Dear Reader:

Something happened today to me that has never happened in the entire twenty-something (or is it thirty-something) years I have been telling a Christmas story at the Christmas Eve service.

I received a book in the mail that I had forgotten that I had thought about as a possibility for this past Christmas Eve service…but dismissed after being given the Legend of the Candy Cane for the MS Christmas presentation and  Christmas Eve Church Service.

Upon receiving it yesterday…the story spoke to me on so many levels following one reading. It was enough to know  it was the chosen Christmas Eve story for next year.

It is about family, tradition, giving, kindness and a homemade miracle…the best kind of Christmas story. All of us have one Christmas we can pick out from our childhood as being more special than all the others for a variety of reasons…and this is definitely the story of a very special Christmas for one member of a devoted family.

I had ordered it on-line from amazon.com under an used book dealership on December 7, 2016. It obviously ran into some transportation and/or communication problems… having just arrived on January 11, 2017 from EBOOKS (GOODWILL) in Santa Ana , CA.

It was a good thing I wasn’t counting on it for this past Christmas Eve…but am, actually, glad it didn’t arrive until after Christmas because I am so in love with this story and knowing that it will be a secret for almost a year before being told… I can treasure it privately until then.

There are already three God Winks associated with the place and timing of this book…I can’t give you a hint about this without giving you too much information but take my word for it that something in the past in California and the present in Summerville coincide in a very strange way.

Add one more God Wink….the author is a well-known children’s author and lo and behold…when I turned to the back there was her hand-written autograph with a message included…I can’t tell you the message for fear someone might recognize it as a favorite saying or “mantra” of the author…but the winks are unbelievable…as you will come to see next December… upon the revealing of 2017’s Christmas story.

Part of me hates to leave you ‘hanging’ like this for so long…a blog “cliff-hanger”… but another part loves it…because I can hardly wait to feel the gasps at the connections between this story and my life and how they came together. A Christmas story in itself.

But then again, isn’t anticipation half the enjoyment of realization? We all thought so as little children at Christmas. I have put the list of the three God Winks inside the cover of the Christmas story book so I won’t forget the setting for how this book came to be. I have stored it in my secret alcove…with a pink ribbon. Another clue to the story.

So until tomorrow…

…because it is!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Safe travels John, Mandy, Eva Cate, and Jake…(They are leaving this evening for Orlando and Disney World over the long weekend…the temps in Disney World are supposed to be in the low 80’s…who would have “thunk” it after this past weekend?)

Snuggle up children and dream of castles, trains, and two big mice! Have fun!

Dear Reader:

For the past 24 hours I have been like a woman obsessed…I watched ESPN until 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, woke up at 8:00 to pick up copies of the Post& Courier for memory keepsakes for the boys, picked up a biscuit while I was out, came home, read the paper and watched ESPN until almost noon…when I collapsed from sheer exhaustion and fell asleep until three yesterday afternoon.

It is like I don’t want this feeling of sheer exhilaration to leave…I don’t want to say good-bye to this team or the coaches…I just want this fairy tale to go on and on and on. Life won’t allow this, of course, but after (almost) 35 years from the last national title… I feel entitled to “milk it” just a little bit longer.

So please bear with me today as I make a few observations and share some home photos…because this blog is, also, a family keepsake to remember when…but more importantly, to remember the feelings attached to ‘when I was there’ and not just the win itself.

This year when Donna called me to join her and Sam again to watch the National Championship I told her, delightedly, I would be happy to come for the first half (as usual) and to  bring the sausage/cheese dip.

The next day I got another text from her reminding me to bring the red “noses” so we could “honk” every time Clemson scored. I quickly texted back….great idea…glad you remembered…will bring them.

When I went to check the bag with the “Rudolph” red noses (left over from the holidays) something stopped me in my tracks. RED NOSES! What were we thinking?

We might as well have had “trunks” (Alabama Elephants) hanging down from our noses….red….Alabama! No wonder we lost last year!

So I immediately went on-line and ordered a package of four orange clown noses. The only problem was  the order kept getting delayed… but finally  arrived Sunday afternoon (amazon mail carriers running) …and I took that as a good sign for the upcoming game…we had our orange noses!

I sent this picture to the boys with two different sayings: “We “nose” Clemson is going to win.” “We “Orange” in it!”

Ah…yes, the orange was much better…the only problem now was that we were watching the game… but without any opportunity to squeeze and honk our noses. Finally… just before the first half was over, thanks to Watson’s agile foot work, we finally got to put on our noses and squeeze them 7 times for the first touchdown.

I packed up around 10:30 to head back to the house to climb into my big pink robe, pj’s, and bedroom slippers. Armed with a heavy blanket I started making my “nest” to watch the second half.

