Dear Reader:

Yesterday I was in the garden with my “clippers” fighting the endless (and futile) battle against bamboo shoots popping up in my backyard from the neighbor’s yard where it grows wild.

I know I am just buying some time before it pops up again…but I have to keep doing it or else I would be tripping over bamboo shoots every time I went out to my garden.

I had taken a rest from my ‘battle’ and plopped down on the bench when a wonderful breeze swept over me…it felt delicious! I closed my eyes and just listened to the babbling fountain, the chirping of birds and the buzzing of bees. I was in my little slice of heaven.

When I opened my eyes one flower arrangement (a gift last year from Dianne) was glowing in the sun’s rays filtering through the trees. It looked like it was lit from within. Just beautiful!

All the different colors of green were vibrant and beautiful in themselves!

I, idly, started following the sun’s rays as it fell on different sections of the garden …this “game” helped me make a fun discovery. A little Gerber Daisy had come up, all by itself this year, and was just popping its head open …feeling the sun on its face for the first time in its young life. Adorable!

However, the most beautiful of all was when the sun hit the Bottlebrush tree and it looked like a fire was burning on the tips of the branches. The Bottlebrush plant is indigenous to Australia and is symbolic of laughter, joy, and abundance.*

It thrives in direct sun and once established, is drought-resistant…exactly what my garden needs. It, also, attracts birds and butterflies to one’s garden…a big bonus for me!

The indigenous peoples of Australia also used them for health purposes:

Indigenous people of Australia used the bottle brush flowers as a natural energy drink, ingeniously taking full advantage of their natural surroundings. Soaking the flowers in water essentially drinking all the natural goodness.  Bottle brush essential oil is used to harmonize a room or house bringing tranquil healing vibrations.

As I thought about the process of the sun falling on different parts of life on a daily basis I remembered the expression I  heard growing up on special occasions: “Congratulations, it was your time to bask in the sun.”

I remember reading somewhere that most people will see their names in print at least three times in their lives: birth notice, marriage announcement, and obituary. I think today…as far as newspaper announcements go…probably only two because marriage announcements are quite expensive.

This saying was definitely invented before internet and Facebook came into existence…but still we use the expressions “basking in the sun” or “our time in the sun” to recognize benchmarks in our lives…graduations, awards of all kind, engagements, marriages, new homes, promotions, etc.

Very soon, in fact two weeks to the day, Tommy and Kaitlyn will be sharing their “time, their moment in the sun” with family and we can all hardly wait!  It is their time for the sun’s rays to land on them and spotlight this wonderful union of happiness.

So until tomorrow:

“I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish enough “Hello’s” to outshine “Good-byes.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I would like to take a moment and thank all of you for your sweet comments/cards concerning my latest little health slip…with sinus infection… But after just a few days on antibiotics I feel much better already.

The biggest thing is getting rid of that annoying little tickle in your throat that sets off a coughing spree. Murphy’s Law…it only happens in quiet surroundings which makes it even more embarrassing. But the episodes are getting farther apart thank goodness!!!

I had to share this funny card that Mike and Dee Lesko sent….it did send me into a laughing/coughing combo reaction! Too cute! (Inside the card concludes with “Get well soon…or I’ll make up another song!” 

Dear Reader:

The other day I just happened to glance up at one of the shelves that surrounds my computer and I started thinking that this was the next project I needed to tackle…clean it out! There were so many small paperbacks packed in there together… that I couldn’t even read the titles…except one.

As I pulled it out I remembered how I got it…I won it at a drawing during a State Social Studies Conference years ago. I  tucked it away in one of my numerous bags I walked around with that day. Eventually I cleaned out the bag and squeezed the small paperback into the shelf by the computer. And there it still sat.

The other day I was happily surprised to find the connection on worries and troubles between the Apostle Matthew and Brer Rabbit and now (as I skimmed through this book) I quickly began seeing the same similarities between Native-American proverbs and our own.

