Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Rutledge received a fish as a gift from one of his little friends at the birthday party. Even at Rutledge’s age…there are lots of life lessons that can be learned from this little fella or gal.

Mark Nepo, philosopher and poet, talks about the wide diversity of teachers available to all of us throughout our entire life experiences. In fact, some of the most important lessons can be learned from some of the smallest creatures in God’s Creation.

(I always openly admitted that I learned more from my students each year than they ever learned from me. The student curriculum consisted of questions, answers, and observations that I never would have considered…and each year brought new diversity of different perspectives on life lessons for this ole’ history teacher.)

Nepo uses the life style of a fish to teach us how to live our own lives. Here is a short excerpt from this unique observation:

“We all learn (in school early) that fish are air-breathing creatures yet they live in water. We learn that they have this amazing thing called a gill. It’s kind of obvious, we learn it so early… but it is quite miraculous! 

A fish moves through the water and the water moves through the gill. The gill extracts the oxygen (because we know water is hydrogen and oxygen) and discharges the hydrogen. It lets it stream behind it.  They have to have the water go through their gills in order to breathe…to live.

The fish are  amazing teachers. They are examples of the endless search that has no destination. They are not moving through the water because they are going somewhere. They don’t have any agendas or appointments—not that we know of! But they need to keep engaging in their element or they will die.

So the metaphor, the teaching metaphor here, is that for us, the heart is our gill. We, too, need to move through the water of experience every day,  inwardly,  or we will die. We need to somehow, through first-hand experience, learn how to extract what is essential and discharge the rest. Because when we don’t discharge the rest, when we cling and hold onto what is not essential, it starts to clog up the gill of the heart and we can no longer breathe.

Nepo thinks that the chief way to extract what is essential is having the quiet courage to meet whatever comes our way with an open heart…to make our dreams come alive each and every day and not cling to the dreams of what we’d like life to be and act like…thus living in the past or future. Life is happening around us every single moment. We can only breathe stronger and better when we keep moving to the light, to the goals God has provided for us. 

………………………………

My personal metaphor on life consists of changing lanes. If I go to pass another car in the left-hand lane and then return to the right lane…I find myself, nursing a crick in the neck, from checking the rear-view mirrors over and over again before making the decision to pull out or pull back in. I then do these strange contortions trying to turn and look around me. If I had more trust in my mirrors life would go a lot smoother and easier. But change (especially habits) is always hard for us, isn’t it, as well as trust?

When I came across this funny little anecdote on change…I just had to share it. Enjoy!

“What You See Ain’t What You Get”

A middle aged woman had a heart attack and was taken to the hospital. While on the operating table she had a near death experience. Seeing God she asked “Is my time up?” God answered, “No, you have another 40 years, 2 months and 8 days to live.”

Upon recovery, the woman decided to stay in the hospital and have a facelift, liposuction, and a tummy tuck. She even had someone come in and change her hair color. Since she had so much more time to live, she thought she might as well make the most of it.

After her last operation, she was released from the hospital. While crossing the street on her way home, she was hit by a car and died immediately.
Arriving in front of God, she demanded, “I thought you said I had another 40 years, why didn’t you pull me from out of the path of the car?”
God replied, “I didn’t recognize you.”

…………………………

So until tomorrow…Let’s be open to change because God made the world that way…a constantly changing Creation…but we mustn’t change inside (or out) so much that God no longer recognizes us.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

All the new blooms were so happy yesterday when the first substantial amount of rainfall (on this side of town) came to fruition. Hallelujah! I am grinning from ear to ear….happiness is rain on thirsty flowers and a break from watering! (Even Mr. Turtle peeked out from under the leaves to enjoy the rain too!)

Thank you Gin-g for a great catch-up lunch at Toast. Perfect way to spend a rainy day!☔️😁

Dear Reader:

Since being diagnosed with breast cancer I have lived my life in the land of the “not knowing“… found joy in the “In-Between“… and discovered true meaning in the term “In the Meantime.”

As soon as I came across this quote I immediately read and re-read it. In a nutshell it sums up my life since “little c” entered it in 2008.