As I reached my door in the burr cold night I smiled remembering that I had hung my Christmas Tree Clemson Tiger on the front door wreath and he is still there…with a half-smile and growl welcoming me home. “We’re number 1″ he motioned with his paw.  It was as if he knew a big secret… but he wasn’t telling!

Every time Clemson scored (the second half) I could hear (what only sounded like a Civil War cannon going off.) The walls vibrated in the house and then the texts started. Donna’s first one was : “Can you hear our orange noses honking????” I replied “Yes…and a cannon, too, I think.” (Donna had also heard the cannon and figured that it must be another Tiger fan letting himself be known in her Gamecock neighborhood.)

I then squeezed my orange nose 14 times (like the tiger mascot doing 14 push-ups)…two touchdowns to date. Honk, Honk!

Third touch-down. Text: “Honk, Honk, Honk!” I replied “And a quack, quack, quack.”

Fourth touchdown: “Excuse my French “Hot Damn” and honk, honk, honk, honk!”  To which I replied: “Sho nuff and spit-fire…look at dem Tigers go”

Of course, it got so crazy the last two minutes of the game that we were both holding our breaths in each of our respective home dens, squeezing the orange sponge balls in our hands. A great de-stresser. (I am surprised I didn’t squeeze all the orange out of the sponge!)

Before I left Sam and Donna’s house, we  had talked about destiny and how we all felt that this was an element to be reckoned with in this game. (Like Dabo later told his team during half-time…”We are going to win…I don’t know how…but we love each other and it is going to happen”) …that is what a lot of us Clemson fans felt about this team that squeaked to victory weekend after weekend…causing us palpitations… but somehow they kept pulling it out. It was like destiny was calling.

Our last two texts read: Donna:  “You were right…don’t mess with destiny! We are honking like crazy!!!! My hero #4!!!) I replied “It is all about love.” To which Donna replied, “Well said, Dabo.” 

In the midst of all the textings came the phone calls….one from Walsh who was deliriously happy and all I could hear was the noise of the crowd and the ecstasy/joy in his voice. (It is the same feeling we parents get when we  nail the perfect Christmas gift that brings squeals of delight to our children and now grandchildren.)

Here is a collage of photos that floated back and forth Monday night…forming a compilation of treasured memories. Sunday night Walsh and Tommy went to a Clemson Living Legends party hosted by Sammy Watkins and C. J Spiller…I am sure that was a blast.

Great seats in the end zone!

Last year Rudy cheered on the Tigers and I have no doubt he is still cheering them on this year on an elevated platform…while his two “brothers” (Pip and Atticus) carry on the tradition and torch for him during the game.

Sent “thinking of you” text photos to Tommy and Walsh.

Here is an excerpt from Dana Clark Howard, Donna’s daughter, who wrote this article last year about her adopted town of Clemson and the people who live there. Even though the outcome was different this year…the same feelings of love and bonding live on in the “hamlet” of Clemson… no matter the outcome: win or lose. The feeling of pure joy and jubilation continue for a very special team that has bonded with the community like no other….a team that only comes along in a “blue”… perhaps “purple” moon.

…”All that’s to say that I don’t think I’ve ever felt more love for football or for my adopted town than I do right this very minute. Because for right now it doesn’t matter when you got on the bandwagon. It doesn’t matter if your degree says Clemson or Carolina or if you even have one at all. It doesn’t matter whether you know a first down from a flag.

It doesn’t matter if you usually pull for a Bulldog or a Gamecock. Right now what matters is that we’re having a turn & this little town is alive. It’s like there’s a direct line of energy running from Phoenix straight to the center of College Avenue & it’s sending out a buzz everywhere–from the bank to the check out line at Publix.

Everyone is happy & anxious & excited &… Well, it’s kinda like Christmas was when we were little. It’s just fun. And I’m grateful for the folks sharing their journeys & I’m even thankful for the folks who usually cheer & dance during 2001:A Space Odyssey, but are being reserved enough to let us celebrate & enjoy the experience.

I write a lot on Facebook because I’m not a journal keeper. I’m not a scrapbooker, but this is a medium I can connect to. And I want to document this moment of pure joy. Because that’s what we’re living smack dab in the middle of–a heart full of joy for this very special Tiger team! 

So until tomorrow….Believe in yourself and God’s guidance towards making dreams come true. Belief becomes self-prophecy.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Thanks Clemson for adding so much excitement and joy to our lives on a cold January night…for sharing your dream with the world.