“We are all connected in this world.”

This one great truth for me keeps repeating itself over and over to the point that I have no doubt one day my eyes will be opened to see how our universe is connected and it will be a magnificent moment!

(The Duwamish tribe says: “There is no death, only a change of worlds.”) It will be in this ‘other world’ that this connection will be revealed to me.

In the preface, Guy A. Zona defines the term “Proverbs.”

Proverbs are time-honored truths which condense the collected wisdom and experience of a people and their culture. These proverbs (collected in the book) are those of a people who love the land and regard it as sacred, who see daily prayer as a duty, and find no need to set apart one day in seven as a holy day, but observe every day as God’s day. 

I have selected ten proverbs from the book; you discover quickly that they sound eerily similar to something you have read from our own Book of Proverbs. God is God to all people and His relationship to them doesn’t alter in the wisdom of His Being.

1. With all things and in all things we are relatives (Sioux)

2. Sin is not allowed in God’s tepee. (Mohawk)

3. Thoughts are like arrows; once released, they strike their mark. Guard them well or one day you may be your own victim. (Navajo)

4. Be kind to everything that lives. (Omaha)

5. We will be known forever by the tracks we leave. (Dakota)

6. Who serves his fellows is of all the greatest. (Dakota)

7. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself. (Minguass)

8. All religions are but stepping stones back to God. (Pawnee)

9. It makes no difference as to the name of God, since Love is the real God of all the world. (Apache)

10. Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Walk beside me that we may be as one. (Ute)

………………………….

Obviously I could go on and on writing down more and more Native-American proverbs because they are so beautiful and touch on love and truth…all the ingredients for life that we as humans share in our spiritual connected-ness here on Earth.

So until tomorrow…We must always remember “We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I think this funny ole’ southern saying is right about everything in the south:

The South
The place where…Tea is sweet… accents are sweeter
Summer starts in April
Macaroni and Cheese is a vegetable
Ya’ll is the only proper noun
Chicken is fried and biscuits come with gravy
Everyone is Darling’ and
Someone’s heart is always being blessed (unknown)

……………………………..

Since our rains never came (except for a slight sprinkle) on this side of town Tuesday afternoon I woke up yesterday morning and watered the garden first thing.

I do believe that is always the secret…it must be a “Murphy Law”…”Water and the rain will fall; Don’t and it won’t rain at all.”

Anne said that  Nala helped out doing her monkey rain dance until she plopped- it worked! Go Nala!

The garden is telling me it already thinks it’s summer…the hardier plants are showing up that can withstand a southern summer…at least for the bulk of it.

*

The Confederate Jasmine is blooming and oh, how the smell just wants me to plop on the yellow bench, listen to the fountain and take whiffs from it…so that is exactly what I did!

The nicest thing about Confederate Jasmine is that it is drought-tolerant and the way the weather pattern keeps developing in our lowcountry… I am beginning to re-think what to plant that won’t require as much water or maintenance.

I see pictures on HGTV of California yards and the number of homes that are going to drought-tolerant front and back yards filled with gravel and a variety of blooming cactus…I hope we don’t get to that stage of the drought, but the last couple of summers have been rough with the only relief coming from tropical storms. We sure don’t want to get into that pattern either.

So I went to Ace Hardware and talked to the lady about what to plant in my baskets by the fence and she told me that I can’t go wrong with “Angelonia”…a delicate-looking but tough-as-nails purple flower that can take full sun.

I bought four of them to put two in each fence basket, along with yellow “purslane” as a sun-tolerant, durable plant to use as ground cover. I love purples and yellows together…especially since visiting Provence. I placed them in the baskets…tomorrow I will clean out the basket, take them out of the pots and viola…they will be ready for the summer!

Ace also had staked, growing morning glories….no seeds? Already growing…now that surely (hopefully) will save time.

The flowering baskets seem to be really doing the best…especially the petunia baskets. They are as happy as they can be!

