Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Haven’t you started a week sometimes with a terrible foreboding that it is not going to be a good one…in fact…you feel, deep inside, that it will not have a good ending at all?

During Holy Week…I always find myself wondering about the thoughts that were going through Christ’s mind. Unless something drastic happened to alter destiny, Christ must have known that things were not going to end well for him…the human part of him must have been anxious and terrified…his faith tested beyond human endurance.

His pleas for God to take this burden from him shows the extent of the anguish and agony he felt that last night in the Garden of Gethsemane. But in the end Christ accepted  God’s decision…weary and exhausted…”Luke 22:42: “Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done.”  

Now that is the real deal…no hedging or skirting the issue…that statement is faith at its greatest.

In the Huffington Post  article: The Challenge in Staying in Faith (by Margaret Paul, Ph.D.) the author contends that the human struggle to maintain faith, when everything around us seems to be failing and falling, stems from the internal battle going on inside each of us dealing with our thoughts.

“Many of our feelings come from our thoughts. Difficult feelings such as anger, depression and anxiety may come from thoughts such as, “I am alone in the universe. There is no God helping me and watching over me. There is no spiritual help for me to turn to.” When you think these thoughts, painful feelings will likely be the result. These painful feelings are a source of inner guidance, letting you know that you are coming from false beliefs, and that you are being unloving to yourself.

On the other hand, you can remain inwardly peaceful if you choose to think thoughts such as, “Even though I did not get what I want, I know that God has my highest good at heart. I know that if I stay open to love and truth, I will be guided in the evolution of my soul’s journey. Staying in love and joy and seeking truth are more important than the outcome of things, so I will continue to keep my heart open to my spiritual guidance.” If this thought brings you peace, you know you are on the right track in your thinking.”

Paul then talks about the belief of some indigenous tribes she has researched who seem to come closer to the path of understanding faith than we more (seemingly) civilized people do. She has observed:

“Some indigenous cultures have a concept that I find very helpful in staying in faith. They believe that when we come into a body, only part of our soul enters the body. The rest of our soul remains outside the body and is what these cultures call a “double.” Our double — or higher self — is the part of our soul that is here to guide us through our earthly journey. Our double holds all the wisdom and experience that our immortal soul has accumulated through eternity. Because our double is not limited by the confines of our body, it can see and know things that our mind cannot possible see and know.

At those times when your mind is quiet and you are open to learning about loving yourself and others, you can access the wisdom and guidance of your double — your higher self. Then you know that you are not alone and that you are always being guided in your highest good. You might want to imagine your higher self as an older, wiser aspect of you — a wise and comforting presence whom you can turn to for love and wisdom.

Imagine what a difference it would make in your life if you knew, from your personal experience of your spiritual guidance, that you are never alone.”

So until tomorrow…Father help us remember and feel, deep down, that we are never alone…that we have never been forsaken…but that You are there, a constant in our lives, leading us slowly but surely back home.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

Kaitlyn’s adorable bridal seamstress (Emily Kotarski) was so nice and fun last Saturday. When I asked if Charleston was her home she replied no. She was a “Philly” girl who studied design in NYC. To my question, “How did you end up in Charleston“…her response was that she chose bridal gowns as her trademark designs and discovered that Charleston was the number one city for weddings…so she came where the need would be the greatest. Smart girl! She did her homework!

And isn’t that the amazing thing about our Creator? He not only knows each of us inside/out…but the “Master Weaver” has definitely done His homework with meticulous plans and minute details for every minute of our lives. He knows our needs and where to place us.

Max Lucado observes in his article (God, the Master Weaver/Master Builder): 

God, the Master Weaver. He stretches the yarn and intertwines the colors, the ragged twine with the velvet strings, the pains with the pleasures. Nothing escapes his reach. Every king, despot, weather pattern, and molecule are at his command. He passes the shuttle back and forth across the generations, and as he does, a design emerges. Satan weaves; God reweaves.

God’s re-weaving and rebuilding is always to destroy evil and plant goodness and stability where once destruction was dominant. Lucado uses the story of Joseph and his brothers to give an example of how God works.

“In God’s hands intended evil becomes eventual good.

