Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Anyone…child, youth, or adult who has ever watched the original Wizard of Oz.…recognizes this scene (from the movie) instantly…with the famous phrase…“Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!”

On their way to find the Wizard of Oz...Dorothy and her companions somehow leave the sunny yellow brick road behind when it turns into spooky dirt paths through dark scary woods…the group then hears a rustling sound coming from the foliage around them ….in each one’s imagination…they are seeing what scares them the most...”Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!”

Isn’t that what we feel too these days? We can’t see the enemy but the rustling warnings from television ads, the news, our doctors and scientists warn us this ‘formidable opponent’ is just as scary as ….lions, tigers, and bears. “Oh my.”

The difference in this scene and our situation is that we can’t hold hands to comfort each other through these scary times. It would be so much more comforting… if we could.

In Still Speaking Daily Devotionals...Molly Baskette addresses this problem as we seek to find God and safe haven before the cornavirus finds us. Here is an excerpt from her devotional.

“Draw Near”

Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you. – James 4:8 (NRSV)

Social distancing is our new way of life. When people we don’t live with come closer than six feet these days, we might experience a frisson of fear. What a strange and alienating reality!

Humans are wired for connection and we do better – mentally and physically – with touch. Some sources say twelve hugs a day for optimal well-being. So what is a human to do when drawing near is both what we most need and, in an age of pandemic, what might end us?

*I was thinking the other day about this…when I talked about sensing God in my garden…in plants and trees and buds and blooms. I touch them and marvel at God’s essence in beauty. And I feel safe in this environment…with just me and God.

By touching every living thing… plant and animal…aren’t I touching God and isn’t it safe to reach for Him through life itself?

Sadly it is only humans who can’t touch other humans…who must keep their distance and protect themselves with masks…but with God…no social distancing is necessary or masks…because eternal love between our Maker and ourselves is not restricted to the laws of physics governing the world we live in.

So until tomorrow…Remember God IS Love and as such has endless ways to comfort us and draw nigh when we need Him the most…germ-free.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

This tip-top Confederate Rose bloom turned pink again…yesterday…the cycle is continuously amazing me…one bud and bloom…over and over again.

As I was driving over to Mt. Pleasant Sunday afternoon and entering Wakendaw Lakes…a whole group of people were starting to put Christmas lights on the entrance tree. By the time I left…this beautiful sight told me good-bye from the neighborhood.

A shout-out to Carrie, Catherine, and Susan…all family members with “Turkey” birthdays this week. When we think about it…it is a wonderful time of the year to  be “thankful” for life and the opportunity to start another ‘trip around the sun’ with new possibilities in waiting. Happy Birthday Everyone!

*** Just added this Monday afternoon. Tigger, John and Mandy’s little dog, is in ICU having a blood transfusion for low hemoglobin. He has struggled since his nine teeth were pulled…and became quite ill today.

We all love him so and want what is best for him so if he can be healed and his health restored…we would all be so thankful today for that….prayers please for a much loved little dog. Thank you. Boo

Dear Reader:

I remember Thanksgiving of 2014 was an important one for me…since I had just made the decision (after much prayer) to continue writing the blog after a week’s interval of not writing .

I knew I had made the right decision because my heart was so full of gratitude for Thanksgiving that year. My faith was renewed and I realized that we should never let anyone steal our joy when it comes to following our passion.

On Thanksgiving, that year, I received some pictures from Joan Turner…(John, Mandy, Eva Cate and Jake- always go to Joan and W. T.’s house in Huntsville, AL (John’s parents) for Thanksgiving.)

*Covid 19 almost stopped this tradition this year…but at the last minute everything fell into place and they are so happy to be going to see all the Turner family and spend Thanksgiving.

The first picture I got from Joan that Thanksgiving of 2014 was a leaf that 4-year-old Eva Cate found in Huntsville and thought was so beautiful…she wanted me to see it too. I remember smiling at the leaf and later photo of her holding it proudly for having found such a “beautiful treasure.”

I remember thinking I wish I could capture that moment in my memory and never lose it…watching a grandchild fully appreciate and immerse themselves into the God-given gift of nature at its most beautiful. A picture that symbolizes the wonder and awe of childhood at its best.

Wonder and awe. I do believe that  people who never grow old never lose that sense of wonder and awe…instead they stay delighted at all the hidden “treasures” that continue to amaze and delight us…if we never close our eyes to new possibilities of learning and adventures!