…And you know my weakness for Gerber daisies…they had almost sold out by the time I spotted them in other customers’ carts and asked where they were….Look at this beautiful “peppermint” striped daisy….It just makes me smile. I must give some serious thought as to where to best plant them too!

I know summer is approaching…even in April…when the long-leaf sunflower bush begins to bloom…they will grow much taller than myself by summer’s end.

Early man watched for natural signs to let him know the seasons, especially planting seasons and hunting seasons. Today man doesn’t depend on natural signals as much to observe seasonal changes.

( *But even, now, with me entering my fifth year as a gardener…it is the flowers, plants, and trees themselves that tell me spring has faded and summer is knocking on the door. No need to check a calendar. I am sure God doesn’t!)

I started thinking more about this observation and I could just picture God setting an alarm clock for over 6 billion people so He could ‘catch’ them first thing in the morning. This, however, is just a human living on earth’s perspective; certainly it is not God’s.

He is with us all the time so there is no need to set alarm clocks or any other ‘man-manufactured’ invention to try to capture time. God is the one “Person” Who is not captive to time…He is free to be wherever, whenever, Whoever He wants to be.

Can you imagine a world like that? It is almost impossible for us to understand and attempt to rationalize another world that has all the ‘time in the world’!

So until tomorrow…Let us remember: On earth we are captives to time…but in the next world we will be freed and released to a world where eternity exists. Mind-blowing isn’t it?

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Look at these cute cardboard cut-out direction markers to help small children (toddlers) locate the hidden Easter eggs! Thanks Mollie for bringing them!

Dear Reader:

Now I know why my body was calling for an R&R day yesterday…this head cold I have been nursing, turned into a full-blown sinus infection. The whole right side of my face was tender to the touch when I woke up yesterday morning. So I called Dr. Montoya and the staff graciously fit me into the schedule…I do say graciously because the waiting room was packed.

When I drove up and saw no parking spots I knew the place was jumping. Then as I walked to the front door I saw the sweetest thing. A wren had made a nest in the office Easter wreath on the door. There was a sign under it saying something like: “Be quiet and slowly open and close the door…bird nest in wreath.”

I stopped and thought to myself…‘You know you are going to the right doctor…when you see a message like this on their front door.’ A doctor who cares for all God’s creatures…not just the ones in human form that walk through the door. As I walked up the steps the mother bird flew off to a nearby bush…keeping a sharp eye on me until I went in.

Several other people in the waiting room apparently had the same “affliction” as myself…as we sounded like a chorus of “hoops and croups” waiting to be called back. The non-“croupers” all looked like they wished they had brought a face mask with them before coming in.

It was worth the wait. Dr. Montoya came in saying “I hear my “baby’s sick.” It caught me off-guard for a second since I have been keeping the grand-babies a lot lately and I said, “baby?” “Yes, you!” laughed Dr. Montoya.

“Oh I love being a “baby” after being a grandmother so much lately…Well, to tell you the truth “Baby sick…Baby feel bad…Baby needs to get over this fast before Tommy and Kaitlyn’s wedding in two and half weeks. “Baby says “HELP!” 

I left armed with a Z-Pak and a heavy-duty prescription cough medicine guaranteed to knock me out at night! Bless Dr. Montoya!!!! So my R&R Day was a productive one.

While waiting to be called back…I glanced through an old Family Circle magazine. There was a quote in it that I loved…it went: “Your time is less about the things you want to get done, and more about what you want to become.”

That’s exactly right, I thought to myself. “Our time on earthly life isn’t just about finishing projects that we think are important…but using time to keep working on becoming the person God intends for us to be.”

We are not put on this earth as an observer or narrator on life…we are here to participate fully and grow in God’s image. We are put here to keep up an exchange of giving and receiving to as many people as we have opportunities to serve.

We are not “People on the earth, but People of the earth.” There is a a world of  difference between the two prepositions!

