The Afternoon of Life

Today I’m ending my 57 th year on earth and beginning my 58 th .   I thought it would be fun to see if I can list 29 BLESSINGS…one for every other year of my life.   I actually have so many more than that…but this seemed like a challenging number…and I’m sharing my blessings with you as a gift to say thank you for your friendships…you’ll see that FRIENDSHIPS are high on my list of blessings!   You’ll also see that my 29 are not “single” blessings…so there’s way more than 58 blessings listed here! #1    God …my Savior…my Lord…my Everything #2    My wonderful Dan …a husband…a friend…a gift from God #3    My beautiful children …Andy, my hero…LeeAnne, my joy…Stephen, my blessing #4    My grandchildren …Holden, Orlando, Roman, Shannon, Devlyn and Erienelis…they make life better than I deserve for it to be. #5    My extended family :   I’ve said goodbye on this side of heaven to Dad and Mom and I look...

  Recently I helped someone I love dearly as she started to "journal".  She wants to get to know herself better...which I think might be a challenge for all of us...I know it is for me.  I gave her a "starter question":  What color would you use to describe your life?  From her description, I challenged her to dig deeper into the color she'd chosen...and that got me to thinking. There's just no way one color would do for me...and because her heart is so like mine, she'd actually used one color as a blend of two.  But even two aren't enough for me.  So I took the colors of God's rainbow to describe my days, knowing that there's even more depth to my days because of all the hues and shades and depths of each color that make up my life.  I see my life in colors and hear my life in tones...I suspect that's why music and beauty take my breath away. I've x'd out names for privacy reasons...and I've also x'd out my list ...

  What was the sin that caused satan to be dispelled from heaven?   It was his pride!   He thought, “ ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly i n the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” (Isaiah 14:13-14).   Since that day, it is the sin of “pride” that has caused most to fall away from truly knowing and loving the Lord. “Like the Most High”???   What was it that satan really wanted.   He wanted to escape from the authority of God.   He wanted to run his own life.   He wanted to make his own rules.   He wanted to assert his own rights.   For in his time, God was the Only Authority and everything was run through the RIGHTEOUS mind and hand of God.   There was “no freedom” to do one’s own thing.   What did that wish and assertion bring satan?   HE WAS CAST OUT OF ...

Last August, Dan and I were blessed to cross the state and visit with my dad's sisters and their daughters for a long weekend in "the city".  I wrote my thoughts down as each day passed...I thought I'd posted this as a blog.  If you've read it before, I apologize...I'm not sure how I sent it out.  But I did want to post it so it's "safe" from disappearing some day if my computer goes down (sigh).  Here are my impressions of that visit: New York City…the city that never sleeps…The Big Apple!   Not my cup of tea! Impressions of city life…noisy…smelly…bright…dark…masses of humanity…foreign country…windy…sirens…signs, signs and more signs…homelessness…opportunity. I remember visiting the city when I was 22 and sitting on a window sill three stories up amazed at the number of people passing on the sidewalk below.   Again it was the number of people that almost numbed me.   How can so many people be in one small space?   We learned that 8,000,...

You, Abba, are the Father of our hearts. You created us because You loved us, and we -- in return (more specifically, “I”) -- have failed You. You have loved me with a never-ending love and I have thrown it back in Your face at times because “I” wanted what “I” wanted when “I” wanted it. How sinful could I be against You, O Lord? I’ve used Your Name in vain, calling on You to grant “my” wishes instead of bowing to Your plans for my life and moving into the center of Your will in obedience. I’ve claimed Your name while acting in the darkness of my sin. I’ve told you, “No” in childish, immature, disobedient, willful sinfulness! I am ashamed. Yet, You, Father… Father of the broken… Father full of loving-kindness… Father Who does not give up on me… You have loved me with a never-ending love. How I’ve hurt You… and You’ve returned that hurt with Your patience and mercy and love… I am not deserving. I’m tired, Lord, of sinning against You. You ...

Facebook is a funny place.   As I read updated statuses, my thoughts go from a friend who’s getting her nails done at a salon…to a doctor I don’t know personally, but one of my friends knows, who will be having a kidney removed that’s likely got a cancerous tumor in it.   Someone else is looking for tires for a craft project, while another friend prays for a child facing surgery.   I then read of a friend visiting Florida who purchased her lunch in a grocery store and then walked behind the store to eat her fresh lunch on a beach by the ocean and warmed by the sun…while I’m staring out my window and the beautiful lake-effect snowfall that is so thick I cannot see my neighbor’s house.   A comedienne shares a delightful story of a visit to Hawaii with a friend who longed to see the crystal, blue waters….and finally saw the crystal blue waters in a toilet bowl!   A friend’s husband has a drinking problem…and they are separating for a while…and another friend ...

  Happy New Year, friends and family.   One of my New Year’s resolutions is to get back to things that I enjoy…pleasures that have somehow not been part of my life the last few years as I’ve said goodbye to people I love.   I think part of the grieving process is that we move away from the things that make us feel good…because it somehow feels disrespectful to enjoy life when so many have lost the ability to do so.   But I’m making a choice in the New Year to honor my dad, my mom, my brother Richard and my “son” Sampson by moving away from grieving for them and missing them towards celebrating that they are part of the reason I am a creative human being.   Dad taught me to love words and language.   Mom taught me to love music and beautiful things.   Richard taught me to look for the good in people.   And Sampson taught me about the search and the struggle to find a purpose and a place in life.   All of those combined have given me life ...