In that same post six years ago Honey  sent me a copy of a newspaper article she thought I would like…I re-read it yesterday and decided that everyone would like this interesting twist on thankfulness and gratitude.

Giving thanks (by Kim Ode/Star Tribune/Minneapolis.)

*Kim recognizes that a strange contradiction/relationship exists concerning gratitude. She says:

” Being on the receiving end of someone’s thanks has us walking on those particularly puffy clouds that fill the autumn skies.

Yet when it comes to extending gratitude, we sometimes drag our heels, playing a game of “You First.”  Expressing thanks might make us feel indebted, even weak, which is a feeling most of us try to avoid.

We’re missing the point.

The crazy thing about being thankful is that it’s the shortest distance between feeling okay and feeling great. The sensation doesn’t light up the sky, but is more one of quiet satisfaction. We actually feel a little lighter for having breathed deep and clambered to that higher road.

It doesn’t even matter what we say, but what prompts us. It’s not the feat, but the humility.

November is the one month when there’s a day specifically set aside for gratitude…for being thankful for a job, for family, for recovery, for friends, for favors extended, or a second chance. Some years it may stand for just having made it to November in one piece. And speaking of pieces….

Come Thanksgiving, make sure to thank those who make the pies…for all the pieces of pie made available to us. We should always be grateful for pie.” 🙂

So until tomorrow…Let us be thankful for wonder and awe...because these God-given gifts are in such abundance…they will last us a lifetime…if we don’t stop looking for them… every single day.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Sadly as I had my outfit ready to go and my lucky Tiger token…I was “All In”…but the game wasn’t. Just chalk up one more disappointment in this bizarre pandemic year…2020 can’t leave soon enough. Hopes and prayers for 2021!

Look at this gorgeous succulent (Bromeliad)! I have never seen anything so beautiful…Susan Cadwell shared the photos with me yesterday that she took earlier…unbelievable!

Happy Birthday weekend for Kaitlyn!

Dear Reader:

As Halloween approaches I always make sure I have lots of pumpkins…real and decorative…because following Halloween…the BOO’s have to go, the spiders, skeletons, black cats, witches, and even broomsticks….but the pleasing pumpkins decorate Thanksgiving now with corn stalks, apples, straw bales, wagons, and cornucopias. A one-for-two holiday decorative addition…Halloween and Thanksgiving!

A pumpkin is a very useful vegetable/fruit (on-going debate…botanists say fruit because it bears seeds and planters a vegetable for being less sweet than it fruity companions.)

As I mentioned earlier in a blog post….the low country is just now slowly displaying its fall colors…from Thanksgiving to Christmas it is at its fall foliage peak.

So yesterday I rode around several neighborhoods in town and then close proximity to me…taking photos of trees turning colors, bushes, plants, and porches with pumpkins still decorating the upcoming holiday.

* One house was definitely jumping ahead…with pumpkins on the front of the porch and Santa Claus on the other…now that IS pushing the Ho Ho Ho season! 🙂 Maybe this particular Santa really likes pumpkins???

Come with me and see some low country fall foliage….and pumpkins on porches….

The grandchildren’s maples are in full bloom

Morning glories are mixing all colors of pink and purple now

Popping up out of the ground to take one last look around….

So until tomorrow….

I think we can all agree with John Greenleaf Whittier…in his poem simply called “Pumpkin” …the best part of a pumpkin is found in pumpkin pie!

Then thanks for thy present! none sweeter or better

E’er smoked from an oven or circled a platter!

Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,

Brighter eyes never watched o’er its baking, than thine!

And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,

Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,

That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,

And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,

And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky

Golden-tinted and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Great News! Jake got his cast off his arm and pins out yesterday. Dino the Dinosaur went with him so he could get his Dr. Vickie’s sling off at the same time.

Jake had worn an old shirt to school yesterday so the class could tie-dye them…and put fringe on the shirts… the students who wanted to be Native-Americans wore…Jake did…his name “Speedy Shark.”

When Mandy first sent the photos out yesterday afternoon… a lot of us thought the doctor had to cut off his shirt…mystery solved! 🙂

Dino was really rough housing on the way to the doctor…but afterwards he just enjoyed watching television with Jake…each holding their arms like it was still in a cast or sling…it takes awhile to readjust. 🙂

Dear Reader:

As I was staring at my sign on the hearth – G A T H E R – that I always put up after Halloween and leave until after Thanksgiving…I started remembering all the Thanksgivings that have preceded this strange one we’re all about to embark upon…in many different ways.