Each of us is to “touch” others …just not observe them like a science experiment. We are part of the earth and it is part of us.

So until tomorrow…“We are the universe, expressing ourselves as humans, for a brief moment on earth.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I had a “God Wink” yesterday driving home from Mt. Pleasant. Jakie’s pre-school was closed and that sweet thing slept until after 8:00 in the morning and took a 2 and a 1/2 hour nap. 

We then watched a Disney movie, played on the deck, stuck our toes (and bottom of his pants) in the pool, fed the turtles bread…threw balloons up in the air…a big day but also a very calm one.)

I was thinking how the “Day After” a big event, like a holiday is usually a let-down day…but this didn’t happen. Eva Cate lost another tooth and the tooth fairy appeared again…I think I am her lucky “tooth faller-outer“…this is the third time she has lost a tooth when I have spent the night! She had a good day at school.

I told Jakie he wasn’t going to school because his school was closed…the doors were locked. I laughed and told Mandy that “snow days” in the south mean left-over holidays for most of our schools and Jakie was thrilled. He kept saying “School closed…lock…play with Boo-Boo”…so it was a good day after Easter.

I am trying to remember who I said the old Brer Rabbit quote to just recently: “Don’t go looking for Trouble…it will find you soon enough.” But coming home I knew something was nagging at me. Something about “tomorrows” and “worries” and God’s take on them in scripture that ran parallel to Brer Rabbit’s quote. Then it hit me!

Matthew 6:34: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Brer Rabbit: (Song of the South) “Don’t go looking for trouble…it will find you soon enough.”

“Great minds think alike”..The Apostle Matthew and Brer Rabbit.

 This is a short blog after so many “going-on’s” ….think tonight and tomorrow will be a R&R Day for the Boo! A chill’in kind of day.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Susan Komen just announced that the mountains, midlands, and Lowcountry are uniting together this year as one large state affiliate!😁 *There will be two large state relays for the cure! Daniel Island continues to be one of those!❤️

Dear Reader:

As I type these reflections on Easter this Sunday in April of 2017…I feel a sense of tiredness…but it is the good kind of tired…you know what I mean? I prepared everything ahead of time…overall everything went as planned… except… for what didn’t and those episodes always make for the “Remember when” stories in the family history.

*Things like poor Jakie falling down and busting his lip outside church- he quickly recovered!

We had good food, fun conversations, lots of laughter, pictures, and memory moments. Most importantly we were together and that is so powerful for children to see and feel.  We can’t really ask for more than that…I don’t think.

Wasn’t it a lot like the first Easter? Everything starting out as planned as the Marys’ went to visit Jesus’ tomb and then suddenly everything came unraveled…nothing went as planned from that moment on. There were mistaken identities, confusion, conflicting emotions, and finally joy. Joy had come in the morning…like it has done every Easter Sunday since.

Jesus’ resurrection definitely became the number one most favorite-told story in His family and then it spread to His friends and disciples and then followers and then strangers who had never met him. This “unplanned” family event took precedence over all the world. What an amazing surprise for God’s Creation!

For me…just watching the children put flowers on the cross for Jesus before the Easter Service fills me with emotion. I look forward to it every year and my hope is that the grandchildren will remember it and understand the significance of it as they grow older…and perhaps quieter! 🙂

At home while we are all trying to get lunch on the table, the grandchildren could care less about that…they want to see their Boo Boo Baskets, play with bubbles, check to see if Rutledge and Eva Cate grew a lollipop for kind deeds they performed. And of course they jump up and down until the Boo Hunt begins…

Easter, with little children, is fast and furious! So by the time it is over…it leaves one wondering ‘What happened?’ And we wouldn’t have it any other way!

Resurrection Day must have felt the same way for the family, disciples, and close friends of Jesus…“What Happened?” “Really? Could this really have happened?”