When you find yourself living in a web of ambiguity where certainties are thrown out the window and question marks appear and re-appear after each series of treatments…living in the moment becomes much easier than imagined.

Even though none of us are promised tomorrow…when good health prevails it is easier to forget short-term goals and instead concentrate on long-range plans and future opportunities…to the point that we become oblivious to unexpected barriers going up to prevent this from happening.

I live in a world of “watch and wait”….to see if new treatments are working or at least slowing down cancer cells. (None of which I have control over…which has helped me turn over the driver’s seat to God and muzzle my back seat driver’s instincts.)

When I found this excerpt from a daily devotional…it really ‘hit home.’

“Give it Back to God’

Have you ever decided to give something over to God, only to take it back a short time later? You make take it back in such little bits and pieces that you don’t even realize what you are doing. But before you know it, God is in the backseat again and you’re the driver.

Why does this happen? Perhaps you feel it is your responsibility to keep everything in your life on track. Or maybe you are overly attached to something or someone, and that clouds your vision. 

It is human nature to want to be in control of our lives and to invest too much in certain people, objects, or situations. But God is ultimately in charge of everything in our lives anyway, so it makes sense to just let Him “drive.” Why hang on to things that take away from our peace and relationship with Him?

…………………….

So these days “In the meantime” (between monthly oncology visits) I look for the real meaning in each of my gifted days of life. My sanctuary, my garden, must be credited for keeping me living in the moment with all my attention on each new plant and bloom appearing daily.

Then my family and friends provide me the continued support to ‘keep on keeping on’ on a daily basis…while you readers provide much appreciated comments and stories of your own to brighten my days. I am a woman blessed beyond measure.

My next monthly oncology visit is tomorrow and even though sometimes I might have to wait a little longer on days that get “back-logged” I have learned the value of waiting.

I don’t mind waiting for my doctors (“Instruments of God’s Hands“) because my presence here today is, in large part, due to their decision-making skills of the past… implemented through God.

Little Jakie, at two, has learned all about waiting. Jakie was born with severe allergies to eggs, milk, and peanuts…to the point that his diet for his first two years has been a trying time for his parents…reading every label and checking every ingredient.

But the patience has paid off….the last allergy tests have shown that his body can now tolerate eggs baked in other ingredients and whole milk…whole. The peanuts will probably be an issue his whole life…but who knows what the future will bring? We will let “Tomorrow take care of itself.”

Doodle had made a chocolate cake for Rutledge while he was attending her annual Father’s Day luncheon…As happy as Rutledge, the birthday boy, was (Doodle makes a memorable yummy chocolate cake!)…little Jakie couldn’t believe that he was finally going to get to eat a piece of cake like his cousins…in fact two pieces!

Waiting for doctor appointments and a piece (s) of chocolate cake is definitely worth waiting for…lesson learned at a young age!

So until tomorrow…Dear God, Teach me to discern when I have taken back control of my life or am giving too much of my time or my emotions to a situation or a person. Show me how to turn these things over to you and then trust you to see them through.

Dear Reader:

Saturday I went to find flowers in my garden to fill the jar sitting on my dining room table. As I was pouring water and then placing the coleus, long leaf sunflowers, yellow mandevilla blooms and multi-colored zinnias into the jar…a sense of euphoria swept over me. I don’t have to go to the store now to buy flowers…they are just outside my door.

I planted seeds and bulbs last fall and early spring… and now look at what I had….a jar full of all the colors of the rainbow. As I stared closely at each intricate detail created in each bloom…I wondered again, for about the umpteenth time…how can anyone not believe in a Higher Power when you witness a miracle in each detail of creation.

For five years now I have studied this cycle of life…through the eyes of my garden’s occupants…some plants and flowers are weathered “veterans”(perennials/and the ‘you can count on me to come back each year-lantana– while others are “fresh” as a daisy in their first year’s appearance (annual)…*though I have been lucky to have three pots of Gerber daisies come back and thrive this year.

Gardening is a never-ending act of love…even though gardeners get a small respite during the winter months…with the climate changes…even this time has dwindled….especially when the azaleas start blooming in January and February now.

Gardening teaches that there is not a period after the word LOVE – Every act of life has only a temporary ending…in preparation for a new beginning.