For years, after I married,  we went to Aunt Mary’s ….a lovely woman in the Brunson family…these Thanksgivings involved lots and lots of cousins- it was a toss-up between the number of them and the number of dishes spread out on the table…many cousins I, initially, didn’t know but came to know…hunting was the big sport early Thankgiving morning for the guys.

Then the tradition transferred to Dee Dee… and sometimes different family members like Doodle’s house…until “Baby” Carrie arrived on Thanksgiving Day one year. Lassie and I were left to try to throw a last minute meal together…one of the most hilarious Thanksgivings in memory. (Everyone “politely” ate it.)

Then when most of the “children” had finished high school and were off at college…I decided to host Thanksgiving the night before…so the parents could get ready for it and I could get re-acquainted with my nephews and nieces as young adults.

It was so much fun and it lasted through graduations, early careers, but then suddenly, it felt like almost overnight, it started growing exponentially …engagements, marriages, firstborns with siblings close behind… and then spouse’s families who had come for the holidays….

Finally we outgrew ourselves in several different ways… Thanksgivings began to rotate/flip-flop between different sides of families (Thanksgivings and Christmases)…It started getting harder and harder to plan on any set number.)

Then my health had some set-backs…the foot surgery, etc. and the “Night Before Thanksgiving” dinner faded away into distant memories. But what fond ones they were!

And now…the “infamous” 2020 Thanksgiving is upon us. Sadly this holiday and a strong resurgence of Covid19 are forming the perfect storm for this favorite holiday (of mine) …an occasion for giving thanks together…bonded by love and gratitude.

If all pans out…this will be a very different Thanksgiving for me…I will be accompanying my son, Tommy, and my daughter-in-law, Kaitlyn, to the North Carolina mountains for a “Back to Nature Thoreau” Thanksgiving.

Tommy and Kaitlyn found a special spot earlier in the fall and decided right then and there that Thanksgiving spent there would be ideal…restful and a welcome departure from this crazy conundrum.

Matthew 18:20 tells us “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” My prayer this Thanksgiving,while in the woods by beautiful waterfalls, is God’s presence and protection for the three of us as we seek serenity within the woods.

This will be a tough Thanksgiving…but this holiday originated out of tough times.

National Geographic:

Thanksgiving’s roots began in the toughest of times. The European settlers known as the Pilgrims were bound together by a compact and common goal to survive. Like today, it wouldn’t come easy.

The Pilgrims would bury 52 colleagues that first winter near their settlement, which itself sat near a former Native American hamlet that had been decimated by hemorrhagic disease, likely spread by earlier European traders.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Today aren’t we still just as puzzled as those first  Native-Americans must have been when European diseases spread like wildfire through their native communities wiping out whole villages with no immunity to these viruses.

This was an invisible enemy…no one was shooting bullets or arrows at them or throwing knives…yet, mysteriously, people took sick and died terrible deaths. How frightening it was then…and it is just as frightening now.

Maintaining the balance between embedded social behavior in humans who want to gather and fighting an invisible enemy that travels “socially”… especially without basic protections… is a tightrope until “Hope springs eternally” with a vaccine.

So until tomorrow…“It is not happy people who are thankful; It is thankful people who are happy.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Look at Brooke’s earlier beautiful birthday gift to me….”Dawn of Hope”  -Sasanqua camellia.

It just gets more and more exquisite.

Mike Burrell is one talented wood craftsman. Mike has always had a little dachshund dog since I have known him and Honey. I found a cute card of such a little dog with a colorful 3-D scarf coat around its neck and body.

I gave it to Honey to save for Mike’s birthday… which was a couple of weekends ago…When he texted to thank me for the card…I noticed he was holding a wooden box…but I thought initially he was holding the card in front of it…

Just yesterday I realized he had carved the little dog (from the birthday card) on the outside of the box and added the exact colors in the 3-D scarf coat.

This blew me away! Double WOW! Mike!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

A big shout-out to my beautiful daughter-in-law, Kaitlyn! Today is her birthday! I sent her a card and some “funny money” for the mountain vacation…just getting away…I am sure will be the best birthday present of all.

Poor little Tigger…he was supposed to get five teeth pulled yesterday…which was bad enough…but they ended up almost doubling that number…he is completely out of it…and will now share a tongue-hanging characteristic with Pip and cousins.