Today believers and the faithful answer “Yes” resoundingly! Christ the Lord is Risen Today!”

I have given you verbal images and now I will share some visual images of my Easter. I hope for all of you, Easter filled you with joy (and hopefully some chocolate bunnies!)

Getting the Easter platters out for the deviled eggs!

Saturday I spent a lot of time re-arranging flowers – throwing out the dead ones and sprucing up the ones who could ‘hang’ through Easter!

Success! Everyone is looking towards the camera! An Easter miracle!

Every egg hunter found a gold egg with 1$ in it! The Dingle boys celebrated their success!

Jakie and Lachlan just wanted to play in the fountain!

Thanks Tommy and Kaitlyn for hopping around hiding eggs!

Eva Cate and Rutledge told me their good deeds of kindness and lo and behold their seeds sprouted into lollipops ! Way to go!

Thanks for joining us for the Dingle-Turner’s Easter Party!

So until tomorrow let us always be open to surprises! It symbolized Easter at its best!

“Today is my favorite day!” Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Easter is here! Hallelujah! Christ is risen!

This is the day that we can all fall back on for reassurance when we are caught up in the “coils” of life. On those days when everything seems lost and nothing is going right…we know Christ has risen and our lives have been changed forever. Nothing can ever take that from us!

We are never alone with our problems and we all have Christ to turn to in times of troubled waters. Jesus, while alive, knew a lot about troubled waters and most of his disciples understood the life of a fisherman….four of them being specifically cited as living this trade.

Four Fishermen Called as Disciples

¹⁸ And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.¹⁹ Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

²¹ Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them,²² and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. (Matthew 4: 18-22)

When I came across an anecdote called “Easter and the Fisherman” I thought to myself that Jesus would love to hear this story around a campfire…dedicated to Him in His Presence because the theme of the story is what Jesus tried to show His disciples throughout their time together. And after all, Jesus was a wonderful storyteller and he also loved listening to stories.

“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus wasn’t interested in fishing for fish…He was interested in teaching people about His Father and what they needed to do to be with their Creator forever… bound to His love. He then wanted all of us to do the same thing as He and his disciples…to make believers out of sinners like ourselves.

“The Easter Fisherman” 

A man went to the edge of the waters at Grayson Lake and cast out his line. After a little while, another man came along and started fishing beside of him. The first man reeled in a large bass, then he took out the hook, and turned the fish loose. The second man said, “I can’t believe what you did, that was the largest bass I’ve ever seen.” The first man said, “I’m not fishing for bass, but if I reel in anymore bass, you can have them.” 

About a minute later the first man reeled in a large catfish. He took the hook out and turned the fish loose. The second man came up to him and said “You’ve done it again?” The first man said,” I’m not fishing for catfish, if I reel in another one you can have it.” The second man said, “Do you mind telling me what you are using for bait?” The first man said, “Easter.” The second said, “Easter, do you mean Easter eggs or Easter candy or something?” The first man said “No, Easter.” Then he reeled in a carp. 

The second man didn’t like carp, so he said nothing when the first man turned it loose. He watched as the first man cast out an empty hook. The second man said,” Hey! You forgot the bait, you can’t catch anything without baiting the hook.” The first man said,” Yes I know.” The first man said, “Do you know about Easter?” 

The second man said, “I know all about Easter eggs, Easter baskets, and the Easter Bunny, everybody know’s that stuff.” The first man explained that Easter was not about eggs or baskets or even a cute little bunny rabbit. “Easter is about Christ rising on the 3rd day after dying on the cross for your sins and mine.”

He pulled out his pocket Bible and read to the second man from Luke… Chapter 23 and 24. He witnessed to the man and told him about Christ and how to be saved. The second man turned his life over to Christ. The first man said, “Now you know what to fish for.”
………………….

So until tomorrow… Because Christ died on the cross for our sins, we, too, know what to fish for…don’t we?