Mandy has Eva Cate signed up for the summer library reading program in Mt. Pleasant to help her increase her vocabulary and phonics skills. When I was over at their house Friday…Mandy timed Eva Cate reading one story to me while I acted as the prompt…encouraging her with sounding out new words.

About 2/3 of the way through I started to realize that Eva Cate wasn’t concentrating on the word in front of her…instead I saw her index finger sliding down the words in the sentence. Then she sighed and said, “Boo Boo…Look how long this sentence is…I have all these words to get through to get to the dot.” 

“The dot?” I asked momentarily puzzled. Eva Cate pointed to the period at the end of the sentence. I had to laugh. It must have felt to her that she was entering a frontier with all these unknown words (the enemy) popping up between her and the finish line.

Life feels that way to us sometimes doesn’t it? We look at the tough issues today of race, immigration, class/economic disparity, religion, diversity, intolerance, etc. and we all want a period…a “dot”  to bring closure to these moral dilemmas that continue to envelope our country and divide us as a nation.

Instead, at best, we only get commas  and the problems continue.

So until tomorrow… God doesn’t put “dots” or periods in our lives and/or even at the end of them…because He wants us to do what we know is right and what He sent His son to teach us about love and building a Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood  on a global scale…instead of compartments.

*Remember:

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

A wonderful 4 Year Old Birthday -Superheroes Galore!

Dear Reader:

The third Sunday in June is designated as “Father’s Day” yet…the more formal term “father” is not used by most children around the world. Instead more familiar, endearing terms are used. I found the history behind the evolution of these names interesting. Here are some excerpts from the following article.

Dad? Pops? Father? Why Are There So Many Names for the Same Person?

…”Why does English have so many names for the same person? And where do they all come from? Like the names for our female parents, papa and its many variations were primarily imitative of the first sounds that young children produce, which include the p, b and d sounds.

Throughout the Middle East and South Asia, fathers are called baba. Baba, dada, and papa are examples of what child-language acquisition experts call “reduplicated canonical babbling,” something universally observed as children enter the babbling phase of language accession. Reduplication is when a word, a sound, an element of a word, or a phrase is repeated.

I thought it was interesting to learn that the term “Father” was spelled with a d in place of th until as recently as the late 1500s, though the term itself dates back to the time when Old English was spoken.

Dad was first recorded in the 1500s, along with the more colloquial daddy. Pop is the most recent linguistic twist on affectionate names for our dads, arising in America in the 1830s.

What do you call your dad?”

…………………..

Since my dad died when I was only five…I have only a few sketchy memories of personal encounters with him but I am pretty sure I called him “Daddy.” And oh what a wonderful daddy he was. Since I was the only little girl with two brothers…I got a lot of daddy’s attention…but unfortunately for only a few short years. My “princess” reign came to an abrupt ending.

I do remember mother telling me that daddy ran out and immediately bought a doll for me when he heard he had a little girl…a “doll for a doll” he told everyone excitedly. Perhaps, it is this old family anecdote that explains my love of dolls all my life.

 The other “father” in my life was Poppy…Mr. Dingle. He welcomed me into the family, along with Dee Dee, as just another one of his “little girls” and he did love his girls. I think God put me right in the right place to get the father I needed in life…and there was no better mentor for that position than Poppy!

Yet…the reality of growing up in a single family means that your one parent is both mother and father to you. When I came across this short poem I knew I, also, wanted to take a moment today to thank my mother, Lucille Arrie Wilson Barbour, for being the best “mama and daddy” that anyone could ask for…

(That…in a nutshell…was and is my mother…my father)

So until tomorrow…no matter what affectionate name you call your “father or mother” let us take a moment to say “Thank you” for their presence in our lives… never forgetting  “God so loved the world  that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

And today is also our SUPERHERO RUTLEDGE DINGLE’S BIRTHDAY!! Rutledge is turning FOUR….a SUPER NUMBER. I can hardly wait for the birthday party this afternoon! Here are some of your superheroes wishing you a Happy Birthday Rutledge until your party!

