Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

I read an article from Guideposts recently that I found interesting. It talked about the different friendships mentioned in the Bible and their overall importance to the persons involved in the friendship. It seems to indicate that close friendships truly are a gift from God to help us navigate our time here on earth more richly.

Some pairings and groupings were quite interesting and even unpredictable… such as the relationship between Jonathan and David.

One of the most famous friendships of the Bible almost didn’t happen. David and Jonathan were supposed to be enemies. Jonathan was the son of King Saul, the very monarch David was appointed by God to replace. King Saul wanted to kill David. But Jonathan befriended him and risked his own life to warn David of his father’s plans. 1 Samuel 18 says that Jonathan loved David “as his own soul.” When Jonathan was slain in battle, David even composed “The Song of the Bow” and instructed all the children of Israel to learn it.

Moses and Aaron weren’t just brothers. They worked together too. Although Moses was leader of the Israelites, he was terrified of public speaking. So Aaron became his mouthpiece. And, when Moses was tired from battle, Aaron and another man held up his arms. Talk about a solid support team!

Naomi and Ruth: When Naomi’s husband and two sons died, she thought God had forsaken her. She decided to return to Bethlehem alone. But Ruth, her daughter-in-law, refused to leave her side, saying, “wherever you go, I will go.” The two became inseparable and looked out for one another. Naomi guided Ruth into a relationship with Boaz. And Ruth cared for Naomi in old age.

As I continued reading about more examples of famous friendships in scripture…I was taken by surprise when Jesus’ name appeared…instead of listing the twelve apostles as His friendship group….the friendship unity consisted of Jesus, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus instead.

Jesus and Martha (and Mary and Lazarus)

Martha often gets a bad rap, but she’s one of only three people—along with her siblings Mary and Lazarus—called out in the Gospel of John as Jesus’s friends. In fact, John 11:5 says, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” They were so close that when Lazarus died, Martha and Mary sent a personal message to Jesus to let him know. When Jesus came to see what had happened, it was Martha who ran out to meet him and implored him to heal her brother.

I decided to do some more research on the deep friendship between Jesus and the three siblings…Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. One source indicated that when Jesus attended his first Passover in Jerusalem (around the age of twelve) he and his parents were welcomed into the hospitable house of Simon at Bethany as religious pilgrims and it is there where Jesus first met Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus…all about His same age.

Once Jesus started His ministry it appears that He never returned home again which you would assume He would do occasionally to get a hot meal from mom and a good night’s sleep. Instead whenever Jesus was exhausted and sought refuge it was always in the home of Martha (Being the oldest she had inherited the home.)

Bible Faithway mentions this idea in one narrative that suggests “… the home belonged to Martha and being older than Mary and Lazarus, she carried the responsibility of all connected with household affairs in a home where “Jesus found the curse of the sojourner lifted from Him, and, in reversal of His own description of His loneliness and penury, found where to lay His head.”

“What strikes us forcibly is that after Jesus left His natural home at the age of thirty to enter upon His public ministry we do not read of Him returning to it for rest and relaxation. It was to the warm, hospitable home at Bethany to which He retired, for He loved the three who lived in it, Martha, Mary and Lazarus—in this order—which is something we do not read concerning His own brothers and sisters.”

The significance of all of this strikes home…we  need friends in our lives. Somehow…just knowing Jesus had close friends to turn to when he was down and exhausted from His spiritual burdens is comforting to those of us who continue to love Him. He had somewhere to go for a good meal, laughter, shared values, and a good night’s rest. (Martha even made room for Jesus’s other friends…the twelve apostles…now that really is hospitality!)

Frank Viola, in his book God’s Favorite Place on Earth chooses Bethany over Jerusalem…the place Jesus loved that would ultimately forsake him. The synopsis cites: When He came to earth, Jesus Christ was rejected in every quarter in which He stepped. The Creator was rejected by His own creation. “He came to His own and His own received Him not,” said John. For this reason, Jesus Christ had “no where to lay His head.” There was one exception, however. A little village just outside of Jerusalem named Bethany. Bethany was the only place on earth where Jesus was completely received.

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*It was an example of the unconditional love of friendship Jesus so desperately needed while on earth.

As parents aren’t we always commenting that our wish for our children is simply that they should be “happy?” I think we should change that universal hope to wishing our children close friendships in their lives…because that, in turn, does bring happiness.

