Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Dear Reader:

I came across an interview with Gordon Hempton, (who I will have to admit, I had never heard of until now), and  loved every word he was saying in the discourse-things like…“Silence is not a luxury, but it is essential.”

Particularly today….the issue of silence and quietness is top on my mind. The roofers are here taking off and putting on shingles. I have begun to notice that there is a pattern to laying shingles…it goes: “Rat-tat-tat-tat (3 second pause) tat-tat.”

I was told it is good to hear so many “tats” because that is the number of nails being hammered in (per shingle) to hold it in place. Four is acceptable…six even better.

After listening to this pattern for awhile I have found myself typing to the same beat on the computer keys…”rat-tat-tat-tat…tat-tat.” (I must admit, however, I am beginning to crave my quiet little computer room again….it is harder to get “in the zone” with hammers pounding overhead.)

In one story…Hempton told about his life course change and how it pertained to silence in a very important “aha” moment he encountered on his way to graduate school.

I grew up thinking that I was a listener except on my way to graduate school one time, I simply pulled over making the long drive from Seattle, Washington, to Madison, Wisconsin, pulled over in a field to get some rest and a thunderstorm rolled over me.

While I lay there and the thunder echoed through the valley and I could hear the crickets, I just simply took it all in. And it’s then I realized that I had a whole wrong impression of what it meant to actually listen. I thought that listening meant focusing my attention on what was important even before I had heard it and screening out everything that was unimportant even before I had heard it

In other words, I had been paying a lot of attention to people, but I really hadn’t been paying a lot of attention to what is all around me. It was on that day that I really discovered what it means to be alive as another animal in a natural place. That changed my life.

I had one question and that was how could I be 27 years old and have never truly listened before? I knew, for me, I was living life incredibly wrong, so I abandoned all my plans, I dropped out of graduate school, I moved to Seattle, took my day job as a bike messenger and only had one goal, and that was to become a better listener.

His epiphany hit home to me…aren’t we all guilty of only half-listening in conversations while the other half is busy already creating a response to the speaker?  And like yesterday, when we talked about turning around to enjoy more of God’s beautiful world…if we are listening intently to one person ( as we were taught in school to do) aren’t we missing out on the sounds of the world passing us by?

Hempton (a coustic ecologist) says that “silence is becoming an endangered species…almost extinct” and that Earth has become a “solar-powered jukebox.”

He defines real quiet as presence- not an absence of sound, but an absence of noise.

…”I think a physicist will tell you that true silence does not exist, not on planet Earth with an atmosphere and oceans. When I speak of silence, I often use it synonymously with quiet.

I mean silence from modern life, silence from all these sounds that have nothing to do with the natural acoustic system, which is busy communicating.” (like wildlife and different wind sounds going through different type of leaves and needles.)

It is getting harder and harder to find a quiet interlude during the day or night. Sometimes…even early in the morning…I hear garbage trucks off in the distance or late in the evening…music from parties at the club. There is nothing wrong with these sounds…I actually enjoy listening to the music…but, once again, it proves how hard it is to find total silence in our society any more.

Maybe that is the reason we, unconsciously, crave it (silence) so badly. (like right now!)

In Hempton’s lifetime quest to find the quietest places on earth he has, also, discovered his own spirituality…his soul along the journey. “Quiet is a think tank for the soul.”

Here is a link to the top ten quietest places in America to visit.

The 10 Quietest Places in the United States | Ecorazzi

So until tomorrow…let us spend as much time finding our personal quiet places as we do looking for a new home. Everyone needs a daily dose of “silence.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Flowers are my “think tanks to the soul”

Dear Reader:

I had an epiphany yesterday ( well, maybe a little wink) when I walked into my den around 9:00 a.m from the garden. I had my door open and the sun was shining through the glass storm door. I turned on the ceiling fans and for some reason…the shadows of the fans turning around spread across the orange stucco wall.

It was so cool…watching the shadows dance to the circular motion of the ceiling fans. It was then that I remembered one of the workmen had graciously brought in his ladder Monday to replace a recessed bulb for me from the high den ceiling.

The worker had slanted the direction of the bulb, a little differently, from the other two lights, unknowingly, and now I had the fun of watching the results. His “error” opened up a whole new range of lighting and shadowing displays…never seen before.

I started thinking about this…how one small change can set off a whole new chain reaction…if we pause in life long enough to “turn around.”

So I grabbed my trusty iPhone/camera and set out on an adventure to see what lay behind me waiting to be seen with just one “turn around.”