His foremost love is eating…and his diet is definitely going to have to be readjusted…much to his chagrin.

Dear Reader:

As I was glancing at yesterday’s top news stories on my computer…a photo of a  bridge collapsed from the weight of a tree falling on it…caught my attention by its name…Poohsticks Bridge…built in 1907 and made famous by the Winnie -the-Pooh childrens’ books.

I stopped and pulled the accompanying story. Apparently strong winds caused a tree to fall damaging this beloved landmark in Ashdown Forest, East Sussex. It is visited by thousands of tourists each year, but is now closed indefinitely… for major repairs.

It was first built in 1907 and provides the setting for the beloved childrens’ novels. It was made famous in A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

Ashdown Forest provided the inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood where Pooh and his friends lived…the setting for the series of stories to follow. It was here that the game of ‘Poohsticks’ on the bridge is first mentioned in the book, The House at Pooh Corner. 

Disney Corporation helped the builders re-design the bridge to closely resemble an illustration in the book. It was renamed Poohsticks Bridge in 1976 by Christopher Robin Milne, the famous author’s son and inspiration behind the character Christopher Robin.

As soon as news of the destruction of the bridge hit the press countless people wrote in stories about getting engaged on that bridge while others played countless games of pooh sticks as a kid and now as a parent with their children.

Poohsticks is a game that involves dropping sticks from the bridge into a downstream river, with the person whose stick emerges first out the other end of the bridge is the winner.

This memory from the Pooh stories took me wandering down my own memory lane….for as long as I can remember writing the blog Chapel of Hope Stories…Part 1 (August 7, 2010- November 19 2014) and Part 2 (November 24 2014 -until today, November 19, 2020) I have ended each post with Winnie the Pooh’s favorite expression:

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Exactly the date when I started using this expression as my sign-off is puzzling too…I didn’t use it the first day back when I started Part Two of Chapel of Hope Stories...but I did the following day…November 25, 2014 and continued.

Did I just forget the first day back or did I make that decision, out of sheer gratitude, to be back writing the following day? My memory eludes me…but I do know I would have been looking for a sign-off phrase like newscasters used to use…and while going through chemo, radiation, and three separate surgeries…each day I survived, that I was alive, was “my favorite day.”

*If anyone happens to remember or has an idea behind this sign-off phrase…I would welcome it.

One thing does stand out today, November 19… a very tall man made a very small speech and today it is applauded and recognized as one of the greatest speeches ever given…not only for the eloquent words but its brevity…The Gettysburg Address…November 19, 1863.

So until tomorrow…Take time to follow memories back down their paths…it is amazing where they may lead us …and why.

Dear Reader:

Each day as I walk through my garden and smile at a new bloom or flower peeking up from the ground…I see God. The seeds of life are under the ground and reveal themselves as God’s Handiwork. I know I am walking on sacred ground…I am filled with God’s enveloping love in display…a gift to me and anyone else who walks the garden.

I have always found William Blake’s poetry hauntingly beautiful…many of his analogies leave me with “wonderosity“…a mixture of wonder and curiosity. (another new word to add to our list!)

I particularly love one line of Blake’s that says: “I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love.”   I just happen to see God among my flowers in my garden…even my wildflowers…or as Blake commented “To see Heaven in a wildflower.”

The miracle of another Confederate Rose bloom and another “Dawn of Hope” camellia getting ready to bloom.

Finding God among all living things reminded me of a story from Bits and Pieces that dated back to 2015….the message is still important today.

“The Messiah is Among You.”

“A monastery fell upon hard times. Where it once was filled with monks and music of God’s praises; it now only housed a handful of old monks shuffling through the cloisters and praying quietly with heavy hearts. 

An old rabbi built a little hut near the monastery where he would go to pray. The monks welcomed him and considered themselves blessed by his presence. 

One day the abbot of the monastery visited the rabbi and poured our his heart to him. The rabbi listened and together they prayed. Then the rabbi spoke:

“You and your brothers are serving God with a heavy heart yet you should be joyous…for The Messiah is among you…he lives with you now.” He then made the abbot promise to tell this only one time to the other monks and never repeat it again.

With great excitement the abbot shared the good news with the other monks….exclaiming, “One of us is the Messiah.”

The monks were startled….what could this mean…Was it Brother John or Thomas…was it me?”

Time passed but this secret had a profound effect on the monastery. The monks began to treat each other with a special reverence. There was a gentle, wholehearted, human quality about them that was immediately noticed. 