“I’m a proud Clemson alum, I’m a proud governor, and I’m a proud South Carolinian,” the governor said. “Clemson showed their heart and humility throughout the entire season, and in an unforgettable national championship victory, they reminded us that, with faith and hard work, anything is possible. That’s what defines South Carolina.”

Dear Reader:

We have talked many times about guardian angels and how they appear most times as just another face in a crowd of many…who tells you something you need to hear or warns you about potential disaster in the near future or helps you in time of need.

The story today falls in the last category…the guardian angel who appears at our greatest moment of need. The “Repo” Man. Yes, I said the “Repo” Man is the real hero , the guardian angel in this story. Once again, it is a Steve Hartman special story from CBS Sunday Morning and once again, I was overcome with emotion watching it.

Guardian angels do come in all shapes and sizes….not always looking like our imagined stereotypical angel.

In fact sometimes our guardian angel turns out to look like somebody we never want to see upclose and personal…a “repo” man repossessing our car or furniture from us.

And here he is….Jim, the “Repo” Man…the guardian angel in our story.

Elderly couple grateful for repo man with heart of gold  (Steve Hartman)

“ This job isn’t easy or popular…the “Repo” man said. You’re going to have people try to run you over with your car.”

“He was wonderful. I mean, he’s the kindest man I’ve ever met in all my life,” Pat Kipping said of her repo man.

Pat and her husband Stan live in Red Bud, Illinois. Stan, a Navy vet and retired janitor, is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s.

They say they were never rich, but they’ve never been this deep in debt, either. The most devastating blow came just a few months back when they realized couldn’t even afford the $100 payments on their ’98 Buick Century.

“When he took the car I said, ‘God, do whatever, whatever you think is best for us.’ You know, God works in mysterious ways,” Pat said.

Well, if he’s working through a repo man that’s the most mysterious of all.

“They’re like America’s grandparents. I saw my grandparents in them,” Jim said. “And I made it a block before I pulled over and called the bank. And I asked them if I could pay off the past due amount.”

Jim returned a few days later. He had the car detailed, the oil changed, even put a frozen turkey in the front.

He also started a GoFundMe campaign, which covered the late payments, and then some.

“We paid off the whole car. You have no car payments anymore,” Jim told Pat and Stan when he returned the car.

“Oh my God,” Pat replied.

“Paid the whole thing off.”  

Finally, he gave them an envelope with the extra money, more than $17,000 extra, to date.

Pat was asked how this changed her outlook on life.

“There’s good people out there. He’s our guardian angel,” she said.

There are good people out there — guardian angels — and sometimes you find them in the most unlikely places and professions.

Because, although kindness is rarely a job, no matter what you do, it’s always an option.

………………………………..

So until tomorrow…we all have options and being kind to our fellow man should take top priority….a goal for 2017!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

***It is one a.m. and I am so filled with love and happiness that my cup runneth over. I have been receiving photos all night and will share them later about this once-in-a-lifetime experience…but for right now…right this very minute…this is the picture, that I as a mother, will treasure forever.

 It is the moment that my two sons got to witness history made and learned how to believe in miracles…to see the impossible become the possible with just enough time…one second to be exact.

 I love you Walsh and Tommy! The team and time of destiny! You were there!

Dear Reader:

Have you ever considered the idea that nothing is possible without faith in things we can’t see but feel? If we just picked up the Bible and started reading it from front to back with no faith, whatsoever, we would be constantly shaking our heads repeating, “That’s impossible…no way, that couldn’t have happened, that miracle didn’t take place…impossible, ridiculous!”

But once our faith is anchored in our belief in God, as our Creator, then our perspective completely changes…of course God could do this or that…He is God.

Isn’t that the way we should look at “impossibilities” in our own lives? “Impossibilities” are simply temporary barriers or challenges but they aren’t foregone conclusions…nothing is impossible in God’s universe…nothing.

Again…it is sometimes Father Time that delays immediate possible solutions to impossibilities…but given enough time…the impossible always falls victim to the possible.

Here are some examples from a Huffington Post article titled: “Be Fearless: Make the Impossible Possible.” Jonathan Alpert.

Unknown factors were already in progress before any conscious thought of going to a National Championship  struck a neuron in either Walsh or Tommy’s mind. Tampa, Florida was selected for the game site….For South Carolinians this made the location financially feasible….a car drive instead of a plane ticket. Big savings there.

Dear Reader:

Yesterday was a day when I had to make a decision…be disappointed in the timing of rain and freezing temps producing only a cold, wet Saturday morning for us or find things to be happy about and get on with living life.

*I was just like Eva Cate…running to the front porch and deck to see if any snowflakes were falling…nada. (And I did hear thunder rolling the other day during the earlier rainstorm…one wives’ tale says if one hears thunder in the winter…you will see snow within ten days. Didn’t work this time.)