Joseph tied himself to the pillar of this promise and held on for dear life. Nothing in his story glosses over the presence of evil. Quite the contrary. Bloodstains, tear stains are everywhere. Joseph’s heart was rubbed raw against the rocks of disloyalty and miscarried justice. Yet time and time again God redeemed the pain. The torn robe became a royal one. The pit became a palace. The broken family grew old together. The very acts intended to destroy God’s servant turned out to strengthen him.

“You meant evil against me,” Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that traces its meaning to “weave” or “plait.”1 “You wove evil,” he was saying, “but God rewove it together for good.”

Kaitlyn just needed one more “correction” to the gown to make it perfect for the wedding. Her complete trust is in the seamstress who sees the tiniest problems and sets about correcting them. Emily wants nothing but the best for her brides on their benchmark wedding days.

God, too, wants us only at our best and won’t let us settle for less than that…always working on improving us over and over again.

The Weaver
“”Just a Weaver”)

My life is just a weaving
Between my Lord and me.
I cannot change the color
For He works most steadily.

Oft times He weaves the sorrow
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Until the loom is silent
And the shuttle cease to fly,
Will God roll back the canvas
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the skillful  Weaver’s Hand
As the golden threads of silver
He has patterned in His Plan.

Psalm 139:13-17

For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be. 

So until tomorrow…Let us never stop trying to keep pulling all the threads of our lives together to create an image our Creator can be proud enough to put on His Heavenly refrigerator…one of His Children’s works!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

The Weaver

My life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me,
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.

My life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me,
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.

The Weaver

My life is but a weaving
Between my Lord and me,
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.

Dear Reader:

Today I ended up on one of those writing expeditions where I started in one direction, got detoured to another, and then returned to the original plans…a whirlwind for sure…but quite satisfying! On days like this I just have to hang on for the ride.

An interesting subject-area devotional popped up on my Iphone centered around the idea of how it is the unexpected detours in our planned lives that best develop the strength of our character within…letting others see the real us.

When I typed in: “finding hope and strength in unexpected places” the book Anchored popped up by Kayla Aimee. After reading a quick synopsis on the book…I was fascinated by her story.

Kayla had only counted off 24 of the 40 weeks of her pregnancy when she went into labor…and her world was turned upside down.

When swept into a story of suffering, we all find ourselves vulnerable, questioning everything we thought we knew as we wonder, “Where is God in this?” With everything feeling as fragile as her one and a half pound daughter, Kayla finds herself asking that same question as she faces  her greatest fear: that she may have finally become a mother just to lose her only child. 

As I read more excerpts from the book…I could feel the author’s strength growing through her writings…and wonderful sense of humor as her own personal “awakening” with God began to come together. Here is one sample of her new way of thinking and accepting the trials of life.

“I did not want this story. I wanted a fairy tale, with a Once Upon a Time and They Lived Happily Ever-after. But even  fairy tales would not exist without the dark places. Beauty without the Beast is just another pretty face. Sleeping Beauty without the spindle is just a story about a girl who takes a ridiculously long nap. ” 

In a later reflection on her experiences Kayla wrote:

“The strong was not in the stoic or the stiff shoulders or the sweet singing of hymns in praise. The strong was in giving in to the weakest and finding a grace so sufficient, it redeemed the worst.”

After finding this beautiful detour of this amazing young woman’s journey of faith…I redirected myself back to the original devotional that had started the quest for ‘finding hope in unexpected places.’

Hope in the Light of the Unexpected (Rachel Macy Stafford, from Only Love Today)

Stafford asks the question in her devotional that we all have asked ourselves? Where do we go when we reach the end of our ropes… when all our best-laid plans are smoldering in ashes around our feet? When we find ourselves wanting to build a cocoon and climb inside to stay there forever? Now what, God, now what?

Several years ago I was telling a story each day to go along with the theme of Vacation Bible School as part of a kick-off ceremony. For the first (and only time since) I had put on a long robe and dressed up as a Biblical character. I started down the aisle and just as I reached the front pew, I tripped on the hem of the gown and fell sideways hitting my upper left arm against the wooden side piece of the pew.