Visitors found themselves moved by the life of joy and charity seen within the walls of the monastery. The number of people who came to see the enlightened monks grew stronger year after year. Joyous prayer and song rang out and echoed through its walls. 

No one ever saw the old rabbi again…he never returned but they always felt his presence.

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So until tomorrow…

Wouldn’t our lives change drastically if we heard the Messiah lived in Summerville or anywhere else for that matter? We would be on our best behavior… not knowing if someone we bumped into might actually be the Messiah? Yes, the rabbi had spoken the truth. Christ in God does live among us…in fact so close to us we can hold His hand whenever we wish.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Two weeks ago I bravely grabbed my lawn cutting tools and went to work on the Confederate Rose…toppling down branches that extended well above the garage/potting shed.

I decided to keep the one stem that had bloomed at the last moment a few weeks ago…and two other stems that did have a few healthy large leaves on them…the rest of this massive tree-size bush was gone. (prayers for its return healthier next year)

A few days later to my shock…one of the two remaining 20 foot stems had a white bloom on it with another bud next to it…it bloomed and disappeared but then yesterday…they were both back…one white and one pink. They were alive and still telling their story… the legend of the Confederate soldier and his contribution to this amazing magnificent bush/tree…its name…the Confederate Rose. Hope lives on!

Since yesterday was Monday I got my next StoryWorth question which was: What was one of the hardest things about growing up? How did you get through it?

Let me share a little excerpt that I wrote for StoryWorth yesterday so you can see how I basically answered the question.

I think the hardest period growing up for me….was making the transition from an introvert to an extrovert with a renewed love for learning. The transition took place between fourth and fifth grades…both due to two different teachers with two different personalities and outlooks on life.

My fourth grade teacher killed what little self-esteem I still had…especially since I had big “bucky beaver” teeth that prevented me from smiling…just lip grinching throughout the year. Because my baby teeth took forever to fall out…(back then one couldn’t get braces until they did)…the late elementary grades were particularly trying.

Mrs. Persons, my fourth grade teacher, was a large overbearing woman, (we students all thought she had another person inside of her…thus the (s) to her name…probably some unfortunate student she ate)  who had no business being in the classroom…since it was obvious to all of us victim students she hated being there and treated us like pesky mosquitoes one just kept swatting.

She even tried to take my love of history and geography away by telling me one day that there were no lands left to explore or frontiers to discover. How awful was that? What a terrible teacher she was…when I think of her narrow-mindedness definition and  approach to learning …I still shudder in dread of how many other students’ love for learning was killed that year and sadly many more after that year.

Today I know I am an explorer living in the frontier (unknown) of cancer…recognizing each year new possibilities of surviving obstacles discovered and conquered by those who have gone before me. I owe my life to them.

The pandemic, viruses, the common cold, coronavirus, space, environmental issues…. are all new frontiers being confronted explored, and even conquered by the newest explorers today in science, medicine, space, and environmental geographers for change.

Fortunately, for me,  hope was kept alive…fifth grade arrived, I still had ‘bucky beaver’ teeth but now, by a God Wink, I also had Mrs. Williams…who would be Professor Higgins to my Eliza Dolittle.

She would help me discover new frontiers of confidence, leadership, humor, risk-taking, and acceptance of my physical stage in life…as my personal metamorphosis began occurring simultaneously.

(Still “Bucky Beaver”…but look…by fifth grade I had accepted my teeth and smiled big for the camera…Mrs. Williams had done a good job  teaching me that the important things about a person are inside…not out.)

I would leave fifth grade confident, out-going, accepted by my peers, and recognized as a leader in creativity. The path to my teaching career had been shown to me…I would be a teacher and a writer …a creator of ideas.

By high school graduation…the braces had come and gone…my first photo without braces…little “Bucky Beaver Becky” had turned outside into what was always inside her….a happy soul just waiting to embrace adventure. And that I did.

Having barely survived the valley of depression and self-loathing in fourth grade… to a leadership role in the fifth grade lead me to recognize and appreciate which role models I wanted to emulate and which styles of teaching I wanted to eliminate.

Even though I felt like a loser in the fourth grade…I learned an important lesson by the following year…“One never really loses…either we win…or we learn.” These are the role models we want our own children to emulate…integrity and honesty.

So until tomorrow….