I had walked past my rabbit statue, without a backwards glance several times in the garden, but yesterday I realized that the other “lazy susan” plant I bought… looked so cute and “fall-ish” behind my rabbit…perked that rabbit right up with the bright yellow flowers.

This “turn-around” item dates back a whole year…Over the weekend I came across the birthday card I bought for Mandy last year, lost, and found this year right before Mandy’s upcoming benchmark birthday on the third of September.

Inside the card…the verse reads:

You have brought me a special kind of happiness into my life, and I love the times we spend together. 

(So very true…such a special relationship between a mother and daughter.)

Monday night I was gathering up gardening tools and putting them in the garage. As I started slowly back towards the house I noticed the moon peeking out from under some shimmering wispy, veiled clouds.

The moon was between a quarter moon and a half moon…as if suspended in the starry skies waiting to move one step (or one night) closer to its goal of a full moon.

I aimed the iPhone and pressed the button but nothing seemed to happen…I jiggled it and then as I was “turning around” to aim it toward the moon and the darkening sky one more time…the flash went off and this beautiful, strange photo was created.

Not to be outdone…as darkness descended quickly upon the garden (it was a little after eight) something white caught my eye and I “turned around.” There was another beautiful moon flower where none had been just minutes before my photo of the moon.

It appeared to be calling me over with “Look at me…forget that faraway moon…and see me in all my beauty right before you.”

This time the flash immediately went off and a clear, un-abstracted photo emerged.

Sometimes in the busyness of life, with our eyes focused on the imminent next event in our lives,we forget to simply “turn around” and look behind us. There lies an invisible world of sheer beauty in all its abundance…overlooked by us too many times because we have our eyes glues to the prize straight ahead.

The “prize” can actually be behind us…not in front of us…if we just stop along life’s path and  “turn around.”

So until tomorrow…Let us never get completely entrenched in the “straight and narrow”  …sometimes the real beauty lies in the bent width of life… just a turn away.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Anne has a most beautiful “turn around” story that she left in the comments early this morning…..thank you for sharing Anne.

My TURN AROUND story comes from my weekly walks with a birding group at Magnolia Gardens. Every Saturday around 10 am we’d see an eagle flying over the rice dikes near the Ashley River.

One Saturday we climbed the tower as usual; we looked and looked for that eagle. There was no sign of him until we “turned” to leave. He was perched in a tree not thirty feet behind us – a magnificent view!

*I think God loves eagles too….there is so much scripture referencing them….love this verse.

*Today is Eva Cate’s first day of school at ECDC….John saved pictures from each first day of school there since she was two. Basically it is the same group of students….almost like high school…Eva Cate is entering her final “senior” year. It is hard to believe! The next time I “turn around” Eva Cate will be graduating from high school. Times flies so fast!

Dear Reader:

The nicest thing about looking for a certain book or a piece of jewelry or whatever it is…is that, more often than not, we get detoured by another “find.”

That is what happened to bring about the idea for this post. I was looking for one thing and found another…a message that a mother wrote to her son on high school graduation day. The son kept it in his wallet until the day his wife found it following his sudden heart attack and death.

Apparently the advice on the message took him far as he lead a quite successful life, both personally and professionally. It did make me pause and re-think my day yesterday….I hope it does the same for you today.

This is the beginning of a new day

I have been given this day to use as I will

I can waste it or use it for good. 

What I do today is importnat

Because I’m exchanging a

day of my life for it. 

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone

forever leaving in it’s place whatever I have traded

it for. 

I pledge to myself that it shall be:

Gain not loss; Good not evil

Kindness not impatience; Love not fear

in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for this day.

Annie Dillard, in her New York Times Bestseller…created the quote used for the theme of the blog. In her book she makes several interesting observations between living good days and/or a good life.

There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage sweet. Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading — that is a good life. 

Isn’t this always the dilemma in life…the balancing act Dr. Seuss always talked about? “Life is a balancing act.” How do we maintain enough stability through routine and regiment…while still allowing our wings to fly in discovering our own creativity.

Thomas Jefferson, who was definitely a Renaissance Man…by any and all standards…maintained a disciplined daily routine and still was able to create, write, and design his own life.

I always remember one comment made by the tour guide on my last trip to Monticello a few years ago with a group of teachers…

A typical day for Jefferson started early, because, in his own words, “Whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun.” He told of a fifty-year period in which the sun had never caught him in bed; he rose as soon as he could read the hands of the clock kept directly opposite his bed.