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 The Turners took the children to ride Tweetsie in Blowing Rock!  They enjoyed all the rides but then Eva ↖Cate got a speck of coal in her eye  from the train ride and had to go to the first aid station to get it washed out! (She loves telling everyone her exciting story!)

Dear Reader:

Today is Saturday and the day in the Holy Week sequence that is the day of waiting and wondering. Jesus has died…now what?

The disciples, loved ones, and followers of Jesus must have felt like they had lost their “compass” and were wandering blindly through the new frontier of life without Him wondering what they were to do now?

Don’t we, also, wish, during many trying intervals in our own lives, that we were born with a spiritual compass attached to us to direct us through our journey here on earth? Well, guess what? We do. It’s called FAITH.

A picture is worth a 1000 words. God is always there to show us the ‘Way’ if we learn to listen to Him. He is our compass.

Donna Fargo, in one of her poetic messages, writes: “Trust in Yourself”

“I believe all of us have a built-in compass to help us get to wherever we desire to go. Don’t forget to trust the compass, and refer to it often, for with that trusting will come the strength to bear whatever life deals you.”

Ashley Denton (The Spiritual Compass Points True North-Jesus Christ) reflects on scripture from the Gospel of Mark to show us why Christ should be our true compass.

“If you were wandering around in the wilderness, what would be one of the most important instruments you could have with you to help you stay oriented? A simple compass is amazing because when you pick it up, it always points to magnetic north.

The Gospel of Mark is like a compass. You pick it up and it always points to True North–Jesus Christ. And according to Mark, the True North that the whole world depends on to be reconciled back to God is Jesus Christ. The very first verse of Mark says what his whole letter is all about: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark 1:1)

In a sense Mark is saying, “I’m giving you a compass, this is an accurate picture of the man Jesus Christ, and throughout all of history when people read these accounts, it will always point you to True North, it will point you squarely toward the One Man who Matters Most.”

Ashley Denton says that Mark spends more time letting us know about the real Jesus as he lived and loved…His personality traits that should be a model on how to live. He cites (just to name a few):

I will highlight just a few of these amazing personality traits of Jesus that people just can’t resist:

1. The Humility of Jesus
2. His Cheerfulness
3. His Power and Willingness to Heal
4. How Jesus Valued a Healthy Balance of Work, Rest, and Retreat
5. Jesus was Willing to be Interrupted by those in Need.
6. One of Jesus’ Greatest Joys was to Love Sinful People!
7. Jesus Patiently Answered People’s Questions No Matter How Good or Dumb They Were
8. Jesus Gave People His Undivided Attention

Jesus is the most admirable, noble, appealing person who has ever walked the face of the earth. He has gone to the ultimate extreme to show us that he loves us. He has done all of the work and we receive all of the benefits of his love. Following him is not about what you & I can do for him, but all that he has done for us and how we can repay this gratitude of debt for his unconditional love… by extending it to our fellow man. 

…………………..

So until tomorrow:

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering. – Saint Augustine

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday  afternoon I definitely observed a powerful God Wink. I was reading through a daily devotional on-line that visually showed a pie-chart of Jesus’ last hours when I looked up and realized it had grown dark outside much to my surprise! I glanced at my clock and it said 3:00.

I returned to the chart and saw where Jesus died at 3 in the afternoon as darkness had settled in and around Mt Calvary! Chills went down me and I quickly said a prayer of Thanksgiving for the Son of God and His unconditional love for mankind!

Yesterday was a “hopping” good day for everyone!

1.Tommy and Kaitlyn got their marriage license!

2. Rutledge and Lachlan had breakfast with the Easter Bunny and a Easter Party st school!

3. My fountain (that must have had a “short” in it) suddenly started running again…just in time for Easter.

4. I passed a house with a decorated door in a nearby neighborhood, stopped the car, and took this picture…this rabbit was just too cute not to share!