After all Winnie the Pooh acknowledged it was a ‘blustery day’ but he found ways to love it anyway…outside and inside. I thought to myself as I pulled the covers back over me yesterday morning to the sound of rain ‘pitter-patter’ on the roof…that I was so lucky.

I had gone to the store and picked up plenty of food for the weekend, and had gotten some wood for the fireplace. I could sleep in if I wanted to and I had one of my favorite author’s books (Karen White) to read. Gloomy, cold weather or not…I had everything I needed to be content…to be happy.

So for lunch I fixed a big pot of potato and cheese soup….comfort food at its best! My all-time favorite and after eating it…suddenly everything seemed brighter…no matter how dark and dense the clouds.

I waited until late afternoon, when darkness fell, to start a fire…there is something just so comforting about a fire in the evening with the light of the flames flickering across the walls and floors. Life is good.

Later,  as I was checking my emails, my monthly blog message from Kate-Wolfe-Jensen popped up and her blog was on joy and our pivotal role in bringing it into our lives, even when we feel anything but joyful. Joy is a power that won’t be denied for long…it is sneaky and will catch you off-guard bringing its two companions… merriment and humor with it.

Fierce joy, gentle joy

Kate-Wolfe Jensen

Kind Promise:  I will live joyfully for no reason.

Every morning, before you get out of bed, remind yourself to choose joy.

Set your intention to joy in the same way that you set the thermostat in your house to 68°. “Sometimes, things may get hotter and sometimes cooler, but I will always return to joy.”

There are days, when the sun is shining and the air is full of possibility. On those days, choosing joy is easy.

There are other days, when you wake to pain or disappointment or grief. They weigh you down. Those are the days when you must choose a fierce joy. It will slice like a blade through those burdens, allowing you to drop into a pool of grace that will hold you up and carry you through.

Sometimes joy will creep up on you, poke you in the ribs and run around giggling, daring you to catch it.
“This is not an appropriate time,” you might say, if you are trying to prove you are grown-up. Be careful. Joy is easily shushed. It will pout for a second and then skip away to find someone else with whom to play.

Perhaps you will feel the gentle joy that kneads your shoulders loose and runs a delicate finger up your spine until you realize that, against all odds, you are happy. Such tender joy may sit beside you for hours at a time.

Joy cannot be bound, though. If you try to force its presence, it will slip away. Invite it to ride in on a deep breath as you awaken to your senses. Noticing you are alive is a good first step.

Let joy, in all its forms, be your companion. Let it bring you strength, open your heart and add sparkle to your day.

……………………….

So until tomorrow…I double-dog dare you to listen to Pharrell Williams’ 2013 mega-hit “HAPPY” and not get happy yourself! Come on now…click this video on and if you can sit through it without moving your feet, snapping your fingers, mouthing the words or ‘get-down’ dancing…  then you need some serious happy healing in your life! Do I see a smile coming?

Pharrell Williams – Happy (Official Music Video) – YouTube

*When I took the ornaments off my Christmas tree last Monday I saved some for year-round perusal pleasure. One of these was Honey’s perfect heart leaf. Do you remember a few weeks ago she found, not one, but two leaves with a perfectly symmetrical heart cut-out in the leaf. A human could not begin to cut such a perfect heart out of a leaf…the two leaves were miles apart but yet the same strange phenomenon occurred.

So Honey made Christmas tree ornaments from these leaves with an explanation and as a memory token for friends visiting her and Mike in the mountains. Now this is an example of a ‘gentle joy’ that stays forever in our own hearts.

• I loved Ambika’s comment on my life lesson… concerning resting and waiting on the Lord when you reach an impasse in your life where certain things are out of one’s control.
• The only thing I could think to do to help bring up my low blood count levels was to rest, eat healthy, and pray….leaving the rest up to God.  *Ambika nailed it when she wrote:
• “Yes Becky, nothing is too hard for the Lord… With God, all things are possible… We need to wait upon the Lord and be of good cheer.. He makes all things beautiful in His time!!” (Amen Ambika!)

Dear Reader:

Michele Robertson sent me some sample scriptures of miracles God performed for His people, even His own Son… yet there were still disbelievers among the receivers. Some people never see miracles unfolding in their own daily lives.

One re-reading of scripture made me stop and think about the significance of the time-order from this passage. It is one of the most famous stories from the new Testament…the story of the ” Two Fishes and the Five Loaves.”

Jesus is never in doubt about the miracle that is about to transpire. When He prays to God, it is simply to thank Him (ahead of time) for the miracle that is forthcoming. Jesus had no doubt at all that enough food would be provided to feed the five thousand. That wasn’t even an issue. Jesus knew God would provide for them and thanked Him for this miracle.