*God Wink: It was after I had written the blog yesterday morning that I started cleaning up my bedroom and getting things put away for the Easter crowd coming. As I was putting notecards in a box to save…the title picture/card popped up. As soon as I looked at it…I knew it had to be from Jackson. Unanimously among the Ya’s she is voted the best card giver…they are always warm and happy. The cards also contain a wonderful message. (as you can see on the title photo)

But it wasn’t until I read Jackson’s message within…that I knew I was supposed to find this card just when I did. The message read:

“My dearest Boo….Fifty years of laughter, tears, sadness, and joy – our journey through life together has not only made us stronger but proves that true friends are a gift from God.”

My hands were shaking when I realized the card and the title message for the blog went hand in hand. Thank you Jackson for your friendship and let’s all keep Jackson in our prayers as she begins to recover from her second knee replacement procedure.

So until tomorrow…As we go through Holy Week…let us all thank God for friendship…how lonely and sad our lives would be without it. To all of you, my friends, have a blessed Holy Week…you make me a better person for simply being in my life.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

My delight of the day (yesterday) was the sight of these two azalea bushes… they had intertwined and produced a two-toned beautiful sight beyond compare.

Dear Reader:

Every time one of the grandchildren walks through the garden I snip a tiny piece of a rosemary stem off for them to carry…so the “wonder”ful aroma stays with them throughout the garden. (It is as if they forget each time and marvel over the smell again and again!)

I do this because I want them to know that gardens contains all five senses within it….the sight of it…the sound of the water from the fountain and the chimes tinkling in the breeze, the smell of the rosemary, the touch of the different textures of trees, bushes, and plants, and the taste of calm and serenity that the garden brings…quite palatable to our entire body of senses.

To have five senses (given each of us) is a thing of wonder and awe… a wonderful thing…but have we all forgotten that modern language has taken the “wonder” out of “wonderful?”

Merriam-Webster has an interesting perspective on the ‘watering down’ of the word “wonderful” in the following passage: “How Wonderful Lost its Sense of Wonder.”

Dear Reader:

Isn’t it funny how we relate certain objects to certain people because we know the items are a favorite of theirs?

For example….with Honey…it is pigs and dragonflies. She once had two potbelly pigs…she loved as pets…and when Harley died she actually dreamed she saw him running through the fields…stopping to turn around and look at her as if to reassure her that he was happy. A dragonfly followed Honey home after getting her first kiln and hearing the story from the seller…. a husband who had recently lost his wife. He told Honey that his deceased wife loved dragonflies. They would light on her while she was making pottery.

Another friend of mine…Rene Harris loves elephants and every time I hear her name a vision of a happy, smiling elephant pops up. It goes on and on. Sometimes the items are temporarily symbolic like in the case of mother’s death when the bee (symbol of resurrection) landed on my head under the funeral tent and remained until the service was over. A nod to me from mom that she was just fine

I know I got several “bee” items in the form of jewelry…pins and bracelets, penchants from many of you and I have given friends tokens of their favorite life symbols too for birthdays and holidays.

When I came across this story on hedgehogs…I immediately thought of Carol Poole…my Social Studies co-hort from the Berkeley County school district. We traveled many years together doing workshops and when I would go to her house or office it was filled with hedgehog trinkets friends had given her.

So Carol…this story is for you…a hedgehog story to remember…

The Hedgehogs

It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold.

The hedgehogs, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm. This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions.

After awhile, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth.

Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person’s good qualities.

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I love this little anecdote because of the core truth running through it. No relationship is perfect and taking chances on relationships can be hurtful sometimes…but we soon learn that the warmth from a relationship can outdistance small hurts if the shared glow warms both participants.

So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day’

Winnie the Pooh

I was shaking my head at the bamboo growing over the fence again from my rental neighbor’s house…but suddenly I stopped because wisps of wisteria were growing off the vine too. It was so pretty.  Like all of life…the pretty and not-so-pretty live in harmony…I reckon there’s another life’s lesson there too.

*Susan Swicegood, this is the best year ever for the rose plant you gave me a few Easters back…the Amanda roses are gorgeous and the bush is filling up with new growth to bloom! Hope you all have a wonderful Easter with the kids and dogs!

Dear Reader:

While throwing out a bag of old notebooks filled with curriculum coursework requirements from my educational graduate courses …a worksheet fell out of one notebook…and there was a white sheet with a black dot in the center.