Dear Reader:

When I saw this bumper sticker on the back window of a truck in front of me yesterday…I started grabbing my purse for my Iphone. I had just enough time (at the stop sign on Carolina Avenue) to grab a quick photo…before the truck turned and disappeared.

Today…of all days… Good Friday…the crucifixion of Jesus Christ…is the day we should all “know” that Jesus is the One. I think if Christ had to pick a word of the year for the year he died, it would be SACRIFICE. Everything in his life preceding His greatest sacrifice had been leading up to this one act of love that surpassed anything most humans could even comprehend.

Sacrifice:  “The act of giving up something that you want to keep… especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone.”

I started thinking back on my own life and the people in it who sacrificed for me…mother, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. The successes in my life have been due to loved ones going the extra mile for me. (The incidents too numerous to mention or even totally recall.)

On December 4, 2010 Gloria Houston wrote me to wish me well over the holidays…ending her letter with: “Ruthie and I send all good wishes for success and great progress in your treatments. I hope you can postpone any unpleasantness until the holidays are past. We wish you a new year –  cancer-free!

Our thoughts and prayers go with you. Happy Holidays! Gloria and Ruthie.

It is rather ironic…that Gloria was writing me five years ahead of her own diagnosis of a rare cancer which quickly took her life too soon….months after her mother Ruthie died.

One of the most poignant examples of “sacrifice” comes from Gloria’s beautiful Christmas story-‘The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree’.

In the story little Ruthie and her mother are struggling to stay afloat on their little farm in the mountains while her daddy is off fighting in France in WWI. Her mother adds left-over scraps of materials to the hems of her dresses and they can everything possible to try to get through the winter months.

The Armistice ends on 11/11/11 (1918) and soldiers are daily returning home. Ruthie and her mom go down to the station to wait on Tweetsie the train to see if her daddy gets off…but so far he has not appeared.

Earlier in the spring Ruthie had gone with her daddy to pick out the ‘perfect Christmas tree’ for the Christmas Eve service. It is their family’s turn. They find a beautiful balsam on top of a rocky craig and tie a red ribbon off Ruthie’s hair to recognize it when they return in December.

But daddy hasn’t returned and Ruthie is afraid she might have forgotten exactly where it was…none-the-less her brave mother awakens her and out into the cold night they go with only a lantern and ax to cut down the tree. Thank goodness there is a full moon and they find it….cut it down and pull it back down the mountain on their sled.

They arrive home just as the sun is coming up Christmas Eve morning…placing the tree right outside the sanctuary. Mother tucks Ruthie in bed snugly and goes to her bedroom…but not to rest or sleep.

She reaches in the closet and pulls out a long box…she opens it tenderly and pulls out her wedding dress made of the most beautiful creme satin. Ruthie has been chosen for the most important role in the Christmas pageant…the angel announcing the birth of Jesus, and she needs a a beautiful gown to announce the Good News.

Wiping away a small tear…mother begins cutting the satin wedding dress…making not only an angel gown…but a miniature copy for the little doll she has homemade for Ruthie for Christmas. She, secretly, places the angel doll on top of the recently decorated church Christmas tree.

(Every time I picture this scene I tear up…the love of a parent for a child is truly one of the most beautiful examples of love on earth)…but how much greater was God’s sacrifice of His only son for all of us? It is beyond what we mortals can comprehend or absorb.

Little Ruthie, like me, probably never knew or understood the sacrifice her mother made for that special, beautiful Christmas Eve. We children are sheltered by our parents when it comes to sacrifices of this nature. It is only as adults that we realize that so many events in our lives took place only because someone sacrificed for us.

So until tomorrow…..Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, we have to see it as something done by us.”
― John R.W. Stott

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Boo Boo Baskets in the making: “Baa Baa Jakie” “Hippity-Hop Eva Cate” “Ribit, Ribit Rutledge” and “Quacky-Wacky Lache”!