I saw stars…the pain was excruciating! I knew instantly that something was “bad” wrong but I was so embarrassed I picked myself up, told the story, and then left. I called my sweet mother-in-law, Dee Dee, and asked her to drive me to the hospital. I couldn’t move that arm.

My upper arm was broken and it was pretty painful. It was the start of summer and I had all these workshops planned and trips to Georgia Southern for an art show my daughter Mandy was in and she was receiving an honor. I was really down…no swimming…keeping driving to a minimum. Just buying groceries required a lot of help from the grocery boy and I was not used to or comfortable with that kind of assistance.

All my plans died for that summer with that one silly fall. Dee Dee would come over and help me with bathing that arm and getting dressed…an angel for sure. Suddenly my invincible me had become quite vincible. It was a lesson that stuck with me forever.

We are all one step or trip or diagnosis away from life-altering changes. It is how we respond to those changes that will define us in our life-time. It is during these turbulent times that we have the opportunity to bond with God. Have you ever noticed that it is during our most trying times that our communication with God is the most real…the most poignant…the most significant and life-altering.

We have shed our outer layers and shown God and others around us who we really are underneath.

So until tomorrow…as Rachel Stafford observes: We don’t have to feel that we must solve every problem immediately or fill in every blank in life..instead “I’m finding there is divine peace in acknowledging I don’t have to have it all figured out.”

My students used to write “D.K.” in blanks they didn’t know. It took me awhile to figure out it stood for “Don’t Know.” It is time for us, as adults, to admit to God, also, that we “Don’t Know” (D.K.) what to do and that we need His help.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Starting to get some bunnies and flowers ready for Easter!

Dear Reader:

Kate Wolfe-Jenson, in her latest blog, discussed the importance of realizing that the ‘days of our lives’ are finite and we don’t have the luxury of dismissing any of them as trivial, while waiting for something ‘big’ to happen.

The philosophy that “When this happens or that happens” then I will get started with my life… leads us down a dead-end street that stops before we even get going. Our philosophy should be more in line with the children’s chant “Bum, bum, bum, here I come…ready or not?”

Jenson reminds us: “The truth is that you are enough. Right here. Right now. At this point on your journey. Whether it feels glorious or tentative or a mess. You-and it-are glorious examples of sacred thinking-feeling life. L’chaim” which means “love I am.”

“It is not so much what we do each day, but how we do it. It is up to us to rouse the feelings and notice the emotions attached to Gratitude, Forgiveness, Humility, Integrity, Compassion, Awe, and Connection!” Take time to pause and let these emotions sink deep inside us. 

Where so many of us go wrong is that we believe we have to do a certain something in order to feel a certain way. For example: If we want to feel awe, we might think we need to visit the Grand Canyon. In fact, if we slow down and pay close attention to the pine cone sitting on our desk, we can feel awestruck- the structure of it, the gradations of color, the clever functionality…Awesome!

If we discover we are not spending our days in a way that invites sacred emotions, the secret is to follow our energy. What makes our heart sing? Start with the smallest meaningful increment.” 

*For me writing gives meaning to my life. I find that I go over my self-imposed time allotment most days while writing the blog. I am not ready to quit…because by adding writing to my daily life…I am ensuring my soul  that my day has purpose, big or small.

So until tomorrow…Take time to listen to what your heart tells you to do…and then do it! Fall in love with your life!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Yesterday I was off with Kaitlyn and her former roommate and friend, Bristol. The seamstress is closing in on the last adjustments to Kaitlyn’s wedding dress. Just beautiful.

Sorry I can’t share this with you but, obviously, it would give away the entire surprise. But we did all have fun and ended up on the top deck of the Restoration Boutique Hotel downtown.

I just love hanging out with young people…they always know the “coolest” places to hang! I took several snapshots of Charleston from the deck…just glorious! How lucky we are to live in this area!!!!

While Mollie is gone this weekend Walsh is holding down the fort  – Mandy told him to bring the boys and hang out at their house yesterday afternoon! They had a neighborhood egg hunt going on. Somehow Walsh found a ‘john’ instead of an egg! The night before, Friday night,  he took the boys to the River Dogs game!