How could I have forgotten that lesson? I was trying to remember the name of the course and failed, but I do remember it was the first activity we did in the class. From that first lesson on…I was captivated by the number of life lessons I took away from the course. Isn’t that the real merit of true education? The subject doesn’t matter or the designated content within a particular subject…it is the life lessons we take from it.

When I googled it…several variations of the story appeared and here is one that explains the rationale behind the assignment.

“The Black Dot”

One day, a professor entered his classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously at their desks for the exam to begin.The professor handed out the exams with the text facing down, as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked the students to turn over the papers.To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions–just a black dot in the center of the paper. The professor, seeing the expression on everyone’s faces, told them the following: “I want you to write about what you see there.”

The students, confused, got started on the inexplicable task.At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams, and started reading each one of them out loud in front of all the students. All of them, with no exception, defined the black dot, trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet. After all had been read, the classroom silent, the professor started to explain:“I’m not going to grade you on this, I just wanted to give you something to think about.

No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot – and the same thing happens in our lives. Intuitively we insist on focusing only on the black dot – the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated relationship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend. The dark spots are very small when compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds. Take your the eyes away from the black dots in your lives. Enjoy each one of your blessings, each moment that life gives you. There is more light in the world than darkness…so focus on the light.

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What a great lesson! I kept my sheet and put it in my Save notebook to remember on the dark days that the black circle of trouble is diminutive in contrast to the light.

And speaking of life lessons…I learned something new yesterday in church that I had forgotten. During the children’s sermon, our minister, Jeff Kackley, asked the little ones if they knew why Jesus chose a donkey to ride on into Jerusalem …instead of another animal.  I could barely catch a few cute responses…like “because he had a saddle ready” or “he held on to his big ears.”  Jeff smiled and shook his head and then gave them the answer.

A donkey has a natural cross on his back. It runs the long line of the back followed by a diagonal line across his shoulders…thus forming the image of a cross. All donkeys carry this trait…but the cross is seen clearer on some donkeys relative to their natural hair color.

This characteristic has lead to different legends that grew out of the ride to Jerusalem.

From this came a legend of the donkey’s cross. The little donkey that had been Jesus’ mount on Palm Sunday, came to the hill of Calvary. Seeing the tragic event occurring there he wished with all his heart he had been able to carry the cross for Jesus as he was the proper one to carry heavy burdens. The donkey turned his back on the sight, but he could not leave because he wished to stay until all was over because of his love for Jesus.

In reward for the loyal and humble love of the little donkey the Lord caused the shadow of the cross to fall across his back and left it there for the donkey to carry forevermore as a sign that the love of God, no matter how humble carries a reward for all to see. It’s also told that the leg stripes were received from walking through the palm branches that were laid in it’s path in honor of the burden the donkey was carrying.

*One of the most fascinating facts I’ve found is that during the Middle Ages, Europeans used hairs from the cross on a donkey as folk remedies to cure illness. Around 1400 AD, one physician listed riding backwards on a donkey as a cure for scorpion stings.

*(Immediately the topic of donkeys took me back to the memory of the strange God Wink last week with the woman in the pick-up truck with the stuffed “Donkey” from the movie, Shrek, looking out the back window of the cab.

When I took the picture…just thinking it was something cute to put in the blog…another picture emerged when I went to enlarge it. The reflection of a street sign in the shape of a cross appeared and the donkey seems to be staring at it intently. (*It goes along with the legend story of the donkey)

So until tomorrow…During this holiest of weeks in the Christian Church, may we too remember to ‘carry’ the cross…in our hearts.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Poo

*So proud of you Honey for being one of the 400 strong marching for “Our Lives” this past Saturday in Hendersonville, NC! This movement is so powerful because it is our youth who have spoken up and said “Enough.” Books instead of Bullets!

I love what one author of several books on terrorism in the schools said on the CBS Sunday Morning Show…that these high school youth have done the miraculous… taken the perpetrator off the national media/spotlight and replaced him with the victims and the cry for change instead. About time…well done.

Yesterday there was a line in one of our hymns we sang that spoke of this cry for peace coming from the young…and why we should not be surprised that it is our youth who are taking this important step towards peace in the March for Our Lives. After all, wasn’t it a child who turned our world upside down with love and still continues to do so?

“O Day of Peace”

“Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, not shall the fierce devour the small; as beasts and cattle calmly graze, a little child shall lead them all. Then enemies shall learn to love, all creatures find their true accord; the hope of peace shall be fulfilled, for all the earth shall know the Lord.” 