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

The coronavirus has certainly changed many of our daily habits…thus changing our personal time-tables too. Prioritizing time is still important in life…but finding a way to keep family a top priority and close … without risking anyone’s health keeps getting harder instead of easier… as we all had hoped by now.

Thanksgiving this year is appearing in all kinds of forms….family “bubbles” who have continued contacts on special occasions while building up in-house immunities, outside gatherings, technology visits via face time and zoom and small shared gatherings of three or four or less.

At some point in this on-going pandemic…everyone has to make decisions based on their personal choices and others around them. For the first time I am accompanying my son Tommy and his wife Kaitlyn to the mountains where I hope to experience “forest bathing“…immersing oneself in the woods for serenity, quiet conversations with God, inner peace, and just new sights of gorgeous fall weather and beauty to restore my tired eyes from the same-old, same-old.

No matter how we end up celebrating our nation’s day of thanks…surrounded by loved ones physically or virtually, long walks in the woods, long conversations via phone or computer, covid imaginary hugs and fly-away kisses…let us remember, in spite of everything we live in a country where its people are known for being among the most generous people in the world in giving to others in need.

And not just in money…since we are a wealthy nation…but in more important ways.

“Give blood. All you’ll feel is good.”

As this slogan from an American Red Cross campaign illustrates, giving is good for both the recipient and the donor.

Psychologists have conducted experiments to determine if this Red Cross claim is true — and it turns out that this is one slogan that passes the truth-in-advertising test.

People reported experiencing increased moods before and after they donated blood.

Eloise is “one” of those cupcake girls…just eats the icing..and plop goes the cake..and icing off her ‘chinnie chin chin’! 🙂

A Big Shout-Out to our Ya friend…Jackson…HAPPY BIRTHDAY! NOVEMBER 16!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jackson and I talked yesterday and we agreed, after all she has been though lately… with some extremely unstable health issues of late (understatement of the year)… this birthday will be one of gratitude for difficult obstacles overcome, new adventures to experience… a birthday that will stand out in the test of time through memories of what was and  knowledge that the best is yet to be.

We love you Jackson and remember nobody but nobody separates the Ya Ya’s…hurry up and get back with us…we have some front porch talking to do at Pawleys and/or Edisto!

*(Just realized…No one sent me the memo to wear black pants.) 🙂

Dear Reader:

Isn’t it always a shock when we read something that really impresses us…only to discover that we have read that exact book passage, phrase, or message before? Time diminished the memory but not the effect on our psyche…our being.

This is true of Oz Mandino’s novel…“The Greatest Salesman in the World” …first published in 1968 and then again in the 80’s. I was in college when it first came out and this book was seen all over campus… especially among the professors. I had forgotten how powerfully it affected me as a nineteen-year-old that year.

I vaguely remember it had something to do with 10 ancient scrolls that contained one lesson to remember each day of our lives…starting with the first scroll…that read:

“Today I will begin a new life…and greet each day with love in my heart.”

Every day that we wake up breathing…the world of possibilities greet us…are we making the most of this miracle?

Don’t we all wish we could greet each day as a possibility at a new life or, at least, a change in it?

Remember how we looked so forward to each new day as a child on Christmas morning..that same love in our hearts…filled with anticipation amid all the excitement of a traditional Christmas celebration with loved ones?

I have made a note to myself to keep working on a positive approach to each new day  I am grateful..keeping hope alive and my heart filled with a bigger appreciation for life.

The one “scroll” that really appealed to me yesterday (while browsing through the list) was

*4. “I am nature’s greatest miracle.“

Since the beginning of time never has there been another with my mind, my heart, my eyes, my ears, my hands, my hair, my mouth. None that came before, none that live today, and none that come tomorrow can walk and talk and move and think exactly like me. All men are my brothers yet I am different from each. I am a unique creature.

I am nature’s greatest miracle.

I am not on this earth by chance. I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply all my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.

I am nature’s greatest miracle.

I have been given eyes to see and a mind to think and now I know a great secret of life for I perceive, at last, that all my problems, discouragements, and heartaches are, in truth, great opportunities in disguise. I will no longer be fooled by the garments they wear for mine eyes are open. I will look beyond the cloth and I will not be deceived.

I am nature’s greatest miracle.

No beast, no plant, no wind, no rain, no rock, no lake had the same beginning as I, for I was conceived in love and brought forth with a purpose. In the past I have not considered this fact but it will henceforth shape and guide my life.