Dear Reader:

Haven’t the last few nights been beautiful with the moon so bright? Monday night Mandy, Eva Cate, Jakie, and I went out to see the moon as it appeared over the trees and reflected in the canal waters right by their home in Wakendaw Lakes.

The purple pond lilies were still visible by the dying light of the sun and the whole scene took my breath away when I snapped this photo.

As I stared at it…the moon peeking through the branches and mirroring itself in the waters seemed oddly familiar to me. It wasn’t until later that night that it dawned on me what was similar. The photo was like an abstract of  the famous painting of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane with the full moon shining down upon him and and a halo of light reflecting like a pool around his head.* Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane- Heinrich Hofmann 1890)

I immediately started doing some research to see if it would have been a full moon that night in the Garden of Agony…in Gethsemane. The answer was yes. That was why so many painters portrayed a beam of light falling upon Jesus on that fateful evening.

The Jewish Passover was/is always celebrated during a period of the full moon, sometimes called the Paschal full moon.

Some of you might remember in the 2004 American Biblical epic drama “The Passion of Christ” (Mel Gibson) the movie began in the Garden of Gethsemane with a full moon shining down brightly. The light only added to the agony and terror of everyone inside the garden. (Jesus, some of his disciples, and later Roman guards/soldiers.)

The full moon casting its shadows that night made everything scarier because ironically…the bright light made the surrounding darkness even darker and more forbidding.

It increased the darkening mood of those hours of fear and agony to a stressful momentum. No wonder poor Peter, James, and John fell asleep…probably because of the uncertain forebodings creeping inside each of them. There was emotional betrayal and physical pain swirling right outside the garden… just waiting for the right moment to pounce. Yet the moon continued shining down through the branches of the Olive trees.

What does “Maundy” mean?

Derived from the Latin word mandatum, meaning “commandment,” Maundy refers to the commands Jesus gave his disciples at the Last Supper: to love with humility by serving one another and to remember his sacrifice.

Doesn’t that make the Maundy (full) Moon even more special? When we look at it during the Holy Week…we should think of the story behind Jesus’ last commandment:

As recorded in John’s gospel, on his last night before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and then gave them a new commandment to love one another as he had loved them (John 13:34).

Perhaps from now on when we  admire the Holy Week Full Moon…we should apply the children’s rhyme: “I love you to the moon and back” to loving each other as Jesus loved us.

So until tomorrow…Thank you Father for finding ways to bring light into our lives…even in our darkest days.
“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Our darling from Dubai, Ambika, sent a cute tongue-in-cheek  personal story based on some recent blogs. “Keep the Faith” and “Does God Have a Sense of Humor?”

Lovely blog Becky.. however, today a funny incident happened… It was between me and God, and it reminded me of your earlier blog, does God have a sense of humor…
We had an electrical power shut down for about 6 hrs.. we gradually started getting all mushy n’ sweaty, and I began sulking about how the power could’ve come back sooner and I was not able to do my work n blah blah… Then a voice asked me, ” How do u think the ancient people lived? They didn’t have power…”. I said, ” I understand, but at least we need some air, it’s extremely hot n humid here..” Suddenly a fresh breeze of windy air slapped me across my face. I was like “Well, Thank-you God”, and started giggling like a crazy teenager… 😂😂…
So I can say the Lord is indeed our “Double”.. ☺

Poor Jakie and Eva Cate both have had the croupy cough…but Jakie’s condition also requires additional air (in the form of a face mask) due to his asthma… stemming from allergy problems.

So Mandy and I had to set aside a sizeable chunk of time to get all Jakie’s meds in him each night and then pray he made it through the night without waking himself up coughing and hacking.

John has been out of town on a conference so Mandy and I have held down the fort for a few days. He returned yesterday and I know Mandy was ready to have him back home.

Yesterday Mandy pulled out all the ‘stops’ and had Eva Cate going from center to center around the house with different activities (from big bubbles to painting Easter Bunny ceramics) to keep her  active until daddy got home.