Dear Reader:

I just happened to catch one segment of GMA before leaving for Mt. Pleasant to keep Eloise Friday. Hilary Swank, the twice Oscar-winning actor, was talking to Robin about her three-year hiatus from acting. The years had been spent with her father during a grueling lung cancer diagnosis, treatments, and subsequent lung transplant. He survived and is doing well enough now for her to return to acting.

During the dialogue she was asked about her daily mantra she had mentioned earlier… which is “Make a choice, Make it happen.” As I was driving across the Don Holt bridge on the way to Mt. P …that mantra kept returning in my head. It is a good one.

Every single day we make lots of choices…some consciously, some not but still we make them and it is those choices that end up making or breaking our lives. It is up to us to ‘make it happen’ and for me, that is listening to God’s directives when I get lost.

One of the major obstacles that keeps popping up along my personal path is fear…fear of letting others down, fear of ridicule, fear of failure, fear of the unknown…you name it…there is a fear for it. I love Nelson Mandela’s quote: ‘May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.’

In one of the devotionals I glanced at Thursday…the discussion was centered around fear and I loved the metaphor the author gave.

“Dealing with Fear”

John Baker

…The tricky thing is that we can’t trust fear.

Think about how fear is like the darkness. When we go into a dark room, we can’t see a thing. Even though we might know the room well, once the lights are out, everything seems different. We imagine that things are jumping out to trip us as we shuffle around trying not to run into something and hurt ourselves. In reality, nothing has changed except our perception. The furniture is right where it was; the doors haven’t moved. It’s the same room it was with the light on. It’s just that the darkness distorts things.

Fear does the same thing. It distorts our perceptions, making us lose our sense of reality and focus on “what-ifs.” Most of the things we fear aren’t real at all; just figments of our imagination. When the truth comes in, it illuminates our minds, just like turning on the light in a dark room. Truth comes from God’s Word…His light!

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Like most people, I have come to realize that I have wasted a lot of time spent fearing the worst and most of the time it never happens. But if you are like me…(I have always heard the term “Scottish worrier” – so maybe I can blame some of it on my genes) I play this mental game with myself…it is like if I put myself through this worrying zone ahead of time…then it will work out. But if I don’t get worried ahead of time I will get derailed by some terrible “trouble monster” I never saw coming.

If others are like me with this irrational thinking…it must be the superstitions stemming  from our ancient past that keeps popping up in our genes in this supposedly “civilized” society.

Though I am better since “Squeeze” came into my life…May 29, 2008. The night before my first breast cancer surgery…I found God and especially His Hand, squeezed it and have never stopped to date.

So until tomorrow…Feeling fearful, can’t sleep? Turn on the light and grabbed God’s Hand…He won’t let go.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Saturday was an Eva Cate, Easter Egg helper extraordinaire, Day! Eva Cate came to help me put up signs around the garden giving directions for the hunt, washed and cleaned up the fairies and reconstructed the wheel barrow fairyland.

It was also the day to plant the magical Easter Rabbit lollipop seeds. Children must do kind deeds for those in need during Holy Week…being kind and helping other children, neighbors, friends, and family. If I get a good report from their parents…then they get to check and see if the Easter Rabbit made a lollipop grow where the magical seeds were planted. Eva Cate did the honors this year…planting seeds for everyone except Eloise. I don’t think she can quite handle a lollipop yet.

We went to Groucho’s to eat and it was delicious! First time I have been in the new one that opened in Summerville. I liked it.  I haven’t been to one since Mandy and John lived in West Ashley. What I was surprised to see was ‘The Chicken Man’s’ (Ernest Lee’s) paintings on the wall.

The biggest surprise following lunch was that Eva Cate decided she didn’t want to shop but she wanted to go back to my house and play in the Bradford Pear. When I told her how I read in a crabapple tree in North Carolina growing up…she wanted to take a book with her too.

I took her back home to Mt. Pleasant in time for their neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. It was still a little chilly but the sun was out and it was a well-organized event. Jakie surprised me with his serious intensity on finding those eggs…and once found…it was all I could do to promise to guard the basket with my life while he played in the jump castle. That boy is a intense egg hunter!

Dividing the loot!

My how time is flying so quickly! I asked Eva Cate to hold my old doll Polly while I took a picture and then I showed her the first time she met Polly. It seems like a mere blink of time.

Some weeks I have to think twice (if I am on the interstate) which way am I am heading… south to Mt. Pleasant or north back to Summerville…a “Half n’Half” life which is fine as long as the ‘Green Vue’ doesn’t rebel. Now this gal is signing off…sweet dreams to everyone.

