bought some liquid Vitamin D3 today. Has anyone ever used something like it before and what is your opinion of it?

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Letter Writing -- Keep It Alive




The other day, I made myself sit down and hand write a note to a friend. When I was done, I sat back, smiled contentedly at my creation and wondered why it was such a struggle to sit down in the first place?

I love writing letters.

I love making words beautiful and snappy and readable. I love watching my personality unfold as line after line flows from my pen onto the paper. I love dashing off a sixteen page letter to my best friend about the things I'm struggling with... and crumpling it all up for the fire (most of the time, that is ;-)). And when I am so happy that I want to dance, well, all of those get sent. ;-)

But the past few months haven't been for letter writing. Most of the time I was out-of-this-world busy. The times I wasn't, I simply wanted to sit and veg.

I didn't realize how much I had missed it until yesterday, when I grabbed my letter writing makings and sat out on the deck in the evening sunlight. My friend had a baby earlier this year (her 5th) and sent me a birth announcement... which I was replying to. (Just a few months late!) I remember getting similar letters from her when each of her children were born... and some very sad letters when her son William went to be with Jesus. Further years back, I still have the letter she wrote to inform me of her engagement to her now husband... and somewhere in my stashed away belongings, her letters as a 17 yr. old girl, writing to an 8 yr. old me. 16 years of scribbled cards and paper and pictures. I could show you on one hand the times we've met during these years... but, believe me, the letters are slightly more numerous. She has been so faithful in her letter writing and her friendship to me.

When I am feeling a little lost and I'm counting the things that never change, she is listed among them.

Letter writing is in my blood because my Mama has always written letters. Even when she was really busy with all of us kids, I can see her sitting at the table, writing to her Grandpa and Grandma. (Btw, just so you know the type of woman my Mom is, once when her Grandma sent her a check for her birthday, she insisted that Mom spend it on herself and she also wanted feedback as to what Mom purchased. Lol!) So for me to have a big box of stationary and cards and my favorite pens is perfectly normal.

But the more I am around people, the more I realize how many people can't even sign their own names legibly. And letter writing? Let's not even go there. I'm not criticizing them. The age of computers and email and Facebook and Blogs are upon us. If I did not have a history of letter writing, would I? It's so easy to type on my laptop and connect with people over Facebook.

I love Facebook! I love my blogs. I love Gmail. :-) And I especially love Google. Hehe.

But they can never replace a letter in the mailbox. My Facebook notifier will never give me the thrill of slitting open an envelope and pulling out a hand written missive. Twelve emails in my Inbox will never embrace my senses with the sender's subtle scent. And while special emails may get Archived, they'll never end up in my special letter box.

How many people in the past few years have had the joy of opening their mail box and finding a big, fat, juicy letter addressed to them?

Here is a challenge: Once a week, write a note (it doesn't have to be a letter!) to someone. Ask how they're doing. What the weather has been like. What has been happening in your life. Something funny that happened to you in the past year. Remind them of an old memory you have together. Envelop them with your special scrawl and scent and thoughts.

Keep this art alive.

P.S. I'm going to try to keep my own challenge. ;-)

Friday, September 24, 2010

God's Compassion


I've had some really good days this past week. I was feeling so much better and so fulfilled in my duties that I was full of joy. They were such good days. :-)

Yesterday, I walked to main street to mail some stuff to my sisters and get some necessities. I felt ok until I got back into the house and started coughing. I literally thought my lungs were coming up too. Lol. And I couldn't do anything to stop it. I just had to sit and let it pass. In that time, all my fears were flung back into my face and I had to do some thinking.

How easy it is to trust in God's will when I'm feeling great and life is beautiful.

Just as God has a purpose for granting us those times full of light and joy, so He has a purpose in the times I fear and doubt. I trust in Him to be all I will need, this moment. This moment is forever. I know, I've said it a million times before, but I needed this today. :-)

But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men... (Lamentations 3)

I can be happy today. Or I could huddle in my chair and listen to my fears. I could trust today. Or I could ask God 'Why?'. I could be a light today. Or I could hide away and let someone else do the shining. But when I'm looking into His face, how can I fear with such compassion and love shining down on me?

What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

I will be happy today. :-)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Teaching, friends, flirting ... and a little seriousness



Yesterday, I taught my first students in Carlyle.

It was a pretty amazing feeling... I have taught before but never for a living. Watching a little girl and her mother walk up the stairs to the house; greeting them at the door; feeling
uncertainty radiate from all three of us; making them smile; listening to my student (!!) playing a song for me; writing in her book what I want her to practice; watching her face when she realizes lessons might be more fun than she thought.

What an awesome responsibility a teacher has. I teach and the student practices what I teach. If I get it wrong... but on the other hand, think of all the joys I can show the student. Think about the music she or he will pass on in turn?

And now we come to friends. Actually, friends and flirting fit into the same topic here because of theater. At camp this year, there was this couple working in the kitchen: David and Shelly S. They're probably old enough to be my grandparents... or possible an uncle and aunt couple. We got to know them quite well and really enjoyed their company. So I was thrilled when David was in the theater production that Michele introduced me to. Talk about fun. ;-)

I am one of the girls who has to flirt with the sailor (David) during a song. They called me up last minute for this part and I'm desperately whispering to David, "how do I flirt?!" and he's grinning like a Cheshire Cat because the situation was so awkward. It was very funny.

So tonight, after
lessons today, I go to theater again and I will have to flirt again. But this time, I think I'll have some bows in my quiver of ideas and I won't be caught off guard. :-)

Fall is definitely here! It's chilly and rainy out. I'm so thankful to have a nice warm house to be in. Now, I must bid you adieu, eat some lunch and prepare myself for my students. Life is good.

That he would grant you, according to the
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout
all ages, world without end. Amen.

A friend brought these scriptures to mind.. between that and some other happenings in my life, I have been thinking about the way I effect people. God knows *how* I want to effect people but whether I do is a completely different matter. ;-) Please pray for me, if you think of it.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Quotes


Some of these are for laughter's sake only. Others are of a more serious nature. I hope you will be challenged and I hope you will smile!



I am not a theologian or a scholar, but I am very aware of the fact that pain is necessary to all of us. In my own life, I think I can honestly say that out of the deepest pain has come the strongest conviction of the presence of God and the love of God.

Elisabeth Elliot

A lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies.
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
Abraham Lincoln

I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.
Mother Teresa

The most effective way to do it, is to do it.
Amelia Earhart

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Mark Twain

All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.
Mark Twain

Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
Mark Twain

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.
Winston Churchill

Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.
Winston Churchill

As selfishness and complaint pervert the mind, so love with its joy clears and sharpens the vision.
Helen Keller

Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.
Helen Keller

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content.
Helen Keller

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
Henry David Thoreau

Be not simply good - be good for something.
Henry David Thoreau

My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
Mitch Hedberg

check out: http://www.brainyquote.com/ where most of these came from. ;-)

Friday, September 17, 2010

Reader check! 2010

I was looking at my traffic and was startled to see where my blog visits are coming from. Thank you to all who read my blog. I really appreciate it. :-)

Now I'm wondering... I've done this before but it's been awhile! If you read this post, could you leave a comment? It doesn't have to be very long. Just "I read" is sufficient. But if you want to, I'd love to hear where you're from, how you found the blog and how long you've been reading. I'm really looking forward to seeing who responds! :-)


United States
1,396
Canada
476
Germany
22
Lithuania
16
India
13
Morocco
9
Poland
8
Australia
6
Denmark
6
Philippines
6