Jefferson’s idea of a “vacation” day would have been to read all day without looking up. He was an avid reader and hated waiting on late dinner guests so he always kept a book on his mantle…most of the time guests would walk into his dining room  to find him completely immersed in a book.

From morning to night he kept his rigorous schedule of writing…taking notes on weather, migration patterns of birds, and flowers…then later…notes on new inventions he created, correspondence letters (which, like most us, he gritted his teeth to get through each day) or drawing new architectural designs.

He left time for exercise in walking around the grounds of his beautiful home examining plants and vegetables of every experimentation.

Each morning he built his own fire and soaked his feet in cold water…he believed this lead to good health and for eighty plus years it must have worked.

As we study famous people who accomplished much in their lives…we come to see that many of these, like Jefferson, designed their own balance between routine and creative happiness.

So until tomorrow…may we, too, design our lives so we never “regret the price we paid for this day.“

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Like Jefferson my daily morning walk through the garden starts my day off right by soothing my soul in my sanctuary with God.

Yesterday this beautiful morning glory stole my heart!

*Nancy, Anne’s sister has just started chemo and prayers are welcomed and appreciated that her tolerance for the drugs will be good and that she will continue to manage some normalcy in her life while going through them.

*Rudy has his doctor’s visit this morning (vet was sick last week and appointment was cancelled)…Please pray for the family to maintain our strong faith in God whose love for all His creatures is abiding and everlasting…and to remember that a lifetime of memories can be lived in a single moment!

Dear Reader:

With the dog days of August nearing  its end and the official exit of summer arriving with Labor Day…the days of beach chair musings are coming to a close.

What is it about sitting in a beach chair watching life and people around us that lures us into a peaceful, contemplative state of mind?

I remember someone dropping this little book off several years ago as a gift to read…but have now forgotten whom. I picked it up a few days ago and started thinking about the clarity we get while sitting in a beach chair staring out at the ocean amidst peals of laughter from children frolicking in the waves and building sandcastles.

Our chair turns into a type of Aladdin’s Magic Carpet and we are swept through thoughts and memories of the past and daydreams about the future.

I could recite some wonderful verses of poetry for my musings or deep psychological thoughts like the old “Deep Thoughts” on Saturday Night Live…. since you all know me so well…I think a humorous perspective on life is what my mood today calls for….

1. Beach Chair Wisdom: In the morning you beg to sleep more, in the afternoon you are dying to sleep, and at night you refuse to sleep.

2.  Beach Chair Wisdom: God please give me patience, if you give me strength I will just punch someone in the face.

3. Beach Chair Wisdom: I’m old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway.

4. Beach Chair Wisdom: If we were on a sinking ship, and there was only one life vest… I would miss you so much.

5. Beach Chair Wisdom: Stop worrying about the world ending today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.

6. Beach Chair Wisdom: The most important thing in life is not knowing everything, it’s having the cell number of somebody who does!

7. Beach Chair Wisdom:  If I live to be a hundred…I still won’t know how to fold a fitted sheet!

8. Beach Chair Wisdom: How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?

9. Beach Chair Wisdom: Bad decisions make great stories!

10. Beach Chair Wisdom: “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.

It is also while we are contemplating life in the beach chair that we start asking those life long questions that we have never discovered an answer to….

1. Beach Question: Are there really people who step into the shower first before turning on the water?
2. Beach Question: Why doesn’t McDonalds sell hot dogs?
3. Beach Question: At the movie theater, which arm rest is mine?
4. Beach Question: If God sneezes, what should we say?
5. Beach Question: When does it stop being partly cloudy and become partly sunny?
6. Beach Question: Why is it that everyone driving faster than you is considered an idiot and everyone driving slower than you is a moron?
7. Beach Question: If money doesn’t grow on trees then why do banks have branches?
8. Beach Chair Question: Can a cemetery raise its prices and blame it on the cost of living?
9. Beach Chair Question: If you speak only one language, are you just lingual?
10. Beach Chair Question: Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?

Libby told me something new…I didn’t know. When Betsy was having to have a lot of blood work done before and after surgery…her cousin and aunt accompanied her to the doctor one day. Her cousin started to turn white and look like she was going to be ill  or faint and the doctor asked her to leave.

Libby’s sister, Linda, went to check on her. Paige told her mother that she must be a ‘fainting goat” and then explained the video she watches about the fainting goats.

If you haven’t heard of this particular breed of goat…let me enlighten you so the next time someone feels faint…you can forever dub them the ‘fainting goat’ too.