Dear Reader:

I received one of those very special email messages yesterday that truly touched me and brought reassurance that the path I am on is the path I was made to travel. Sometimes I seriously question my path…is it enough, is it too bumpy or too smooth, is it going in the right direction?…It is then a tiny shaft of light (from a church friend/ a blog reader) shines down upon me by the words of another to keep me walking the line. Thank you Michele Robertson!

It always amazes me when someone sees something in us we don’t  see or even acknowledge to ourselves. So when we are told that our stories are affecting others lives positively…it makes the soul soar. What is the Mother Theresa saying…“If you can’t feed a hundred people, just feed one.”

Once I committed to writing one blog a day back in 2010…I made a secret pact with myself…I would keep writing until the day I had no viewers…if I even had one…then I would write for that one person out there in cyberspace. (The person perhaps who needed to hear the story I wrote on just that one particular day. And then that would be enough.) * I believe my thoughts echoed this poem below.

Not In Vain – Emily Dickinson

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain:
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

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How many times have I given God credit for all the growing plants in my garden and yard…yet never really fathomed the depth of that statement. Man can plant the seed,  water, add dirt and fertilizer, pray for sun….but after that…only God can make it grow. The miracle of life.

I watch its miracle every time I see the grandchildren…and even after only days apart, I marvel at just how much they have grown. It is the most magical “God” act of all.

And for me the most magical thing of all is the spiritual growth that evolved out of a bad scenario (a treatable but not curable breast cancer diagnosis) with an unexpected gift of time allowed to delve deeper daily into this ever expanding frontier of God’s. (And Michele, this is my hope and prayer for your young co-worker!!!)

Yesterday I got to watch another miracle…Eloise. And is she ever growing…it is hard to keep her filled up…my new name for her is Peppa Piggie. She loves to stretch on the changing table so I always let her stay and play…while just watching her discover a little more of the world around her. This time it was the carved crabs and surfboard beside her…she was feeling texture and was so curious. The wonder and awe of life in small moments.

Yesterday our “Ya” Jackson ‘went under the knife’ again…because she “knee’ed” to! Sorry Jackson for the pun…just couldn’t resist. Actually Jackson had her second knee replacement surgery. She emailed to let us know it was over and that they had already started her on physical therapy. (That is one thing these days about modern medicine…no rest for the weary…physical therapy starts when they wheel you out of the operating room. *Next time pretend to be asleep longer!)

Seriously…so proud of you Jackson…you take everything in stride…just do it and move on…and that is what we hope and pray for you…that soon you will be, not only “moving on” but moving fast…with your two new “superhero” knees….ready to spring into action in a moment’s notice. So glad it is over and now you can talk about both procedures in the past and it will become a distant memory. Love you girl! Welcome back home today!

I thought this photo was too cute! It looks like “Big Red” the geranium has a halo…and in fact I think it does! Go Big Red!

Dear Reader:

I have come to realize (when I am proof-reading the blog before I put it to bed) that I use too many “but’s” in my sentences. By simply substituting another word like “and”  or “even though” I can control the overall positive thought of the sentence from ending negatively.

For example (in reference to the title photo): “My bright new colored letters make H O P E pop out at me each time I step on the deck, but I am sure by next year they will be just as faded as they were this year.” 

By changing a couple of words I have stated the same  thought while taking the negativity in the sentence ‘down a notch.”

“My bright new colored letters make HOPE pop out at me each time I step on the deck, even though by next year they might be just as faded as they were this year.”

“But” can be a real  “party pooper” if used too frequently.

Actually I am more guilty of using “but” as an unconscious put-down or slight…without even being fully aware of doing so…such as:

“The doctor seemed very young, but I hope he can hold his own with his patients. (I am indicating that I think simply being “young” is a deterrent to one’s medical expertise.)

“The phone representative sounded Polish, but I think he understood the problem. ” (Really, Becky…Do you think simply being Polish prevents him from explaining to you how to get your favorite television program back on again?)

As a child, adolescent, and now adult…don’t we all pause and hold our breath while asking for something important to us?…We are nervously waiting for the “but” to appear in the conversation. It will be the “but” that will end the chances of our wishes coming true.

Example:

“This summer camp you are describing sounds terrific Mike, but with the heating/air conditioning unit pronounced un-fixable, that is where the extra money in the budget must go this summer. ”

*When I use “but” from now on…I want it to be an upbeat “but.”