While Rutledge was looking for a misplaced toy truck he won at the egg hunt…  the rest of the cousins were happily packed in together!

Dear Reader:

The older I get, the more I revel in “the simple and ordinary.” As I pointed out in yesterday’s blog I don’t believe our spiritual lives should be lived minimally (instead wide open to God’s calling) but I do find myself wanting to live in a less cluttered space on earth…the place, in this life, I call home.

I only want special items around me that have meaning on different levels. That is why I took a picture of the end table in my den (first seen as one walks down the stairs) as an example. Everything on it speaks to me of the blessings in my life.

My love of flowers and beauty have become such an integral part of my life that I no longer even remember a time without flowers around me. Flowers make me smile and every morning when I open the shutters…I want to start the day with fresh flowers of all types and variety… some from the garden or perhaps the store… simply fresh flowers to begin the day.

Joan gave me the beautiful wooden-distressed cross that catches the early sun’s rays through the panels…and brightens the table.It becomes even more meaningful as we enter Holy Week.

The symbolic stone that simply says “BEGIN” was given to me by Anne…she had picked it up from the gift shop at Mepkin Abby in reference to the creation of the garden in 2013. The only way to have a garden or anything else in life we dream about is to “Begin.” (With a lot of help from friends!)

…And speaking of friends, Linda Carson brought me the coaster that says: “Friends are the flowers in the Garden of life.” Nothing could be truer! I would not have a garden without my friends’s encouragement…period!

The beautiful little tea cup and saucer was given to me one Christmas by Doodle from “Time Well Spent.” It is very special because it is from a collection of Royal Albert English Bone China titled “Country Scenes” and this particular scene is: Dingle Dell. 

*The surname “Dingle” means a valley or a dell: Dingle is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle … A narrow dale; a small dell; a small, secluded, seaside valley.

* When Anne and I first drove into Dingle in the summer of 2014 we certainly knew we were heading down from the surrounding mountains into the the most beautiful valley to find this postcard-looking harbor town.

I will have to say, after reading this book for two or three years I finally moved on to other devotionals until the other day I came across one short devotional in it that spoke to me again.

Another God Wink:

“Let me infuse My Peace into your innermost being…You can sense my Presence and my Peace growing within you…opening up yourself to receive My blessings.

People today find it hard to acknowledge their neediness. However, I have taken you along a path that has highlighted your need for Me; placing you in situations where your strengths were irrelevant and your weaknesses glaringly evident.

…You have discovered flowers of Peace…  Peace blossoming in the most desolate places. 

You have learned to thank Me for hard times and difficult journeys, trusting that through them I accomplish my best work.

You have realized that needing Me is the key to knowing Me intimately, which is the gift above all gifts.

……………………………

So until tomorrow….Let me never forget and misplace the “key” (prayer) that opens the door to God’s direction and guidance.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I always keep a memoir of St Jude’s Chapel within sight of my daily comings and goings! *Thanks Honey for your shared talents!

Sis Kinney said she now has a pink geranium that she is hoping will turn into ” Big Pink.” Do share a picture with us Sis!

Jo sent an email telling me her daughter, Kelly, is in Ireland with a group of district teachers over spring break… and a couple of days ago they were touring the Cliffs of Moher. I told her I was so jealous…what exciting memories…just beautiful!

Bekah and Ady spent the night with me last night- another swim meet! Good luck Ady!!! Enjoyed watching (and crying over) FREE WILLY last night!

Dear Reader:

With our ‘Winnie the Pooh Blustery Day‘ yesterday I couldn’t help but think of all the joys and blessings that must be flying around us bringing delight to so many. These blessings definitely helped us get through ‘the storm’ Wednesday night with minimum negative effects.

The lowcountry (and especially the Summerville area) really lucked up with the severe thunderstorms that came through Wednesday evening. They were much more severe for my Columbia Ya’s (Libby and Jackson) who kept Brooke and I informed (through texts during the day) on what was happening.

I moved all the hanging baskets in the garage, as well as deck furniture for safety. I rolled the wheelbarrow fairy garden into the garage also. I was prepared and praying no trees or large branches would fall on the house.