Dear Reader:

To a gardener, who really wants it to rain, the past couple of days have been pretty frustrating. The rain percentages are high, the background scenery is black and ominous, the roll of thunder shakes the house…but then the main character fails to appear when the curtain goes up….RAIN! Where are you?

Yesterday I went over to Mt. P to see how the Turners fared at Disney World and let the children share their stories. Jake was in daycare for part of the day so Eva Cate, Mandy, and I had a girls’ day out. It was fun.

We went to Vickerys for lunch and it was actually cool, refreshing outside eating along the waterway at Shem Creek…a lovely breeze blew the whole time we were there. John was able to meet us for lunch too so we had some time to catch up…

With the Friday afternoon traffic a nightmare on the return trip back home heading to Summerville from Mount Pleasant…I stayed over and we had pizza for supper…a Friday tradition at the Turners.

As I started home and wound around the ramp putting me on I-526…I saw something that took my breath away. There were dark clouds as far as the eye could see inland…heading west. (It gave me hope that Summerville had gotten some showers…which unfortunately it didn’t).

The sun was slowly sinking and a bright fiery red was mixing with bluish gray thunder clouds to produce the most beautiful ‘purple haze.” ( Nothing to do with Jimi Hendrix or marijuana) I was thinking to myself the old color chart in my art class was right…blue and red do make purple.

The purple clouds were mushroom shaped and seemed to be sitting on top of each other. It looked just like a picture I had taken of my morning glories a couple of days ago.

 Did you know that the color purple can have an affect on people physically?

• Calms the nerves and the mind
• Uplifting
• Offers creativity
• Encourages spirituality

*The scene coming home last evening did all of the physical and spiritual affects on me as listed above.

I actually had company to and from Mt. Pleasant….my childhood colleague, Polly, the doll, went with me. While organizing old photos I came across one of Eva Cate when she was about two….five years ago almost to the day. Mandy had an idea for a Father’s Day gift from Eva Cate…holding the letters D A D in three individual photos framed together.

While they were there I took some snapshots of Eva Cate and Polly together. I thought it would be cool to do the same thing five years later.

Many of you already know the story of Polly…I got her for my fifth birthday…six months after my father died. She was a Teri Lee doll (they were popular from the late 1940’s to the middle sixties.) I feel sure some of my family went in to get me this doll because they were quite expensive and money was tight after mother’s hand amputation and daddy’s death.

Polly arrived in a suitcase with one extra outfit…she was sent off to a doll hospital in Pennsylvania for a month one time to fix her when the rubber band holding all her parts together snapped from old age. She returned a blond in a pretty white camisole dress.

Being the age I am now…let’s just say that Polly will be eligible for social security soon! On a serious note…that little doll saw me through some hard times involving temporary displacement while mother was recuperating from surgery. The one thing I could count on during those dark days was Polly.

She continues to be “there” for me while I fight my own health problems. When we talk of guardian angels I do believe some come in the form of beloved teddy bears, special blankets, stuffed animals, and dolls.

So until tomorrow…Let us continue to find beauty in the skies even when the rains don’t come. It will happen in “God’s good time.” In the meantime we need to enjoy God’s palette.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Happy Birthday Tigger! My oldest “grand dog”! (Tigger has gotten to the age where he can’t (mostly… won’t but sometimes just won’t try any more) to hop up on the bed…so when I babysit the children I also babysit Tigger…helping him on and off the bed when I hear him whimpering…hey we “old-timers” have to help each other out.)

Dear Reader:

Yesterday I got bogged down with memories as I was separating old photos and placing them in different zip-lock bags with each child’s name on it. I knew I would….that part of the de-cluttering takes the longest because it means the most.

Some pictures made me stop and wonder about the last time when…I think maybe God protects us by a temporary loss of memory when it comes to the moments in the past with loved ones that ceased without fanfare. They just stopped one day and we simply didn’t realize that would be the last time when.

When was the last night that I read a bedtime story to my children, as a group, or the last one at home? What day was the last day that I got all the children ready for the first day of school…nervous and excited? When was the last day we all lived under the same roof sharing life experiences together?

These precious moments passed and faded far away back into the recesses of our memories to make room for new memories. The first lesson we learn in de-cluttering is to never add anything without taking something else away.