“I don’t know how we can send you to camp, Mike, with the air-conditioning unit broken, but somehow, some way we are going to put our heads together and give it our best shot ..deal?”

“Franklin Roosevelt was never able to walk again after contracting polio, but this didn’t stop him from becoming our thirty-second President.”

Suddenly “but” is no longer seen as a negative deterrent but a word of determination and hope.

Kelly Rae Roberts, in her latest blog, remarked how she is substituting positive, upbeat words, also, so she can self-empower her personal wellness program and not unconsciously sabotage it with negativity aimed at herself.

Here are some examples she gives in her message: “Our Words Matter” The negative words she chooses to dispel are: bad, cheat, wrong, busy…even “I need to”…

If a person is on a diet and says “I cheated today on my diet…they are conveying that they have done something wrong. The person might continue by blaming the situation on “I’m so busy.” (making busy the enemy) Instead a person can say “My life is gloriously full.” ( busy=negative hustle energy, full= abundance.)

‘I’m having a bad week” becomes “I’m having a hard week…and I can do hard.” (bad=shame;  hard= an opportunity to be brave)

“This is my cheat meal” becomes “This is my reward meal.” (reward- celebration of something hard earned)

“I need to lose twenty pounds.” Instead: “I invite good healthy eating habits into my life so I can feel comfortable again in my body.”

Invite:= being present now and having hope for what we can change about our wellness journey.

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You get the idea…we can do a number on ourselves when we fling negative, put-down words and expressions back at us. Instead we need to replace the negative with the positive, stay focused, and continue our path remembering God loves us unconditionally and  He wants us to take the steps to love ourselves enough to pursue the goals and dreams we were put here for.. .

So until tomorrow:

“A word is dead when it is said some say. I say it just begins to live that day” (So let’s keep these “live” words positive!)

Emily Dickinson

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I was on the back deck, yesterday morning, taking off the faded HOPE letters and putting on the bright colored ones…when Honey rounded the corner of the house carrying this gorgeous potted Asiatic Red Lily with pink rabbit glasses. Can we get any more Easter than this? Thank you my dear friend, Honey! Safe travels back today…hope no snow awaits you back in the mountains.

Dear Reader:

When I saw this little wooden plaque in Simple to Sublime Tuesday I just had to laugh out loud to myself. How true…how true! And I can already give you my answer…“Never!” (Might make a good grave stone inscription)

Since there has only been one “perfect” man to walk this earth and He has the title pretty well sewed up…I know enough to know…we all fall short of perfection…and for good reason. We are to here to learn from our mistakes… becoming better people for it.

I liked this thought from Kate Wolfe-Jensen …who said:

“While it’s lovely to spend time in positive territory, life includes darker times too. Integrating our experiences helps us move forward with compassion.

When you find yourself regretful, take a deep breath and imagine making tender space around that emotion. Picture yourself receiving a hug from a loved one. Say to yourself, “you did the best you could. You would not be who you are had you not had all your experiences. Who you are is beautiful.”

Psychologist Kristin Neff suggests: “celebrate yourself as part of the human family…full of mystery, imperfections and apparent contradictions.”  

Let’s take a minute and remember people in our lives who were there for us while we were growing up….parents, relatives, and friends who reassured us when we messed up that it was okay to make a mistake if we admitted it, apologized for it when needed, and then tucked away the experience as a lesson learned.

Then didn’t we do the same thing with our children and now grandchildren when they make mistakes? We are the first to hurry to a friend in need. We help them talk through it, study it, and hopefully, become better people from the experience.

So if we had this done for us…then did and do it for others…why can’t we be nice to ourselves, forgive ourselves, right the wrong the way we know it should be righted, tuck away the lesson for safe-keeping, and then move on with our lives?

Pogo is right…too many times when we look in the mirror…we are looking at our own worst enemy. We are harder on ourselves than anybody else.

Why do we not look down on our friends and children when they mess up or consider them weak…yet we have a hard time living with our mistakes because we do consider ourselves weak!

From all the articles I read it comes down to only one solution ending…and one of the hardest to give ourselves. Forgiveness. When we can finally look back on a certain incident that pains us or fills up with regret and utter a small prayer…we are ready to continue our journey. “Enough…I messed up…I admit it…I am sorry that I did this regrettable act…but I need to put it behind now, learn from it, and continue my journey God with You leading the path.” 