Instead…I was pleasantly surprised by the time I heard the first booms of thunder and witnessed the bright streaks of lightning. It was definitely a thunderstorm, but nothing like what others before us earlier in the day, had experienced. It must have lost some “umpfh” before reaching us. In fact the most wind we got out of it all wasn’t from the storm but the blustery gales that came through yesterday.

*I texted Anne to see how she and Nala were holding up (Wednesday evening) and they were just “chilling” listening to the rain come down. I told her it sounded just like a “gardener’s lullaby”…exactly what the garden has been needing…a sustained rainfall.*Nala made a ‘puppy blanket’ on Anne during the storm.

We were very blessed to get mostly the “good” part of the storm, the rain, without the tornadoes, rotations, trees down, flooding, and problems other areas sustained!

Like the title card says:”Scatter joy and may it all come back to you.”

To receive blessings, happiness, and joy…we first must put it out there for others…and then, unexpectedly, one day, it comes back home to roost.

We never know when…but the more kindness and caring that goes out..(like a bountiful boomerang)….the better chances of love returning God-fold.

Even though math was never my favorite subject in school…I understood the meaning  “two-fold” and “three-fold”…but I don’t think there is a mathematician alive that can place a precise number on God-fold. It is infinite.

I imagine that God’s blessings are like stars…too numerous to count….just floating out there in the universe…bouncing from star to star. Since we are made of stardust…my reasoning “deducts”  that we are made from blessings also.

The goal in life is to keep bouncing those blessing from person to person…. (like the stars)…As soon as one goes out…another comes in.

So until tomorrow…Let us always share the bounty of blessings. Blessings don’t spread without us, as God’s messengers, helping with the distribution.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

I found this picture of “Big Red” taken two Easters ago. It was the same year that it had gotten frost-bitten earlier in January and I had removed every pitiful dead branch except the one main stem. By Easter it was already coming back….and now look at “Big Red” this Easter…blooms and so many buds it is hard to count. So far, at its most, I have had twelve blooms at the same time. God-fold of blessings!

Easter 2015

Easter 2017

Dear Reader:

I came across a blessing that I really like…one I found and used several years ago, in fact, in one of my older blog posts. When I discovered it again yesterday I committed it to memory so I can say it each day as a reminder of how blessed I am.

“A Blessing to Take With You  Through the Day”

Douglas Pagets

Find serenity in everyday living

Envision the gift  of this day

When happiness comes to visit you

Encourage it to stay! 

……………………………….

Pagets hit the core of so much of our general malaise when he said, “When happiness comes to visit you…encourage it to stay.”

How many of us are guilty of downplaying happiness in our own lives? We win an award, or complete a degree, perhaps make a new move…one we had always dreamed about…but instead of immersing ourselves in the happiness of the moment…we become intimidated by our happiness…even scared…it is too good to be true…so no need to overly rejoice …keep happiness at a minimum and then you won’t be disappointed so much the next time things don’t go your way.

Sound familiar?

Is that any way to live life? Did Christ die on the cross for our sins so we could just take a “minimalist” approach to living, loving, and happiness- I don’t think so!

I remember hearing one motivational speaker say something one day at a conference  that startled me initially, but also made me pause and consider the truth in the statement. “Are You More Afraid of Success than Failure?”

As much as we like to complain about being stuck in the middle rung on the corporate ladder…isn’t there some truth in the fact that we are pretty comfortable right in the middle…protected by those above us and those below.

Russell Bishop in his article “Are You More Afraid of Success than Failure” mentions these two “clubs” people fall into …

If you don’t particularly like your job or some other aspect of your life, you may also find that you have become comfortable with it if for no reason other than the fact that it is familiar. If this is you, if you grouse about your daily circumstances yet you keep returning to them, then you may be a member of what I call the “Ain’t It Awful Club.” Members of this club love to engage in “one-downsmanship” or “Misery loves company.”

There is also another club:

“Perhaps you have also settled for the “Weevily Peanuts of Life Club“…rather than going for life’s banquet table. Settling for less is a very individual set of choices and definitions, and it is not my intent to define either the peanuts or the banquet table for you. However, if you have the sense that you have settled more than strived for what you want, then it might be worth your while to explore how your fear of success is in the way.”

