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Wisdom from the Mouths of Babes

9/20/2023

   Sometimes wisdom slips out of the mouths of babes and falls as gently as autumn leaves.
     Wisdom like this landed on me during a recent visit to our daughter Ashley and her family at their Alaska home. One day Ashley and I stood in the kitchen pondering how we could turn an assortment of leftovers into a meal. We were stuck. Ashley’s three-year-old daughter Eve listened nearby. Suddenly her tiny voice piped up, “Work what ya got.”
     She’d heard the phrase “work with what you’ve got’’ from a children’s rescue program, and now she was coming to our rescue. Translation? We didn’t need to get all complex; we simply needed to work with what we had.
     I thought about Eve’s advice when she and I hiked along a forested path that runs through their backyard. Life can be a bumpy trail strewn with rocks and roots ready to trip me. It may be people issues, health issues, time issues, or personal energy issues that leave me baffled about how to navigate those challenges without tripping. I sometimes feel like the anonymous writer who observed that “my ducks are not in a row. I don’t even know where some of them are. And I’m pretty sure one of them is a pigeon.”
     Now when I’m stuck, I hear Eve’s little voice advising me to “work what ya got.”
  So that’s what I do.

A Toast to You

5/4/2023

Recently I was tied up in knots before I gave a presentation to a group of people. “How would I do? What would they think?"
     Do you ever feel that way, perhaps when going into a new social setting? Or even an old one? I do.
     To calm myself in my recent situation, I recalled a simple statement I wrote decades ago, a declaration of truth to help me chill out. Here it is.
     In this situation, I have:
     Nothing to gain.
     Nothing to lose.
     Nothing to hide.
     Nothing to seek.
     Nothing to prove.
     Nothing to disprove.
     No one to compete with.
     No one to compare myself with.
     I am already complete because I am fully loved and accepted by God.
     And that’s enough.
     I offer this little statement as a toast to you, one for the road as you head down any worry-strewn paths.
     Here’s to embracing God’s love and acceptance.
     ***
  This creamy drink was for photo purposes only. I’d be glycemically slammed if I indulged in it completely - but I did have a delicious sip.

It's All About Attitude

4/17/2023

I won’t try to explain the numbskull way I created this scar on our car. I’m thankful the only injuries besides this were to my ego and my pocketbook.
     When I do dumb things like this, I realize I’m no longer getting old; I’ve gotten there. Besides that, I’ve noticed the warranty’s off on all my body parts. I’m constantly working to realign this part or that. Whichever one rattles the most gets attention at the gym or the chiropractor or the physical therapist.
     I could crash into a wall of depression with all these breakdowns. Instead, I’m beginning to understand how to travel life’s highway with my limitations.
     It’s all about attitude.
     To live joyfully above my impediments, I must:
     -Know myself completely.
     -Accept myself completely.
     -Forget myself completely.
     Knowing myself completely means acknowledging my strengths as well as my weaknesses.
     Accepting myself completely is accepting my limitations as graciously as I would those of someone else. Being kind to myself. Forgiving myself.
     Forgetting myself completely means not dwelling on my problems, but reaching out to those around me to love and serve them as I can.
After all, what good does it do to rust in a junkyard of self pity when I have so much to thank God for?

My 5G Network to Power Me Through Tough Times

1/1/2023

     Brrrrr! As our country is emerging from its deep freeze, I thought of this watercolor my friend Christine Jackson created that she titled “Waiting for the Thaw.” The painting portrays a frozen, barren landscape waiting for spring. It reminds me of other thaws we may be waiting for as we enter this New Year. Like a thaw in a relationship that’s chilled - I have several of those. Or a thaw in a career that’s frozen. Or health that’s on ice. Or the defrosting in national and international events we long for.
     Really, the world is a mess, and in many ways we are, too. As I wait for various thaws, I’m relying on a personal 5G network to power me through. Here are my 5Gs I seek to exercise: I’m GRIEVING over the state of the world and over personal losses; but I’m GRATEFUL to God for all that is good; I’m GROWING in understanding; I’m GIVING however I can toward the welfare of others; And I’m GRINNING as I remember that this tired world is someday going to be remade. Wrongs will be righted. Justice will prevail. Those who hear God beckoning and say “yes” to him will be remade, too.
  Grieving. Grateful. Growing. Giving. Grinning.That will power me through as I wait for the ultimate thaw.

Not a Silent Night

12/22/2022

It was not a silent night with all calm and bright when Jesus was born. It was a war zone! Picture a woman crying in pain as she is about to give birth, and an enormous red dragon standing there waiting to devour her child. That’s what Jesus’ friend John recorded from a frightening vision that some interpret as the behind-the-scenes nativity story.
     Back to the woman and the dragon: God snatched up the newborn to protect him. Then all hell broke loose in heaven. An army of angels fought against the dragon - Satan - and his troops and hurled them down to earth.
     Perhaps it was then that a battle-scarred angel ripped open the curtain between heaven and earth and terrified some sleepy shepherds. A platoon of heavenly warriors burst into a victory chant: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
     And that little town of Bethlehem? “How still we see thee lie?” That didn’t last. King Herod feared that a new king had been born to take his throne, so he ordered the slaughter of babies there. Bethlehem wept with grief for a generation. But God had warned Jesus’ family, and they fled to safety in Egypt.
     “Silent night. All is calm. All is bright?” No way! Jesus’ birth and survival were at the front line of a cosmic battle that spilled onto earth. And God won, giving us a savior who is Christ the Lord!