So until tomorrow…Look into the mirror and see love, not hate.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday was a Winnie the Pooh blustery day…and it did have a lot of “Honey” in it…in fact…a perfect day to spend with friends at St. Andrews Tea Room.

It was so great to have Honey Burrell with us…down from the mountains. As usual the food and desserts were fabulous and it was fun just talking and talking. (Debbie Baker, Gin-g Edwards, Honey Burrell and me.)

Being a history teacher…just going to the old St. Andrews Parish (Episcopal) church fills me with a love for the past because St. Andrews has some tales to tell.

Old St. Andrew’s Parish Church is the oldest surviving church building in South Carolina. The church building was built in 1706. It was expanded to its current cruciform plan in 1723.

Monday might after the storm clouds, rain, and winds abated…a gorgeous pinkish light fell over the yard…just as the sun was sinking. It was like the sun was apologizing for the rough weather by leaving a few moments of beauty behind before saying “good-night.”

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was a crazy day, weather-wise…it went from cloudy, to sunny to cloudy again as if teasing us…and finally the thunder boomers, that had been predicted most of the day… rolled in around mid-afternoon. They were loud and the rain was fierce at times but we were lucky here in town and missed the brunt of the storm. I hope all of you readers escaped it too and didn’t have any damage from the winds.

And speaking of hope…after I left my bank yesterday morning I walked over to Short Central to my favorite shop Simple to Sublime to see my friend Samantha Moore. I was in need of H O P E.

I told Samantha that my hope was fading and I needed something new. Samantha’s face paled and her face was etched in distress. It took me a minute to realize that my thoughts were a step ahead of the present moment and it was making my mouth utter jumbled bits and pieces instead of complete ideas.

When it hit me what I had uttered… I immediately started back-pedaling. “On no….it’s not me, myself where hope is fading ….it’s my block cloth letters on the deck that need replacing for the spring and summer. That kind of  H O P E!”

We were both laughing while we searched through the bright colorful cloth letters. Samantha said she needed to re-order and she was ‘hoping’ that she had all four letters needed. I knew she did…I just felt it…one of those meant-to-be moments. And she did with no extra letters to spare…she had no more “E’s ” so HOPE is still alive…and I won’t have to “HOP” instead! (Though it would work for the Easter Bunny!)

Even though it was a kooky incident…Don’t we usually mess up when we get ahead of ourselves or either lag behind a conversation when we start mulling over a past distraction and mentally wander off?

In Bob and Fran Young’s book ( 101 Ways to Be Young At Any Age) they cite that anger and worry can harm one’s health by aging us faster. They are the result of not being in the present moment. Anger is the result of hanging on to something that happened in the past. Worry arises when we are thinking ahead into the future.

We all know this by now…but it still doesn’t make it any easier for us to stay present all the time, does it? I do try and I am a lot better than I used to be…still I slide back more often than I wish.

The authors give three tips on reducing angry and worrisome thoughts that I, personally, am going to lock away in my memory box.

1. Intensify our awareness and try “catching ourselves” when anger and worry wander into our minds
2. Intentionally work on “changing our minds” to be in the present, here and now.
3. Don’t give up…practice will strengthen our conscious be-in-the-moment response

*If we remember that we can only think of one thing at a time…our episodes of anger and worry will decrease by the simple act of changing our thoughts to what is happening now.

Good advice Bob and Fran…It will be my daily homework assignment! 🙂

So until tomorrow…I realize now that when my personal hope has faded on occasion… it is faith that has emerged to carry me through until hope can be found again. (They are an awesome dynamic duo!)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Getting ready for Easter! Or so I thought and then I realized that sometimes Easter can appear in a Bi-Lo parking lot with no fanfare at all…just wonder and awe.

* I did have an experience yesterday that filled me with wonder. I was leaving the Bi-Lo grocery store and heading to the parking lot when a woman in a pick-up truck pulled into a parking space near mine. I did a double-take as I walked by because a large stuffed donkey (the Donkey in Shrek) was hanging out the back window of the pick-up.

I laughed and spoke to the woman getting out of the truck…and said “I like your donkey…he makes me smile.” She told me her grandchildren love the movie Shrek…especially ‘Donkey.’ So she figured if she kept a donkey in the cab of her truck looking out…her grandchildren would always remember her as their donkey-carting, pick-up-truck driving grandmother… and if they remembered it with a smile…that would be enough!