The question we have to ask ourselves when we complain about being “stuck” in our careers or relationships is an important one: Are we more comfortable being a complainer than a solver of problems? If we are more comfortable in the complaint category and we secretly know this…the fear of success (separating us from the pack or relationship) becomes paramount.

Success will separate us from our fellow (friends) complainers… eventually resulting in us getting kicked out of the “Ain’t It Awful” and “Weevily Peanuts of Life” Clubs. Do we really want this isolation? Are we ready to change our own attitudes to advance positive change for ourselves, as well as, our peers?

Isn’t this what Jesus did throughout his short ministry…make positive changes for everyone he met? One thing we all know for certain about Jesus is that he was not a complainer. He was a solver of problems. He knew exactly how to let his fellow man know where to go for help in solving problems…to God in prayer.

In every parable “Once Upon a Time” anecdote the Good News was being spread through stories. Those who heard and believed the message had to leave their old clubs behind too….the disciples of Christ could no longer be just complainers…they all had to step up to the next rung… becoming reformers and enlighteners of Christ’s teachings and new ways of living.

So until tomorrow…Father, Help us Find the Faith and Courage to live life fully, without fear of failures or successes… but as a disciple spreading the Good News that life is meant to be lived completely and unconditionally bathed in God’s Love.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Wow! One month from today, May 6, 2017 Tommy and Kaitlyn will be husband and wife. I can hardly wait! At this point the upcoming wedding is like a roller coast ride…you get on board, strap yourself in, and squeal until it stops!

If any of you would like to send a card or communicate with Tommy and Kaitlyn…just email or messenger me and I will be glad to give you their address. You will also see wedding information on ‘The Knot‘ on Facebook too. The wedding might be small but the smiles, laughter and love will be overwhelming! The best kind!

*Cindy, did you recognize some of your adorable Easter rabbit decorations from two years ago in the title picture?

New blooms appeared today…the lilies are coming…the lilies are coming…just hope the storm doesn’t hurt all this tender new growth. Hope everyone gets through these storms unscathed and unharmed.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday afternoon, as I sat down in front of the computer and thought about the day and what I was feeling…I suddenly heard the words in my head: “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” 

“Exactly!” I thought to myself. “All things bright and beautiful” sum up my day exactly!” Yesterday morning when I went outside to start picking up some fallen tree branches, remnants from the storm, the cool breeze blowing was so refreshing. Everything smelled clean and fresh and brimming with color!

And that verse…how I loved singing that song as a child…it always made me feel happy when I sang the lyrics. Little did I know that the hymn was first published in 1848 in Mrs Cecil Alexander’s Hymns for Little Children. 

Refrain:
All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful,
the Lord God made them all.

1 Each little flower that opens,
each little bird that sings,
God made their glowing colors,
God made their tiny wings. [Refrain]

2 The purple-headed mountain,
the river running by,
the sunset, and the morning
that brightens up the sky: [Refrain]

3 The cold wind in the winter,
the pleasant summer sun,
the ripe fruits in the garden,
God made them every one. [Refrain]

4 God gave us eyes to see them,
and lips that we might tell
how great is God Almighty,
who has made all things well. [Refrain]

The idea for the lyrics are credited to: Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

“He prayeth best, who loveth best; All things great and small; For the dear God who loveth us; He made and loveth all.” 

Another source of inspiration, most likely derived from William Paley’s Natural Theology, published in 1802,  argues for God as the designer of the natural world. For example, the hymn’s second verse alludes to “wings” and verse 7 refers to “eyes”. Paley cited wings and eyes as examples of complexity of design, analogous to that of a watch, with God as the Divine Watchmaker.

All Things Bright and Beautiful Bible Basics – YouTube

My whole day yesterday was bright and beautiful…working in the garden, sharing beautiful friendships at lunch, and later supper….It is days like these that remind us that, in spite of the worrisome situations going on in our country and the world, that God is still in charge and right now, right this very moment, He has shared His beauty with each of us.

Now I will share some of my beautiful day with you through a few photos..