Now that is faith at its best…perfectly mentored to His followers….to have so much faith in God that we know the miracle will occur…perhaps not on our time-table or in the form we imagined…but it will occur…of that we should never doubt.

Now let’s think about our own prayers for daily miracles…don’t they sometimes contain more doubt than faith? They might sound like this: “Well God I know it would take a miracle for me to get this new job but if it isn’t too much trouble and everything and if You think I am kinda worthy…I sure would like this promotion….and I kinda need You to jump in right now, if You’re not too busy, since the deadline for application is tomorrow.” ” Oh yeah…thanks.”

Of course then when we don’t get the new job, promotion, relationship, house, car, whatever… when we think we need it…we  turn bitter and blame God for waiting too late to make our requests materialize and His answer evident…

His answer was evident…it just wasn’t what we wanted to hear so we ignored it. This was not the right time for that new job…a better, more suitable job would come up for grabs in six months, but only God knew this and He also knew the wait would pay back dividends to the prayer requester in the end.

As much as we like to blame  God when things don’t come out the way we expected them to…God is never in a hurry, He is never late, and He is always on time. Faith is trusting God to show us the right way at the right time.

*Proverbs 19:2 says, “Impatience will get you into trouble.” It’s frustrating to be in a hurry and God isn’t. God is never in a hurry! The Bible says a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day to God. He’s larger than time. One of the most useless things to try to do is to speed up God. When we try to take matters into our own hands and help God out, we get in trouble.

*Source: “In a Delay, You can Trust God’s Timing.” Rick Warren

The Bible says to trust God’s timing: “Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him to act …. Don’t fret and worry — it only leads to harm” (Psalm 37:7-8)

*I had a chance to test this piece of scripture last week as I tried to rest, eat right, and not over-do to see if my “miracle” could occur…to get my blood count numbers up over the critically low count level. Doing nothing has never come easy to me…but somehow I, intuitively, knew that I had to have faith that rest and nourishment would help me get back on the right health track. And it did.

*Resting can be an act of faith. It means you’re waiting on God. When Jesus and the disciples were in a boat that was caught in a big storm, Jesus  kept sleeping through all the ruckus while the disciples freaked out. When they woke him up to ask, “Why are you sleeping?!” he responded, “Do you think God is going to let the boat sink with me in it?” By sleeping through the storm, Jesus was saying that we can trust God even in the middle of a storm.

I still feel that God isn’t through with me yet…that “God is not going to let the boat sink with me in it” or in this case, let the blood count number sink too low within my body. God wanted me to rest, to sleep, and to have enough faith in Him to steer the ship through this personal storm in my life… while I rested. It worked.

So until tomorrow:

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Honey sent this me this beautiful photo of their first snowfall in 2017…she said it has been a joy to watch the snowflakes softly tumble to the ground. I told Honey I would be happy to see one snowflake…I do love to watch snow fall….there is nothing lovelier. Such a sense of peace and serenity.

Dear Reader:

I sure do love onions…anyway you cook them…I love them. I met Anne and Mary for hamburgers at Oscars yesterday to kick off 2017 in our traditional way….hamburgers and french fries…the day to leave healthy eating behind and just enjoy good old comfort food! And you can believe I ordered onions for my burger.

I, also, love to order those wonderful barbecue baskets that come with a sandwich, french fries, and a huge fried onion to boot….almost more than I can stand in one sitting….pure happiness….but it is love at first sight for onions sauted, fried, baked, floured….and served just plain raw. Onions just put  zap into flavor. Nothing smells better than onions cooking in butter in a frying pan….

Well, now that I have established my love for onions…let me tell you why I enjoyed them (and the burger they were on) yesterday. My “risky” low blood count in several hemoglobin categories last week (December 28) at my oncologist office has improved!

All the ominous words like “risky” or “critically” low (that showed up on the blood work analysis sheet) were gone. Sure there were still some “lows” but no scary descriptive adjectives or adverbs hanging around. We are back on course with the medication that will hopefully stabilize “little c” again while carefully watching for more potential serious side effects. Life is a balancing act. Dr. Seuss was and is right.

I told Dr. Silgals that it must have been the “hoppin johns and greens” that took me over the top…He said it was definitely a lucky stroke to get the blood count heading back in the right direction. (We were going to have to re-examine the dosage if things were still critically low or look at other options down the road.) So I am very happy. I will return in three weeks to see if I am still climbing up that happy blood count hill.

*I forgot to let Dr. Silgals know that the pivotal turning point last week came last Saturday- New Year’s Eve- when the Clemson Tigers beat Ohio State…I could literally feel my blood count climbing higher and higher (probably as well as my blood pressure) because I had more energy after that game than I have had in weeks.