I think this theory applies to our own personal memories and God’s tactics for helping us move on in life and not get bogged down as each new stage of life develops during each day of our journey.  God wants us to learn from the past, but not to get stuck in it.

We must always remind ourselves that  some event or incident, no matter how precious, is never the end…it just ceases in order to give us room for new possibilities to explore and fulfill our lives.

I hope you love this poem as much as I did when I found it yesterday. It is a keeper…one I will add to my (always keep) zip-lock bag of memoirs. Pictures that remind me of “The Last Time When”…

So until tomorrow…Fill in the names of your loved ones whose voices you would love to hear again…my list is long.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Our wonderful Jo Dufford added her wit to the “imaginary conversation in heaven between God and St. Francis”…adorable..like Jo.

Dear Reader:

I came across the wittiest imaginary conversation between God and St. Francis of Assisi…the more I read…the more I smiled…and then chuckled. See for yourself: (If we can’t laugh at ourselves…we need a few lessons in humor.)

A conversation in heaven between God and St. Francis.

 “WHERE DID THE GREEN RECTANGLES COME FROM?”

God: St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there in the USA? What happened to the dandelions, violets,thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.

St. Francis: It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites.They started calling your flowers “weeds” and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

God: Grass? But it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs and sod worms. It’s temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

St. Francis: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.

God: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast.That must make the Suburbanites happy.

St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.

God: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

St. Francis: Not exactly Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

God: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

St. Francis: No, sir — just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

God: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

St. Francis: Yes, sir.

God: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

St. Francis: You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

God: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheers troke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It’s a natural circle of life.

St. Francis: You’d better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

God: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist and loose?

St. Francis: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something  they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

God: And where do they get this mulch?

St. Francis: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

God: Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

St. Catherine: “Dumb and Dumber,” Lord. It’s a real stupid movie about…

God: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

……………………………

So until tomorrow…Isn’t it bizarre that man can come up with more ideas to make more work for ourselves than anyone else? But… still our gardens provide sanctuary to us in a crazy, upside down world…and that is what is important.

I think this saying by Saint Francis of Assisi will be my mantra as I plug along with my monumental (hopefully once-in-a-lifetime) de-cluttering home project.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

One room down…five to go! I can do this! I am really getting a system going now…before I start I have big trash bags handy, little trash bags in tow…along with zip-lock bags of different sizes for saving photos, certificates, letters, newspaper articles, etc.

I have decided in between each room I will take a day or two break to gather fortitude and determination for the rest of this momentous endeavor. In other words I need to return to the garden, talk to the plants, applaud and welcome new blooms, check in with God and rest by the fountain.

Two days inside cleaning and my plants just kept on kept on…doing what they do best…making the world more beautiful. The moon flowers are growing taller right before my eyes!

Inside, for the first time in eons every drawer, closet, and shelf is cleared of stuff! Happiness is! Now my brain and thoughts can de-clutter too!

Last Sunday our pastor preached on the importance of rest…if God needed it on the seventh day of Creation, why would we think we need less than Him?

Don’t days shine brighter after a good night’s sleep rather than a night of tossing and turning…worrying about this or that and waking up feeling haggard and tired before the day even begins?

The great benefit of “action” projects (that require some physical activity to accomplish a goal) is that we have a much better chance of a good night’s rest when we are physically tired…not just mentally, emotionally, or spiritually tired.

Spiritually tired is the worse…when we find ourselves staring into a deep, dark cavern wondering how to find our way out…we know we are spiritually drained. When we can no longer feel the light shining down on us…it is definitely time to rest.

What a wonderful gift God gave us! Think about it…most of us will spend about a 1/3rd of our lives sleeping. God must have had a reason for this or it would never have been in His Plan.

Haven’t we heard someone reply to a response that someone looks like he/she needs to get some more rest. “Ah…I’ll rest when I’m dead” and then laughs it off.

God wants us alert to all His signals and winks that He is providing for us along our journey. If we are never still…how can we hear His voice? How can we ever get to know Him intimately if we are always on the move? Always in charge?