A delicious lunch at Sue Anne’s with Mev and Gin-g! Sue Anne “Put on the Ritz” for us! So enjoyable…thank you Sue Anne!

.

So until tomorrow…All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful,
the Lord God made them all.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Rabbits and Ice Cream…a winning combination!

The day ended at Oscars where I had supper with my across-the-street neighbor, Vickie, and new friends, like Michelle.

Dear Reader:

I was so excited yesterday when I saw the rain drops falling on my car window as I was running errands that I about wrecked the car. Rain…beautiful rain! I found myself, gleefully, sing-songing the little verse we all grew up with as a child:

Thankfully for all the cars around me…I had my windows up (since it was raining) so they were spared my musically challenged vocal pitch.

After I had sung it two or three times…I began to wonder again, just like I did as a child, what happened to the snoring old man after he bumped his head? Was it a concussion or something worse… where he never got up again…(that is kind of a downer for a children’s nursery rhyme ending.)

I want the ‘rest of the story‘…just like Paul Harvey always gave us with his short stories. (Maybe he should have written this jingle!)

When I googled the rhyme, I discovered that I am not alone in my quest to solve the mystery of the ‘snoring old man.’ Others, too, are in ‘pursuit of the truth’ but have all come up short-handed, like me.

However, one writer, Chad Skelton, with a little tongue-in-cheek approach… at least made the process of searching entertaining to us readers. Here are some excerpts from his article: Did the Old Man (It’s Raining, It’s Pouring”) Die?”

“…Why couldn’t the old man get up in the morning? Did he die? Fall into a coma? Or was he just too lazy to get up?

To my surprise, after a fair bit of time spent searching online — far too much time, really — I couldn’t find a clear answer.

But no definitive evidence of what the actual intention of the original song was — at least in part, I imagine, because the exact origins of the song are unclear.

Skelton did stumble across a pretty hilarious 2003 study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal that complained-  “Several popular nursery rhymes portray head injuries as inevitable events that do not require medical follow-ups.” (The Five Monkeys jumping on the bed, the Old Man Snoring, Humpty Dumpty,  Jack (as in…and Jill)…just to name a few.)

Another version has evolved over time that makes the situation less suspect and more hopeful.  The last lyric reads: “And he wouldn’t get up in the morning.” Which, hopefully for the old man, suggests that he just didn’t want to get up, as opposed to not being able to.

The sequence of events in the nursery rhyme becomes a critical clue in the final analysis.

“Obviously, establishing the exact sequence of events is crucial to the creation of a differential diagnosis.

If the elderly gentleman bumped his head after retiring for the evening, one is forced to entertain potential foul play, seizure activity or even a MI (there is no evidence to confirm the commonly held belief that he was alone).

Also, it should be noted that he was “snoring.” Could his death have been precipitated by severe obstructive sleep apnea?

If he actually bumped his head before going to sleep, the list of potential mechanisms is endless, and a good forensic investigation is required to determine the cause of death.

The notoriously poor documentation of factors precipitating head injury in nursery rhymes makes it impossible to determine what really happened in this case.

And so the mystery continues…perhaps if we call in Mr. Sherlock Holmes he will discover the answer to the crime in no time…“Quite elementary my dear chaps…quite elementary.” 

What about you? What do you think happened to the old man in the nursery rhyme?

(In the meantime….all I want to know…”Is it going to keep raining…we need lots and lots of rain.”)

So until tomorrow…

“A Rainy Day is a special gift to readers.” Amen!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*We do have a mystery solved around Ludens Cough Drops! Dee said her husband, Mike, was born in Reading, Pennsylvania and the blog story (the other day) on Ludens brought “shades of nostalgia” to his face while shaving!

“Reading, Pennsylvania boasts the origin of the Luden Cough Drop. William Luden began his business in the rear of his family’s jewelry story in Reading in the late 1800’s. 

Mike said that, as a young child, he and his brother often walked downtown with their grandmother. He remembers passing by the Luden factory on 8th Street where smells of cough drops filled the air. 

Interesting tidbit: ” ...The Luden plant also made many different varieties of candies and that, to a young boy, the sweet aromas of chocolate coming from the factory were “to die for.”