 Hummm…I think I will text Coach Dabo and tell him that Clemson needs to win Monday night to kick my low blood count into outer-space…no pressure…just wanted him to know this. Go Tigers!  🙂

I will admit that I did pamper myself the entire week before returning yesterday to re-check the blood work….I ate healthy, starting with Anne’s delicious supper a week ago Thursday, consumed  lots of veggies (along with your wonderful soup Gin-g) I slept practically around the clock, read, and occasionally walked in the garden and cleaned up a little…but basically I just rested. It paid off…(that I am very thankful for)… but I am ready to get out a little more now and be around people…it was starting to get a little too “solitary.”

Now back to our onion. Did you know that the sweet onion is Utah’s state vegetable?..Somehow I figured they put the potato under that category like Cracker Barrel labels “dumplins” as a  vegetable. ( Picture of their vegetable plate)

In this folklore story (I had never heard) it is the onion, not the apple, that brings about the fall of one poor woman.

That’s My Onion!

There was this rich lady who lived on her own and led an impeccable life as far as the externals of religion were concerned. She went to mass daily, and found little or nothing to confess when she went to confession. Eventually she died and to her horror and surprise found that she had been assigned to hell.

She complained bitterly explaining how she had lived a virtuous and utterly blameless life on earth. Satan inquired of Peter and was told there was no mistake. But Peter conceded that if she could think of one single act of kindness she had done on earth, heaven would be open to her.

The woman returned saying: “One day,” she said, “as I was cooking the dinner a beggar came to the back door. He was hungry and I gave him an onion.” Peter checked and found that it was true and said to Satan. “We are going to lower the onion into your department at the end of a rope. Tell her to clasp it and then we’ll pull her up here.”

Needless to say the woman grabbed the onion and suddenly her feet left the nether region. As she was being pulled up, some of her companions, seeing the opportunity of getting out with her, clung to her. “Let go, let go,” she shrieked, kicking out at them, “that’s my onion.”

With these words, “That’s my onion,” the rope snapped and she fell back, with her onion, into the arms of Satan, who said to her, “That rope was strong enough to save both you and your brothers, but it was not strong enough to save you alone.”

James A Feeban from ‘Story Power’

The truth in this story really hits uncomfortably too close to home for me…“If the road to hell is paved with good intentions…well...let’s just say I do have a lot of good intentions…it is following through that seems to make me stumble.

I get a bad case of the “Someone else’s” every now and then….as different projects, needs, etc. are read at church I think to myself that “somebody else” is surely better qualified to do that than me. I am a spontaneous giver and enjoy that type of giving enormously because I love spontaneous creative giving…but I not a long-plan giver. Somehow I need to find a way to connect the two different directions together. (After all, as much as I love onions, I don’t want it to be the last thing I see in my hand while falling the wrong direction.)

So until tomorrow…Help us Father give up the idea of perfect giving and replace it with needed giving…giving when someone else needs it and not when we have time to provide the perfect giving.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

I do like playing in the dirt and have missed it the past few weeks with the craziness of the holidays and the “elevator” weather that has swung back and forth, like a pendulum throughout Christmas, (and obviously will continue the habit this weekend…BURRR!)

So since the rain had just softened the ground, Tuesday, I thought it was time, yesterday, to put the beautiful camellia plant Honey gave me, at Christmas, deep in the ground to keep it snug and warm through the upcoming chilly days.

There is something so satisfying about planting anything…a seed, a bulb, a flowering plant….because you know, deep inside, you are adding  life to this planet. Pretty powerful when you think about it. And another God Wink…the name of this Southern Living camellia plant is: Magic Dawn. Magic played a central theme throughout this year’s Christmas. I have a feeling this plant will be magical in beauty.

As I was digging the hole…I could hear the cries of distant geese, Dakota, my neighbor’s dog, barking for my attention (to come play ball) the buses dropping off grateful children from school, and then extended periods of silence where Old Man Winter could be barely heard whispering “I’m coming…I”m coming”…are you ready?”

I have noticed more often than not, when I am around close friends the topic of the importance of time alone each day creeps into the conversation more and more. I am a social person and don’t like being alone for extended periods…but each day I physically and emotionally crave my “alone” time. It is used more for reflection than anything but it is, also, my “equalizer” time.

I make myself think of how many blessings I have in comparison to just a few annoyances….not only do the two sides equal out…the blessings weigh the scales down in its favor…hands down. So stop with the whining and complaining Becky…you are getting on my nerves sometimes. Instead…what a wonderful gift we have in our lives…the gift of time alone to keep re-introducing our changing selves to our constant souls!