So until tomorrow….Give yourself permission to rest. Some days it is the best decision you will make all day.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Thank you for all your responses and prayers for Nathan’s intricate surgery today. I am sure Kaitlyn will keep us updated on the surgery and recovery…

*Anne texted me back about her quick trip to Connecticut to see her family and be there with her sister on her anniversary. She said it “fed her soul.”  I texted back that another God Wink had just occurred and for her to check out the title of the blog today.

*The nice thing about going through old family photos, honors, awards, newspaper clippings, etc. is that some times you remember a funny one. Summerville Journal Scene titled John and Mandy’s engagement announcement wrong…stating: Dingle, Rutledge Plan Wedding for Next May. Underneath the photo they were identified as Mr. Rutledge and Miss Dingle.

After the first incorrect announcement…I was assured they would reprint it…which they did with the same mistake….so if I ever can’t think of John’s name I will just call him “Rutledge”…little Rutledge must be named for his uncle and grand-dad.😉

Speaking of John and Mandy…the Turners have returned from Disney World with lots of stories to tell and memories to re-capture. Welcome Home!

Mom and Dad took a picture of the kids on Day 5 of Disney…it is a “good kind of tired.”

Yesterday I met Susan for lunch since she had a dermatologist appointment in Charleston, along with her one-time neighbor Gladys and friends Kathy and Judy.

We decided to get one dessert and pass it around (Five Loaves) but at the last minute decided two desserts floating around were better than one. (We did have our cake and eat it too!) Lots of fun catching up.

Dear Reader:

While I am typing this blog…I can honestly say that I am tired…a weary down-to-the bone kind of tired… which doesn’t happen often to me any more. But to be honest…it  feels really good…what my Grandpa Charlie called a “Good kind of tired.”

We all know the difference. Grandpa Charlie was a cotton farmer so we were usually waiting on him to “get everything put to bed” before he came in and ate supper. The big meal was at lunch so by supper time Grandmother and Grandpa Charlie were happy to just have some buttermilk and break up left-over cornbread into it.

If we grandchildren were visiting…Grandmother would save a few pieces of meat or vegetables from lunch and we would finish it up. But Grandmother really did love her buttermilk and cornbread…it was the last meal she ate before she died.

Grandmother Wilson would  tell us that she asked ‘Charlie’ every evening how the day went and he always responded the same way…“It was a good kind of tired day Mary Ellen.” 

Grandmother Wilson would then remind us to make sure we had a lot of “good kind of tired days” in our lives.

When society was more agrarian than industrial…I think people did have more “good kind of tired days”- (working in the soil tilling and planting)…After industry arrived with assembly lines and long hours of work for men, women, and children…the days became just “tired days”…with little good in them…except for the small pittance paid each week.

Today with so much of the work force divided between industry and technology…the long tired days still exist with quotas, deadlines, and mental stress paramount… in the lack of “good” tired days after work.

There is something about physical work that is more satisfying overall than just mental work performed alone in a cubicle isolated from the rest of nature and even humanity.

Sunday I lugged two bags of clothes, pocketbooks, shoes, etc. to Goodwill but that was just the tip of the iceberg. I was back yesterday with the whole back seat of the car filled with bags to the brim.

It literally took me the whole day to go through drawers, clean out clothes and (mostly) costume jewelry, the bottoms of closets, Christmas decorations that have needed to depart but I kept sticking them back up in the bottom and top of the closets after Christmas each year.  Gone!

My back aches from hauling heavy bags outside to the car and then back and forth until I somehow squeezed them all in. But I feel such a sense of accomplishment and freedom! Letting go of unnecessary stuff is so liberating!

We all have experienced the difference in “good and bad” tired. Good tired results in a sense of accomplishment or an act of love for someone or some ideal we care about….”Bad tired” is the wearing down kind of tired that leaves us stranded in the land of  frustration and futility. Happiness and a sense of contribution to the world in daily life is very important…whether it is only personal or public.

Right now I feel good…light and airy good. It will still take one more day in the bedroom to go through the book shelf cabinet, make decisions of which books to keep, which to give away and then clean out the memorabilia in the bottom cabinet. *That is always the hardest part. But by this time tomorrow evening…my bedroom will be de-cluttered and simplified down to the basics!