Don’t we remember the adults, in our lives growing up, who always made us feel loved, secure, and special? Even when we were going through all those awkward stages of braces, too chubby, too skinny, pimples, etc.?

Through their loving eyes…our whole physical beings were mirrored into the person we would soon be…confident, strong, courageous, compassionate and adventuresome. Isn’t that how our loving God sees us…no matter what stage of life or age we are at?

So until tomorrow…We are children of God and as such always beautiful in our Creator’s eyes…so let’s make the most of each day of life… it is an unique gift from the One Who watches and waits to see how we follow our given passage.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

This time of year…the purples and blue hues take over the garden in the form of pansies, morning glories….the garden is starting to get ready for a long sleep and the beautiful darkening evening sky colors seem to anticipate this….the morning glories are climbing trees and popping out under decks, porches, and fences. I do believe they are in exploration moods.

Dear Reader:

Margot Theis Raven’s last book she wrote before passing away (from complications of breast cancer in 2014)…was interestingly enough about a little dog. It is a true story about a dog named Rags and the lives he changed and saved in France during WWI.

I have to confess…I don’t emotionally handle dog movies or even pet stories well…especially since watching Old Yeller... I got scarred for life. I love pets, especially dogs and especially all my grand-dogs…but sad movies about them, especially the true stories, is more than my emotional constitution can handle.

Let’s just say “Rags” is a beautiful book and very uplifting with humor included too…still, however, quite emotional. As strange as it sounds…I can handle human tragedy, sometimes easier, on screen or in books, than I can our pets’ tragedies.

It has something to do…with eye contact and unconditional love. The love between an owner and pet most closely resembles that special parent-child relationship among humans. It is unique and all-consuming with each child and /or pet. Pure love…we would do anything for that child or that beloved pet.

I am not going to be a “spoiler alert” to Raven’s last book and tribute to the importance of animals to humans…teaching us what loyalty and love should embrace…but I would like to share some funny antics about Rags…

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In addition to his message-carrying skills in France during World War I, Rags had a number of other unique behaviors.

When Rags was first in the front lines and came under shellfire, he simply imitated the men around him who would drop to the ground and hug it tightly. Before long, the soldiers observed Rags hugging the ground with his paws spread out before anyone heard the sound of an incoming round.

The men soon realized that Rags’ acute and sensitive hearing was telling him when the shells were coming well before they could hear them.The doughboys learned to keep their eyes on Rags, and he became an early-warning system for artillery shell fire.

During a rest period behind the lines, James Donovan taught Rags a method of dog saluting that Rags would use for the rest of his military life. Instead of extending his paw out to shake hands, as most dogs were taught, Rags would raise his paw a bit higher and close to his head.

For many years afterward, Rags would appear at the flag pole at various military bases for the retreat ceremony. As the flag was lowered and the bugle played, Rags could be seen saluting with the assembled troops. He was observed doing this at Forts Sheridan and Hamilton. 

Another lifelong activity was Rags’ daily tour of whatever army base at which he was living. Early on, he would identify the mess halls with the best food and most hospitable staff. He would visit them each day for treats, and most had a special water bowl placed out for him. Smart dog! 🙂

In all Margot’s books, rather set against World Wars, Dust Bowls, or Civil Rights Movements, she wanted young readers to believe that even in the worst of times…love and devotion can bring out the best in people.

I think this is true today. Children learn more from watching adults’ actions than anything written in a book. Wisely, most children can tell, intuitively, right from wrong, good conduct from bad, courageous people with high moral standards and character… and those without…

I read once that children “take” to adults who get down on their level and stare them straight in the eyes…a sure sign of a person with  character…a caring adult.

Let us hope our children today will remember the actions around them, from family units upward, and identify those who taught them the courage and integrity needed to face their own crises one day.

So until tomorrow…Feeling lonely and uncertain during these isolating times?…Think about adopting a pet and watch unconditional love consume your life and keep hope alive.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Rags lived to be 20 years old…though he lost an eye and was deaf from the explosives in WWI. Everyone fell in love with this saluting dog from each city and state he called home.

Upon his death…Rags was given military honors at his funeral and his grave marker still stands in Silver Springs, Maryland. Head US Commander, General John Pershing, gave tribute to him.

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In the title photos…Pip (or Mr. May) and Atticus sometimes accompany mom and dad (Kaitlyn and Tommy) to work…. but even here with them close by…there is a lot of waiting time for attention…and let’s face it…law can be pretty boring…easier just to sleep. 🙂