Most, if not all of us are glad to see the end of 2020. It certainly was quite the year!
My new year got off to a good start with a little poem which made me happy. I wrote it for everyone so I’ll share it with everyone.
The old year has been put to rest
The new year has begun
I wish you all the very best
In 2021!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
And happy Saturday.
Batting a thousand is basically a term in baseball where a player will hit the ball every time he/she comes to bat. It may also mean success in an endeavor when a goal is reached.
When blogging became my hobby in 2014 it was a means of promoting my soon-to-be-published book, My Precious Life. It was not my intention to continue blogging once the book was launched. However, I seemed to be ensconced in this writing habit and when the number of posts began creeping past the eight-hundred mark, it became my goal to reach a thousand.
This is it…my one-thousandth post on My Precious Life, the Blog.
It has been a fun journey and I have met many blogging friends along the way. Is there another thousand posts in me? Only time will tell, but now I know what it feels like to bat a thousand.
Each day is a new page in the book of life. Many words may appear on the page but only a few will be meaningful. There are so many instances in which we have to pick and choose our words in order to keep peace in a relationship, make the most of a bad situation, and use words of encouragement when needed. It is up to us how we are going to fill each new page so that any particular day in the book of our life will make a good read for us and those with whom we share our lives.
It is also good to not only write our daily page but to read the pages of others who have gone before us, such as Dr. Frederick “Fritz” Perls (1893-1970) who wrote this as perhaps one way of dealing with relationships strained to the limit:
I do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I,
and if by chance we find each other, it’s beautiful.
If not, it can’t be helped.
And then there was this by American Theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971):
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
This one recently caught my eye in Harry Belafonte’s memoir, My Song:
“Not everyone can be who you want him or her to be.”
Whether we are writing our own page, or reading that of another, each new page in the book of life is a challenging experience. It should not only be written well, but lived well, and make good reading for all whose lives touch ours.
”
“That’s all folks!” said Porky Pig of Loony Toons fame.
The End is an all time finale signaling the conclusion of a movie.
“It’s a wrap!” is a well known term in the filming industry to signal the end of a scene.
These are some of the ways to acknowledge the last segment of an undertaking. In this case it is the final assignment of #everydayinspiration, a twenty day series of blogs wherein prompts and inspiration were offered to those taking part.
It was a fine learning experience for me. I found discipline and a much needed release from my usual procrastination habit. Admittedly I’m behind on the twenty days but that’s because I didn’t blog on the weekends.
The post that was the most receptive to my Facebook followers was day eleven’s If We Were Having Coffee Right Now…two-hundred-and-eighty-three views. Day two’s The List was the next favorite at two-hundred-and-seven.
It was a fun experience for me and I looked forward to each assignment and met some new people in the blogging world whose writing also inspired me.
I shouldn’t fall prey to writer’s block any time soon because there is a stockpile of topics just waiting to find their way into a daily writing routine…not necessarily from WordPress, but things that came to mind during the entire process. I look forward to their unfolding.
But for now…that’s all folks…the end…it’s a wrap!
Years ago I took an online writing course in which I was instructed to edit the following piece of writing by cutting the word count and tightening up the story. It will serve as day thirteen’s “play with word count” assignment. (Please bear with me!)
Original By Instructor: When Henry went on vacation to the south sea island of Bognor he went for several deep sea dives in and around the island country’s enchantingly beautiful coastal caverns. He found it to be a totally mesmerizing adventure under the glorious crystal clear sea. And then one day, as he was about to finish a dive, he saw her. Glenda. He saw her while still 30 feet underwater. She was like a glorious, mesmerizing, enchanting sea mermaid with long long silky golden blonde hair flowing in the currants of the crystal clear sea waters off the coast of Bognor.
He knew from the start, deep down in his heart, that she and he never were meant to be apart. But suddenly and totally unexpectedly, as he floated lazily toward her, watching her golden locks float above the coral reef, a strong current intervened and ripped them apart.
Henry lost his mask and air regulator. And soon, as he floated down down down towards the murky depth of the sea bed, he lost total consciousness…
My Edited Version: While vacationing on the south sea island of Bognor, Henry went deep sea diving daily. He was mesmerized by the beautiful coastal caverns and pristine waters. On the last day of his vacation, while taking his final dive, he saw her. He was 30 feet underwater, enjoying the flora and fauna. She was gliding in his direction, golden hair gently flowing behind her. As the distance between them closed, Henry was struck by her serene beauty. With sudden clarity he knew this was the woman of his dreams. He reached out to her, and as she glided into his arms, his world went black.