When we use terms, like ‘dead of winter‘ it allows us to sink into a melancholy state of mind sometimes…but being blessed to live in the lowcountry (in a semi-tropical geographical zone)…we are never without beauty blooming year around.

Right now I am looking out my side (computer room) window and realize that I have five pink sasanqua blooms on my tree-sized bush, on the other side of the driveway, where there were only two yesterday…with more buds to open than one can count…continuous beauty. Nothing is really dead…just resting and waiting for the right time to resurrect.

I have also discovered that just adding something bright to the landscape can change our frame of mind too….as I glanced over the garden, after cutting off some dead limbs and stems, I thought to myself that a bright new garden flag would perk things up for the winter…and then remembered I got one for Christmas…Duh.

It is perfect…a winter owl welcoming everyone to the garden for peace, serenity, and solitude, as needed!

I like the following two quotes because the season of winter is conducive to home time and “me” reflection time.

“Winter is the time for comfort – it is the time for home.” Edith Sitwell

“There is no privacy that other seasons give you…In spring, summer, and fall… people have an open season on each other; only in the winter, can you have longer quiet stretches when you savor belonging to yourself.”

Okay, now for my true confession…this most idiotic display of my total lack of concentration on mundane things, will make anything you have ever done pale, most likely, in comparison. (It gave the CVS pharmacists a hoot and a story to remember for awhile.)

Some of the pills I take daily are in capsule form and easy to take with water but I have a few that are caplets and taste horrible…even for those mere seconds it is on my tongue before swallowing…so I take these with a couple of swigs of diet coke to disguise the bitter taste.

A few days ago I finished breakfast and got ready to take the first two pills of the day…one I had already taken with some water and the other I waited to take until I got my cap off the diet coke. Done…taken. Now to wait til lunch for the next round and then supper and bedtime for the last rounds.

My mind must have already jumped to something else going on later in the morning because as I went to put the top on my caplet pills something felt wrong. It didn’t stop at the top, like normal, but slide inside the bottle.

I jerked alert and looked down into my medicine bottle and there was my diet coke cap wedged securely halfway down the bottle. No squeezing or running a knife between the cap and bottle would free it. I had to go to CVS anyway to pick up another prescription and so, with a red face, I got in the Consultation queue.

When it was my turn I nervously laughed at the young girl and said “I am going to hand you something that you probably haven’t seen to date in your pharmaceutical experiences.” Suddenly she looked curious at the bottle I was holding. I took off the correct top and showed her the wedged diet coke cap halfway down the bottle.

“Cool” she said, laughing, I can hardly wait for this challenge.” Almost immediately I noticed two other workers were looking, asking questions, staring back at me strangely, and then laughing. Apparently they reached a conclusion on best how to eject the stuck cap. Someone took out some ‘pliers-like’ instrument and with a loud pop the coke cap went flying across the pharmacy bouncing off the wall on the other side. When the girl returned she asked if I would like my coke cap back. I politely declined and told them they could keep it as a souvenir to remember me by.

Here is a visual I took before leaving for CVS. I had tried knifing it out….turned it upside down and pounded on the bottom…squeezed it as hard as I could (the plastic they make medicine bottles out of today is tough…wouldn’t budge at all)

So the next time you do something ‘dumb’…just remember me and you will feel so much better.

So until tomorrow….Let us remember to create little islands of solitude for ourselves to help us stay focused on what is really important in life. Take time to delight in your own unique self!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

When  today’s article popped up on my screen yesterday I stopped after reading it and suddenly remembered the book Anne loaned me years ago, The Alchemist, which changed my way of thinking about our roles throughout life and at the same time our role in the present.

“Everyone believes the world’s greatest lie...” says the mysterious old man.

“What is the world’s greatest lie?” the little boy asks.
The old man replies, “It’s this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what’s happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That’s the world’s greatest lie.”  (Paulo Coelho)

(*Isn’t this so true…when we feel that we are losing control at the helm of our ship, during a certain stage of life, don’t we suddenly want to victimize ourselves by blaming the fates rather than showing the world our individualized light and love?)

Source: Article: Medicine for the Earth: Author: Sandra Ingerman

In all spiritual traditions it is taught that everything that manifests in the physical world starts in the invisible realms of spirit.

We must remember that a baby grows in the womb. Trees and plants start with a seed that is nurtured in the earth and then expands into roots, branches, leaves, buds, fruits, and flowers. Creation comes through us.

We often expect change just to happen magically without the inner work that is needed to create outer change. We want science to magically create “a cure” for all the ills of our times. But the true changes we are looking for must come from within. We need to incorporate spiritual practices into our daily lives and live the practices.

