Author Archives: Patricia Ann

Why Don’t We Get It?

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In his inaugural speech today, President Trump quoted from Psalm 133: How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in harmony! He went on to say,”We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.” Read that sentence again…”We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.”

And yet, out on the streets, some of these same people he was talking to and about were pursuing violent protests, having no interest whatsoever in solidarity. They were smashing shop windows, causing havoc in whatever way they could. What gives them the right to do that? What are they thinking?

And yet, who are we to talk? Does not this same thing go on within our own borders and indeed, our own walls? Do we speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly or even think of pursuing solidarity, togetherness, peace, harmony, unity; whatever it takes to make our world a better place? Unfortunately, all too often the answer is…not really.

It came to me today that whoever would not watch and listen to the upcoming inauguration with an open mind would be missing something. And then it came to me that whoever does not live life with an open mind would be missing even more.

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in harmony! Why don’t we get it?

The Wise Old Owl

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“A wise old owl sat in an oak; the more he saw the less he spoke; the less he spoke the more he heard; why can’t we all be like this wise old bird?” Anonymous.

At this moment and in times to come our world needs a wealth of wisdom.

Owl I ask is that you give a hoot!

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Home Away from Home

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Just as Planet Earth is my home away from Home, so church is my home away from home. I love being there, learning there, and worshiping there and even a picture like today’s can make me feel at home. Happy Sunday.

Sunday Blessings Grace And Peace:

 

Spirit in the Sky

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While having breakfast this morning, this song came on the radio and before I knew it I was dancing around the kitchen with raisin toast in one hand and coffee in the other. It was a 1969 hit by Norman Greenbaum and he sings about where he’s going when he dies.  Have a listen and see if you don’t find yourself doing a happy step. Happy Weekend.

Doing the Right Thing

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A few weeks ago there was program on TV that promoted doing the right thing, and it has been on my mind to blog about ever since. It’s why I researched and found the following quotes on the subject:

I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care. - Lou Holtz

Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity. W. Clement Stone

Initiative is doing the right thing without being told. - Victor Hugo

That old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind. The time is always right to do the right thing. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Accepting a Challenge

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Today, (I’m writing this on Sunday evening), I was challenged to take our choir’s anthem, “What Does the Lord Require?” and blog about it. The song comes from a scripture: Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

So, here’s the challenge. How about if we ask what we require of each other.

Would we not require justice as defined in the Mirriam-Webster dictionary: the quality of being just, impartial, or fair.

Would we require kindness? Wikipedia says this about kindness: Kindness is a behavior marked by ethical characteristics, a pleasant disposition, and concern for others.

And if we don’t believe in walking humbly with our God, would we not at least want to walk humbly with each other? I experienced walking humbly in Whistler just over a week ago when due to deep snow and icy conditions, my steps were guided by my daughter and daughter-in-law, one on either side of me.

Walking humbly with each other takes on the characteristics of protecting from hurts, offering comfort, being supportive, forgetting self while uplifting others…these are just some of the ways we can walk humbly with others.

Today I was required to accept a challenge and it makes me happy to know that there are many ways to look at words, whether they are in a song, sermon, scripture or sentence, and humbly learn a lesson from them. Are you up to the challenge of doing justice, loving kindness and humbly walking with your God or your fellow people? I believe that most people do so on a daily basis…and those who don’t?

 

A Rumble Seat Ride

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Only car buffs and/or oldsters like me will know what a rumble seat is. As a youngster, it was special fun to ride in the rumble seat of my uncle’s Model A Coupe. The car was born in 1931 I think, and I came along on this day in 1937. I was all of four years old when Uncle Walter tossed me gently into the outside back seat of the car and told me to “stay put”. (And he thought I would go where?)

And now I’m in the rumble seat again, travelling the final miles on the highway of life.  Although the road has not always been smooth with its bumps, detours, hills, and valleys, it’s been a wonderful journey. I’m hoping my road map has many miles left as I coast along in the rumble seat of life.

One of my favourite scriptures is Psalm 128:6 “May you live to see your children’s children…” I have lived to see not only my children’s children but my children’s children’s children.

Little did I know that a four-year-old me would ride that rumble seat into my eighth decade of life. TYG!

Image result for rumble seat

intelligence vs Intelligence

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No, that’s not a typo in the title. I once wrote about a ninety-year old gent who likes to study logic. Well, this word, intelligence, keeps popping into my mind and makes me wonder just what is it…or what defines it?

Do I have the answer? No. But what I do know is that Intelligence supersedes intelligence. An i.q. test is said to measure one’s intelligence. An extended education obviously increases one’s intelligence. But, (in my opinion) Supernatural Intelligence is the source of both of these. Supernatural Intelligence brought the cosmos, and along with it, our world into existence. And, so, here are you and I.

We are all born with a certain degree of intelligence…some more, some less; and whether or not we have nurtured it by the above means dictates to what degree our i.q. measures.  I am on the lesser end of the scale, having been a high school drop-out with no desire to pursue higher education. Many members of my family have BA’s, MA’s and even PHD’s, for heaven’s sake; very intelligent people. That said, I have successfully managed to raise a fine family, own a business, and publish a book. How? By calling upon that Higher Intelligence, that Supernatural Intelligence which has always been, for me, only a prayer away.

“Don’t let your intelligence get in the way of intelligence” translates into “don’t let your intelligence get in the way of Intelligence.”

Do not be conformed to this world, but continuously be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to determine what God’s will is what is proper, pleasing, and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NSV)

..”continuously be transformed by the renewing of your minds…” It’s such an intelligent thing to do.

 

When Will They Ever Learn?

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Peter, Paul, and Mary’s hit song of 1962, “Where Have all the Flowers Gone” came on my music channel today. It brought tears to my eyes realizing that in all these years we still haven’t learned.

We haven’t learned to stop the killing…killing of our fellow human and killing of our environment. We haven’t learned to forgive, or how not to carry a grudge. We haven’t learned to love unconditionally, to pray without ceasing. We haven’t learned to say “I’m sorry” and mean it, nor have we learned that doing nothing to reconcile a situation is the same as promoting war instead of peace.

Most people who write these kinds of songs are thinkers, and in their own way are reaching out to the world through their words. But is the world listening? When will we ever learn, oh, when will we ever learn?

Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. Titus 3:1

On Top of the World

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Whistler Peak 2 Peak Gondola Admission Ticket, Whistler, null

A peak experience was experienced (really!) during my Christmas week in Whistler visiting family. It was the day we took the gondola peak to peak sight-seeing trip; the wonder of it all took my breath away…literally, at one point. There were twelve of us having lunch in a mountain-top restaurant. We enjoyed fabulous food, great fun, super scenery, and a wonderful togetherness before eight of our group went skiing down the mountainside and the other four, including yours truly, hopped the gondola for the peak experience of travelling from the top of Blackcomb mountain to the Whistler mountain peak. I had only soared above the clouds on airplanes up to that point. Words cannot describe the beauty of it all and it reminded me of the Carpenter’s 1972 hit “Top of the World” because it was my family’s love that put me there.