*I have zip lock bags in different sizes and I am going to start dividing all the family photos that never made it into a scrapbook into different baggies with the “children’s” names on them. So at least some day they know what memoirs belong to whom and then they can decide what mementos to keep.

Day by day, room by room…my summer goal is to minimize and organize…which as I have discovered is much easier without so much “STUFF!” My long-term goal: By summer’s end my house will only have the “stuff” I designate as necessary for my life style to make me happy. And these days…lack of “stuff’ makes me happy!

So until tomorrow:

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*** Just had a request from Kaitlyn concerning one of her high school friend’s husband who is bravely battling brain cancer. He has surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) and he needs all the prayers we can give him. From his dad’s last Facebook Post…you can get a glimpse of this amazing young man (Nathan Sexton)….husband, father, son, and friend to so many. He really needs our prayers and blog readers…you are the best!

Please take a moment today or Wednesday, pause in what you are doing and pray for a miracle surgery for Nathan because that is what needs and I am a big believer in miracles!

 

Dear Reader:

The title picture above is one of my Kelly Rae Roberts ornaments from the cute little gift shop on E. Richardson Avenue that no longer exists. Today Fleet Feet Shoes is located there.

I fell in love with the Kelly Rae Roberts art collection with its witty, truthful sayings engraved among the colorful art work. Soon I began to recognize a common thread among the messages on her works…and that was the word possibility. Another one of my top ten words.

Possibility always makes me think immediately of poet Emily Dickinson and her famous phrase:

I can’t imagine dwelling anywhere else…can you? Upon reflection of my life…it is this philosophy that has gotten me through some tough “reality” times. As long as I can see a possibility to a new world around me constantly…I am never imprisoned in society’s definition of reality.

It was Roberts who also started the “Possibilitarian” movement several years back and I quickly realized I was a born member of that club. My beliefs coincide with this philosophy.

You Are A Possibilitarian If....

If you …

: Believe in practicing courage, every single day.

: Believe that kindness changes everything & love always wins.

: Believe that we are all part of something beautiful, something bigger than ourselves, something deeply, profoundly, surprisingly … good.

: Believe that success has everything to do with who you are, not what you do.

And you also …

: Want to live from the center of your life outward — a place from which you can radiate and live a whole life, not a half-life.

: Understand that our dreams don’t necessarily belong to us, but serve as important tools, belonging to the world.

: Have overcome the odds — big odds, small odds, private odds or public odds — and still have a full heart. And hope.

Then you are most certainly A Possibilitarian. (Side effects may include honesty, creativity, tenderness & inspired action.)

It has taken me awhile to find the connection between my love of story and “Christian truth.” Like C.S. Lewis, it has been my imagination from childhood that has opened my eyes to see God differently…to realize that He is in my life constantly and urging me to tell my story about my journey…my relationship with Him.

Upon reflection (from converting to Christianity from atheism) C.S. Lewis credits his love of imagination and storytelling as the guideposts that were leading him closer to God. His love of old Norse tales and mythology captured his imagination in ways that would later enrich his ability to “express the wonder and joy of his own spiritual journey.” (C.S. Lewis- The Story of a Converted Mind)

At one point Lewis was able to recall when his “imagination was, in a certain sense, baptized.”

The telling of each of our life stories is unique and life-altering. Once started…we can never go back to the well-paved road we were on…but we must continue blazing our own path guided by the light that God provides.

*Sue Anne Strickland…on a personal note I have watched you begin a new chapter in your life with all the changes you have made in your home, your garden and yard, but most importantly in your heart. You, my dear, are already telling your story…in the most important way…through sharing your thoughts and stepping stones of transformation with others. You are already there…like Cindy Ashley said… you are in the “write” time and place.

“So until tomorrow” Follow the light and share your story…the possibilities are endless and your path is well lit by Someone Who goes before you.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Remember the the photo of rock formations being built near the stream by the Chapel of Hope…Anne texted and told me they are known as “cairns.” (a mound of rough stones built as a memorial or landmark, typically on a hilltop or skyline.)