This ends my five days of gratitude posts. Today I am grateful for:
my many blessings
unwavering faith
good health
life’s memories
a black and white animal in my garage that turned out to be a cat and not a skunk!
Hopefully, I will continue to express gratefulness in my life on a daily basis instead of taking everything for granted. Prayer time would be a good time for that, now wouldn’t it? That’s another thing I’m grateful for.
This message is for all the people I haven’t heard from for awhile; people in the blogging world, people in other parts of the world, people in my own world, and people who may be going through troubling times; either due to illness, grief, depression, loneliness…whatever is going on in your life at the moment.
I’m hearing of some pretty sad circumstances and just want you to know I’m thinking about you.
I’m also thinking about those who are experiencing happiness and joy in their lives. Cherish the moments while they are with you, and when they pass, look forward to their return.
That’s all for now. I just want all of you to know I’m thinking about you.
This month I had the privelege of observing the celebration of life in two entirely different ways.
Both were the ending of old lives and the beginning of new.
One was a wake, and the other, a wedding.
The first was a memorial for a dear friend who exchanged life on earth for life everafter in the heavenly realm, leaving behind her role as daughter, sister, mother, wife; a life that death did part.
I witnessed the second celebration from a distance, but the reality was the same. This time the life left behind was that of singleness, in exchange for the role of wife, helpmate, lover, friend; a new life of sharing til death do part.
Both events were not only celebrations of life but continuations of life. One life had been fully lived, and the other will now be lived more fully.
It was my privelege to observe both the wake and the wedding of two beautiful ladies, exchanging old lives for new, and for each, the journey continues.
No more counting…today is the day!
My Precious Life is on its way!
Two scriptures come to mind: This is the day The Lord has made..(Ps.118:24)
Surely The Lord is in this place…(Gen.28:16)
Happy Saturday! Happy Book Launch!
(Can you guess what Monday’s post will be?)
Cast your bread upon the water and after many days you will find it again. (Ecclesiastes 11:1) Well, I cast my bread in the way of an appreciative blog to a fellow blogger and behold it came back twenty-fold within hours!
I couldn’t help myself. This person’s posts made me happy, and I just wanted them to know that. What do you think happened? Antryump reblogged my blog and before I knew it I had twenty-two “likes”, where four to six are the norm, and twelve has been the utmost.
Light bulb moment! Making someone else happy doubled my happiness factor. What a great thing to know–and practice!
To me, this is another life lesson, one which I am overjoyed to learn.
While happiness is many things to many people, and has been for me as well, this is the ultimate boomerang experience–simple in its simplicity. Bring happiness to others, even unwittingly, and feel the reciprocating effect manifest in your life.
As the 1971 song by Canadian rock band, Crowbar, says so aptly, “Oh, what a feeling, what a rush!”
Try it, you’ll like it!
I love love; not necessarily just romantic love, but love of all kinds. I love babies, animals, friends, family. I love sunshine, moonlight, stars, trees, flowers. I love oceans, seas, lakes and rivers. I love singing, dancing, laughing, writing, daydreaming, night-dreaming, holding hands, hugging, being happy and seeing others happy. I love God and how he spent so much time talking about love in his Book of Books. Love is the most written about topic in the Bible, and the greatest commandment of all time is “Love one another!”
I’m going to share another of my poems here, and what’s it about? Love of course.
SHADOWS IN THE WIND
Perfect love is fulfillment
in perpetual motion,
seeing with the heart’s eye
that which the mind cannot grasp,
acknowledging the human need
for closeness under all conditions,
realizing that aloofness is a
suit of armor worn by those
who fear perfect love
is beyond their realm,
understanding the merest
reaching out of a heart’s desire,
passion and compassion hand in hand,
longing and belonging heart to heart.
Will it ever be reality
or are we pursuing shadows in the wind?
©1982
Will it ever be reality? I’d love to think so.
I have met many different people while visiting long-term care facilities, nursing homes and hospitals, as part of my volunteer duties.
One man I met, Mr. Flowers, was an amputee, and while he had no legs from above the knees, he sat high in his wheel chair and had a commanding presence. He was of sound mind, whereas some of his fellow residents had lost this faculty, and Mr. Flowers often found it difficult to find someone to talk to. He had been a high school teacher in his working years, and it was easy to engage him in conversation.
When he learned that I wrote poetry, he asked me to write a poem specifically for him. Being the kind of man he was, and his unusual name, it didn’t take me very long to come up with the following poem:
A Garden Full of Flowers
(for Mr. Flowers)
A garden full of flowers
when tended with great care
or tended not at all
if wildflower seed is planted there
will reap its keeper plenitude
in fragrant showy splendor
and bring the memory of spring
come blustery December.
Blooms spring forth upon the mind,
deep wine rose and purple phlox,
daffodils of yellow,
multicolored hollyhocks
replace the snow and blizzards
in the darkened winter hours
and keep alive in mind’s great eye
that garden full of flowers.
©Patricia Ann Boyes
March 7, 2005
You would think I had given him back his legs when he read that poem! He beamed the brightest smile that nursing home had seen in a very long while, and I got a hug that almost toppled him out of the wheel chair.
What a blessing to see the happiness a string of words, placed in the right order on a simple piece of paper could bring to a person.
Mr. Flowers, who didn’t seem to have any religious affiliations whatsoever, shouted, “God bless you!” as I entered the elevator to leave that day’s visiting behind.
“He already has, Mr. Flowers,” I said, “He already has!”
God has always granted me the grace to be happy in spite of myself and/or certain circumstances, which is why I sometimes found myself happily living an unhappy life. (How’s that for an oxymoron?)
Some things are not always as they seem.
The major cause of most of my unhappiness was not getting along with some people…not for the lack of trying. People pleasing is my passion, but admittedly I am not always very good at it, and when I tick people off, I really tick them off!
Here are a few examples of how not to do that; some Biblical, some not. Again, my comments are in parenthesis.
If someone hurts you repeatedly, you are commanded by God to forgive them instantly, but you are not expected to trust them immediately, and you are not expected to continue allowing them to hurt you…The Purpose Driven Life – page 143. (This book has taught me so much.)
I am resolved in all human contact to meet petulance with patience, questionings with kindness, hatred with love, eager always to do the kindly deed that brings the joy of service and that alone makes human life truly human…Ralph Waldo Trine, In Tune with the Infinite. (Easier said?)
Love your enemies for they tell you your faults….Benjamin Franklin. (And that can be a good thing.)
…Encourage each other daily….Hebrews 3:13. (Don’t we all need daily encouragement?)
Compassion is to share with another whatever it is that circumstances are bringing to bear on that other. It means to be with, to share, to overlap, no matter how difficult or painful it may be…Madeleine L’Engle, Author. (Remember “A Wrinkle in Time”? This author was a great encourager.)
Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can…John Wesley. (This is a tall order, but you don’t have to be tall to fill it.)
Let everyone you meet be happier for having met you, for having spoken to you. This you can do by spreading joy….Edgar Cayce. (Ah, joy…that elusive, fleeting feeling of euphoria…I love it!)
Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend…Albert Camus. (Even if I tick you off!)
And finally, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments…”2 Timothy 2:23 NIV (I love this advice but don’t always take it!)
Please, just walk beside me and be my friend…
My Precious Life 