We need to be able to work through the dark states of consciousness and transform them into golden light. This is the true meaning of alchemy. And then our outer world will reflect our state of light back to us.

We must remember that we are not just form and matter. We are luminous beings. And our destiny is to radiate light.

Right now many of us walk around with unexamined thoughts, attitudes, and emotions. We live a life filled with fear and this generates states of hate and war. We believe that there is scarcity of resources and that we are limited in what we can create. This is a reflection of how we live from a place of separation.

The ultimate teaching is, “It is who we become that changes the world and not what we do.” The part of us that is “becoming” involves remembering that we are spiritual beings whose destiny is to radiate light and channel unconditional love. We came here to learn about the power of love and to create from love. The part that we are “doing” involves how we walk on this earth as conscious beings. We must be conscious of every action, thought, and word. For once again, our outer world is a reflection of our inner state.

…………………………………

So until tomorrow:

Doesn’t our whole perspective change when we see ourselves as “spiritual beings whose destiny is to radiate light and channel unconditional love?”  When we stop identifying ourselves by gender, race, job, and societal status….but instead as universal vessels of light and love…we suddenly see ourselves the way God perceives us and it is a wonderful world.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Dear Reader:

You might remember that I have talked earlier about my “obsession” with security that keeps me in a worry condition way too much of the time. It is like I feel if I let go of the reins for even awhile,  the carriage and horses will leave me sitting in the dust  in the middle of a road all alone. My promise to myself is to stop wasting time worrying, turn it over to God, and instead use that time to live life more “abundantly.”

It should start with this sign being pasted on my mirror each morning. Many of you are familiar with it, but how quickly we forget when we settle in and “milk” our financial pity party mood.

Wealth is a state of mind. We forget that fact… especially growing up in our affluent country too often. If we are surrounded with caring people, have a roof over our heads and food in our mouths, then we are wealthy.

If we run out of money before our monthly budget is up or an unexpected car or appliance problem pops us…we (me) can quickly freak out when, in reality,  this worst day scenario happening to us… for someone else living in a third nation….or in our own country living below the poverty level… would perceive it as the best financial problem they ever had because it amounts to nothing in their world.

…”That’s all” they might say incredulously at our despair…Just use a laundromat or wash your clothes by hand or walk to work or catch a bus….”What’s the problem?” “It’s just an inconvenience…it’s not a life and death situation for heavens sakes?”

So for 2017 I am setting my mind alarm… by turning it on mute. I will not react ridiculously to any unexpected financial burden…but instead deal with it as best I can and move on to more important things like living the best life I can.

This time of year we are undulated with weight loss, healthy eating, and financial help infomercials. These businesses love January because everyone is ready to hop on the change bus...and then hop right back off  in February.

I did, however, come across one savings plan that I am going to try and I will keep you up to date on how it is going or if I change buses during the year. I am hoping I can pull this off….If I do I will get a photo taken of me holding up my savings at the bank the last day of December 2017.

Here is how it works. (I already have my 2017 monthly calendar broken down into 52 weeks with the amount by each week I need to set aside.)

Quarterly this year I will let you know my savings amount and how things are going…move over Suze Orman….hopefully this tortoise will win the race…using back- to- basics savings programs.

I think my real problem is that I am a “Nickel and dimer” spender…nothing big or elaborate…but enough “small” things that add up each month that I could definitely do without…and not lose anything that deters from living a wonderful life.

My “nickel and dime” habits remind me of a story I heard over the holidays about this South American vine, know as the “matador” or murderer that appears innocently enough as a small green plant…but over time invades and kills the tree while blooming (almost tauntingly) when it strikes the final blow. The poor tree never saw it coming…it got so used to it being a part of its daily life.

“The Matador”

Steve Arterburn

New Life Everyday Devotions

A strange species of vine known as the matador grows in South America. Roughly translated, the Spanish word matador means “killer.” This plant has certainly earned its name. The matador begins its life growing at the foot of a tree. At first, it looks like a harmless little plant. But as it grows, the matador relentlessly winds its way around the tree, makes its way to the top, and slowly strangles the tree. When the matador reaches the tree’s top, it bursts forth in flower—as if celebrating its kill and crowning itself victor.

Many habits in our lives are like the matador. They seem harmless at first and grow slowly. But left unchecked, they’re dangerous.

Is there a matador-like habit winding its way around your life right now?

So until tomorrow…the Boo has a plan….to go live life and have no regrets…compass straight ahead. Let’s go 2017!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I am off! One dollar down and $999 to go! Wish me luck! Mother’s old lock box is my inspiration. She was amazing with handling finances…a mentor to me.