Inspirations

Last night, I went out walking; It was cooler than walking during the day.  Walking at night is so much different than during the day.   As I was walking, I was reminded of the times, as a child, that I was so afraid of the dark that going into a dark room was torture.   Outside at night was worse. There were things in the dark; that might hurt me.  There were bears and big dogs, and who knows what else.  I wanted to stay in the house with all the lights on where it was safe.  If you had told me then, that I could enjoy being outside at night, I might have laughed.   I am so happy that, somewhere along the line, I outgrew the fear of being outside at night.  If I had not; there would be so much beauty that I would miss.   I realize that this is a little thing, yet the tendency, for most of us, is to withdraw from what we see as unsafe.  For some even being around other people is a struggle, for others its new situations that s...

Today, I had twelve party trays to make in twelve hours.  Wow!  No wonder I am whipped. My partner and I managed to whip out eight of the trays in about four hours.  That is quite an accomplishment, in case anyone cares.  It was then that things fell apart.  It all started with my partner saying, we have till seven; it was only twelve then.   My instinct told me to keep plugging and finish the party trays before we moved on to other tasks because time has a habit of slipping away.   However, I am not always the most powerful person so I caved and we put off the other four trays.   Then things got worse; we had other customers and other tasks to accomplish. Suddenly it was three, and we still had three platters to do.   It was right about this time that I hated my decision to wait on the other trays.  I face that frequently because I have a habit of second guessing myself and listening to the wrong voices.  Often in m...

I want to start by telling you a story.  We were new parents.  When Our oldest, a son, was about eighteen to twenty months we had another baby, a girl with brown hair and huge eyes.   One day as I went to feed her, my son who may have been two at the time wandered off to another part of the house.  The next thing I heard was a thud.  I grabbed my baby girl and ran to see what happened.  There was my son with a table on top of him.  He had pulled it over on himself and more blood than I had ever seen was running all over.   We put him in the car and dashed for the ER.  It was not a fun trip. He had a skull fracture and many stitches.  Fast forward about fourteen or fifteen years, I’m at a stop light and watch my youngest daughter about ten start across a street on a bike start across a street just as a truck comes around a corner into the path of the bike.  She hit the side of the truck and bounced onto the road....

Today there was a 5k at a local camp.   My husband and I decided to run, ok walk, in the race.  We registered, got our bibs and waited for the race to start.  After a few minutes, I looked down and noticed that the bottom of my bib was missing.  I began an immediate search for the missing part of the paper because I did not want The judge to disqualify me.  Then I noticed that the missing strip was tucked up under the rest of the bib.  I straightened it out. Crisis averted.  As I was looking for the missing piece, I had a God moment.   I instantly thought of another race.  This race we call life.  One day each of us, me you, your children, the neighbor, everyone will cross the finish line of life. Today was also Memorial day so we went to the graves of my parents and grandparents and placed flowers there to honor them.  As I looked around the cemeteries, there were numerous tombstones...

I Love God !  There I said it!  Not just a little, like I would go to church on Sunday but that’s as far as I would take the whole “God Thing.” No, I Love him way more than that.   I am sure I annoy some people because I always want to “drag God” into every situation.  I honestly can’t help it!  God is not just something to do on a Sunday so I can feel better. For me, God is also Monday thru Friday at work; at the store when I’m shopping; In the car (I love to crank up my Christian music and get my worship on); At home; When I’m on the computer; Or even walking. I cannot separate God from any part of my life.  I don’t even know how and I do not want to leave my Lord out of anything.  I know Some people are content to compartmentalize God but, for me, it’s all or nothing.   I love to talk about God; I see God in everything.  That excites me.  God is not just a part of my life; He is my life.   Is God part of your lif...

Recently I bought a shed, a metal shed.  It was 8 x10, feet not inches.  When I bought it, I had every confidence that I could put it together.  However, as I opened the box and saw about 200 pounds of metal staring back at me, my confidence fizzled like a wet firecracker.  I should have known I was in over my head when the kind Lowes man delivered the shed and ran.  He probably thought I would ask him to assemble it.  As I stood looking at the shed, wannabe, I said a prayer, “Oh Lord, what a mess this is.”  My daughters questioned, “Mom, you ARE going to read the directions, right.”  The know that I tend not to read the instructions.  So with my daughters’ questions ringing in my ears, I decided to get out the directions.  There was a moment of panic when I thought perhaps they did not SEND instructions.  They were under all the parts.  So we started with step one and began assembling a shed.   We spent about tw...

I was sitting in the dentist office, that in itself is not a happy time.  They were taking pictures, X-rays, to be exact. When the dentist came in, she asked an odd question. She asked, "Do you remember a time when you hurt your teeth?  Your front teeth are dead, well the roots are, at least.  You would have been eight  or maybe nine." "No," I replied with a laugh. It was the truth.  At the time, I could think of no such time when I had suffered trauma to my teeth. However, the question made me start thinking. Memories that I had hidden in the dark recesses of my mind swept over me like a flood.  These were not happy memories of playing with friends,  riding my bike, or walking in the woods.  No, these were memories of not fitting in, of being teased, of being pushed off swings, and being blamed for things that I didn't do. As I thought about it, I said, "People made me an introvert." As these memories flooded into my consci...