Dee said “Who would have guessed?” I could get this much information out of my husband while shaving… that I never knew.

Memories are powerful, aren’t they? Thanks Dee for sharing with all of us! Now I want to try some of the chocolate!

*Latest Cardinal Targeting and Solution:

After moving my car to different driveways…even to the back yard by the garden…the infamous “RED CARDINAL” kept finding my car and “Poop” there it went again.

*I told my neighbor Luke I might have to make a police report on being a targeted victim by a cardinal. He said he watched the bird attaching my mirrors too from his front porch…and, he explained, they can really cause some damage to the mirrors…to the point that they have to be replaced.

So yesterday I went in Family Dollar and bought two black hair turbans…they fit each mirror like a glove. I had just put them both on when the “storm” hit full force…sending me running back in the house.

Last time I looked they were both still on…now I just have to remember to take them off before driving. Pray this works! I am out of paper towels and cleaning solution.

*Marcia sent this adorable picture of Lachlan and Rutledge when they were visiting her a few weeks ago and went to the children’s museum…they got to play veternarians… quite professionally.

Dear Reader:

What a beautiful thing morning is! Birds chirping, the sun peeping through the shutters, as the day calls us to come out and play! Or as Willie Nelson says: “I woke up this morning and I wasn’t dead again.” A Hallelujah Moment!

Willie Nelson was interviewed on the CBS Sunday Morning Show and he just makes us smile. We can all agree he has musical talent beyond measure, especially as a writer, but what makes him so endearing to all his many fans, is his humility. In a Shakespearean play he would be a “flawed” character which also makes him the most lovable and touchable.

Willie openly admits his mistakes through life, but also his ability to pick himself up and keep going…always with a quirky sense of humor. At his lowest point one time, he laid down in a street in downtown Nashville and told God if it was his time…he was ready.

But then Willie grins and says that it was after midnight and no cars appeared. He figured he might as well get up, brush himself off, and get back in the game of life again…. right back “On The Road Again“…and his career was off again!

“Flaws do make us human.” God, particularly, is drawn to “flawed” characters too, when it comes to choices of leadership. There’s a list a mile long from His Chosen Leaders: Here are just a few samples:

• Martha, the worrier
• Job – Went bankrupt.
• Moses – Had a speech problem.
• Gideon – Was afraid.
• Samson – Was a womanizer.
• Rahab – Was a prostitute.
• Noah – Was a Drunk.
• Jacob – Was a cheater.
• David – Was a murderer.

“If you ever feel like you aren’t worthy enough, remember that Jesus used a bunch of flawed people to share Hope to a flawed world. In HIM we find renewal and mending. Jesus didn’t call the equipped, He equipped the called. And no matter what you’ve been through in life, remember that the same power that conquered the grave lives within you.”

—Jarrid Wilson

………………………….

I love the idea that we are never too “flawed” to be considered useless to God…in fact the opposite is more closely true. The more flawed we are, the more impact we have speaking to others who can connect with our shortcomings and feel worthy of being a Child of God.

I think the Japanese have it right. We should use “gold” to fix broken vessels in our lives because flaws are part of our unique history and universally our beauty.

So until tomorrow:

“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” C.S. Lewis

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh (“I woke up not dead again.”)

Walsh got this shot of me trying to figure out if the one in-door bathroom (at the Holy City Brewery) was occupied…the handle wouldn’t turn but time went by while I hopped on one foot…waiting, waiting, waiting. Then I heard it…the sound of a commode flushing…music to one’s ears.

The  mystery was solved…a young girl came out apologizing for the long delay…her zipper had gotten stuck on the lining. It happens to all of us at one time or another. A “flawed” zipper.

*Ah…finally some pictures of Lynn Gamache’s home in British Columbia….just beautiful. Lynn and her husband have a small cottage on a 5 acre tract of land her son owns….so they are close to family and beauty.

Brooke, Pap’s daughter, is computer savvy, besides pretty, and she taught me the secret of how to unlock Lynn’s pictures to “Save.” Hallelujah for young people and their computer smarts! Thank you Brooke!