She had disconnected his air regulator, removed his mask and swam away. Glenda did not like deep sea divers.
That is the question. Not to write is not the answer for me. When I’m not writing it feels like a part of me has gone missing.
If my blogging falls behind, someone will call to see if I’m still alive. “Why do you ask?” I ask. “Well, you haven’t been writing,” they say. So you see, it seems to them that I have gone missing also, which is a good thing…I’m happy to be missed in that way.
To write is a part of who I am and it is one of my favorite pastimes. Not to write feels like I’m being derelict in one of my life missions. After all it was God, who got me started on this path, with all His admonitions in the Bible about writing.
“Write in a book all the words l have spoken to you.” Jeremiah 30:2
“Write down the revelation…” Habakkuk 2:2
“Write on a scroll what you see…”Revelation 1:11
“Write this down…” Revelation 21;5
These are just a few scriptures that inspired me to write.
And so you see, to write or not to write is really not the question; the question is what to keep writing about?
If anyone out there would like to send forth some helpful ideas, I am totally receptive. What would you like to see in print?
My writing space is rather small
a desk, a chair, but that’s not all;
A glass door offers nature’s view
of birds and squirrels and flowers too.
As I write I often see the bounty
of God’s harmony.
It makes me thankful for this place
that has become my writing space.
I write because thoughts swirl around in my head and I sometimes don’t know what to do with them. Writing them down gets them out of my head and maybe sometimes into someone else’s.
Take last Friday evening for instance. A young couple in their early thirties was enjoying a lovely summer evening under a tree on a park bench in downtown Toronto. They were here from France on work permits and expecting a baby.
Suddenly, a large branch of the Siberian elm, which was their shade, fell from the tree and hit the young man as he leaned in to protect his wife. It killed him. Dead. On the spot. How can that be? Here one second and gone the next.
These thoughts have been on my mind since that tragic evening. I write because I think it will help ease my mind but I know the questions will go to bed with me again tonight.
Why is a young wife and her unborn child stranded in Canada without the husband she shared a park bench with at the end of a busy day? Why did the branch fall? Why Canada and not France?
I write because I care.
Sometimes we just cannot help sharing something that touches us in a profound way. That’s how I feel about this hymn. The words are truly so promising and deserve to be pondered as well as sung.
In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;
In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
What a beautiful promise!
As promised yesterday, here is the second part of Inna Segal’s internet article on spirituality.
People who say that as you become more spiritual, life becomes more serious; have a lack of understanding of real spirituality. The more connected you become to the spirit within you, the lighter things get, as you develop an ability to laugh at yourself more and to recognize that this world is a playground for exploration.
You also realize that joy, happiness, fun and laughter are integral parts of your life and are necessary for your overall wellbeing.
I would often say that healing has to be fun for it to work. The more fun something is, the less resistance we have to experiencing it. When there is no resistance, life, wellbeing, joy, wonderful opportunities and abundance can flow effortlessly into our lives.
The more spiritual you become, the more freedom you feel to be yourself and to allow others to be themselves. Your need to criticize others, dramatically decreases and compassionate understanding takes its place. You will also become softer with yourself and the people around you. You may even find yourself drawn to people you would usually have little interest in. Thus, you unlock the gates to the most fascinating, expansive, delicious connections with others and love, care and sweetness you could only dream of. Synchronicities become a regular phenomenon and life becomes a real adventure.
How fantastic would it be to wake up every day and know that anything is possible? You may meet a person who will change your life, receive an amazing job offer, discover an important piece of information, receive a positive surprise or have a deep spiritual experience.
There is a well-known saying that ‘spirit works in mysterious ways.’ Wouldn’t you want to be part of the mystery, knowing that everyday holds an opportunity to transcend the ordinary and enter the realm of the extraordinary? The most beautiful thing is that you don’t have to work out how things will happen, just be open to amazing opportunities entering your life.
As you come into a spiritual communion with your Divine essence, you begin to attract people into your life, who will have a deeper connection and an understanding of who you are and what is important to you. Thus, you may expand your circle of friends, from people who are close to your age and your experience of life, to people from all walks of life who will offer different perspectives than what you know.
Integrating spirituality into your life is a unique process, which requires time, connection with yourself and deep and profound exploration.
A way that you know that you are moving forward in your life is that you feel that you are growing and expanding.
“I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It’s just that the translations have gone wrong.” ~ John Lennon
As I said yesterday, I believe we can glean little nuggets of learning from other people, no matter what path they are on. It is one of my pleasures in life to explore spirituality.
My Precious Life 