I asked her if I could take a picture and she nodded laughing….it wasn’t until I got home and looked at it…that I felt a shiver run down my back…apparently some kind of street sign was reflected in the window. Is it just me…or does it looks like donkey is in awe of the cross?

Dear Reader:

Welcome Spring! So good to see you again!

” I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses; And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, The Son of God discloses. Refrain: And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own, And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.”

That first line in one of my favorite hymns (In the Garden) sums up beautifully why I love my garden so much…because it is where I find God…it is where I find peace, and it is where I find my path.

Nerburn uses the phrase…“Our heart is known by the path we walk” and I have thought about that phrase a lot … how true it is. I have noticed each day, while working in the garden, how my path through it, is starting to fade somewhat, blend into the rest of the  garden…it is not as distinctive as it once was.

*Then I remembered when my “firemen” cut my yard for the first time this  new year (while I was at Pawleys) I forgot to tell them to outline the path which they started doing last year for me. I think it is important to keep our paths clear and visible for others to follow…to find their way through the garden.

The other day I checked to see what other books Nerburn has written and got caught up in a synopsis about another work of his called Simple Truths. I liked what I read and will share a few of my favorite things  in it in just a minute…but first…a wonder moment. 

It rained most of the morning yesterday…but then around 11:00 it stopped and I joyously ran outside to resume puttering around in my garden. Sometime during this period…the sun shone through briefly and a bud on Amanda’s rose bush caught the light…it still had droplets of water clinging to it. That is when I thought of the famous line from ‘In the Garden’… I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses…

I thought I could capture the “dew on the roses” but instead the rose blended into a white light that turned it almost translucent…just beautiful. I was filled with wonder…wonder at the beauty and wonder at the law of nature that created this illusion of a rose within a rose shining brightly. I learned something new.

“Lifetime Learning…Nerburn Style”…

“One of the sources of Nerburn’s way of looking at things is that he is a lifelong learner who keeps expanding his horizons and cherishing even the trivialities as something worth exploring. Or to put it another way, he is a practitioner of wonder: “Education is one of the great joys and solaces of life. It gives us a framework for understanding the world around us and a way to reach across time and space to touch the thoughts and feelings of others. But education is more than schooling. It is a cast of mind, a willingness to see the world with an endless sense of curiosity and wonder.”

Best of all, “the true measure of your education is not what you know, but how you share what you know with others.” 

I love that definition of lifetime learning…simply sharing what we have learned with others and then let those others do the same thing and so on and so on and so on…result…individualized global learning.

Kent Nerburn worked for several years with the Ojibwe of Northern Minnesota helping collect the memories of the tribal elders. This following observation (he shares from his time spent with this Native American tribe) really touched home yesterday with me.

Native Americans always had plenty of time for solitude and silence. They looked at the natural world and saw the benefits of both : “The mountain is not restless in its aloneness. The hawk tracing circles in the sky is not longing for union with the sun. They exist in the perfect peace of an eternal present, and that is the peace that one only finds in solitude.” Nerburn concludes that this is the best antidote to loneliness.

Guess what? I was pushing my wheelbarrow down my driveway to empty it on the side of the street when I saw, not one, but two beautiful hawks sitting on the fence…Luckily I had my IPhone in my jean pocket and pulled it out. Neither the wheelbarrow or myself pushing it disturbed them in the least…in fact one of the hawks seemed to be posing for the picture.

They are definitely a couple because on the second wheelbarrow push I saw them fly to a big nest high atop one of my pine trees. Must be that time of the year again. Love is in the air!  Congratulations to both of you!

So until tomorrow…I hear some people talk about how they don’t like mysteries (for reading purposes and /or watching on television or movies) and that is perfectly fine…everyone likes different genres…but I do have to smile and think that we are all living in one big mystery here on earth and it won’t be solved until we are no longer here. Or as Nerburn states:

“When all the words have been written and all the phrases have been spoken, the great mystery of life will remain.”

*If you have a minute listen to this duet rendition of In the Garden by Meryl Streep and Garrison Keillor from the movie- The Prairie Home Companion. It was so beautiful in its simplicity…then in the eighties and still now.

Meryl Streep & Garrison Keillor ~ In The Garden~ ( A Love Song …

I had to smile when I lifted this little bench and started getting the pine straw and leaves from under it… then cutting back the two little bushes so they wouldn’t be in the way of the bench because on Easter this is the picture photo bench…no one has outgrown it yet…but it won’t be much longer until it happens…and Boo will be very sad. So smile all my precious grandchildren in this “eternal present!“