A myotonic goat, otherwise known as the fainting goat, is a domestic goat whose muscles freeze for roughly 10 seconds when the goat feels panic. Though painless, this generally results in the animal’s collapsing on its side. The characteristic is caused by a hereditary genetic disorder called myotonia congenita.

While we are on “goats”…this next breed doesn’t faint….but screams….Who knew there were so many strange types of goats….learn something new every day!

So until tomorrow…Isn’t this a perfectly wonderful crazy world we live in which provides us with all kinds of crazy thoughts…Thanks God for a sense of humor…one of man’s best weapons of all.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* The shining star award for this week goes to this gorgeous black-eyed susan and her “snail” friend! Best of the bunch in the garden!

*I love this picture too ….my bottle brush just produced one red bloom and look at all the pollination going on….I was able to sneak up close to the bees because they were greedily eating everything in sight.

*And that brings us to a most beautiful closure….please take some time (after the fainting and screaming goats) to enjoy the spectacular beauty of pollination in nature. It will make your day! *Thank you Brookie for sharing this beautiful piece of nature with us.

The beauty of pollination – YouTube

*Mandy and John invited me over for supper….delicious supper and great company….on the way home last night after the rain…the sky was so beautiful, coated in red, purple, orange and pink… returning over the bridges…it literally took my breath away….of course grandchildren do that all the time to me.

Dear Reader:

The other day (on the blog) we were talking about taking the initiative to design the life we wanted to live… well, the best way to do that is to “craft our life from daydreams.”

Yesterday morning…that is just what I did. Daydream…

I woke up around 7:00 ready to go….it had been such a fun night before… dancing at the VFW ….Jackson and I collapsed when we got in…Brooke and Libby stayed up and caught up over chicken salad and pimento cheese.

Everyone was still sleeping soundly yesterday morning after I awoke…so I got dressed, ate some pimento cheese on a slice of bread for breakfast…and went outside where Jackson has set up some chairs on her side patio….the sun was shining but it was actually “coolish” at that time in the morning…Yes…even in Columbia.

I found myself closing my eyes and remembering all the fun from the night before…and it was that daydream that became the catalyst to take me back in time to the old Erskine college days.

As we all got ready Friday night…we started asking each other how this or that looked, or should we wear another outfit, or could we borrow some accessory…necklace, bracelet, scarf….whatever to enhance our Motown/Beach Music attire.

I remember stopping to listen to the excited chattering…and suddenly I was back in the dorms at Erskine but this time we were all young college girls again….heading out to Starnes.…(which was the dancing/drinking mecca closest to Erskine…in Greenwood.)

We have certainly aged…but the excitement Friday night was still the same….(actually this early photo was of the night we decided to go “honky-tonking.”)

(L to R)

Libby, me, Brooke, and Jackson

We kinda look like we have all lost our best friends…but actually we were going for the sexy, sultry look…the daydreams of youth.

(L to R) Me, Jackson, Brooke, and Libby….our hair has all gone “lighter” while the rest of us…well, hasn’t. But, never mind, we were ready to party!

When we arrived…the room was pretty packed….but the lead singer, Kimmie, had her mother save a special table for us near the band…(because Ben had told them we were coming.) We felt like celebrities…

The problem was….when Ben and some of the other band members made a call-out for single men…no one came forward…it ended up that there were only two single men there….and “Bless their hearts” the four of us danced them into an early grave most likely….

Jackson has this funny magnet on her frig (see below) that says: “Life is too short to dance with ugly men”-Oscar Wilde)…but we decided at our age…if a man is breathing and can shuffle his feet…we will accept any offer and then just dance all around him….and that is what we did.

At intermission…the Ben Barbour “groupies” were “honored” to have our photo taken with the coolest guitar player around.

I think what finally took us under and reminded us that we were no longer those young college girls… were the line dances…*Because there were a lot more single women than men…the band figured they would add more line dances so everyone could step out on the dance floor.

If they played the “Electric Slide” one time…they played it ten times…and, on one occasion,  I decided to follow suit and join Libby and Brooke in one of them…I should have noticed that they had disappeared from the dance floor after several minutes because this dance just wouldn’t end….Little old ladies, however, with a decade or more age on me….were hanging tight…and I was gasping for air (like a fish out of water)…I couldn’t swallow…but my pride wouldn’t let “Granny” (in front of me) outlast me.

I told Ben on the phone, yesterday, that the idea of including everyone in the line dances was fine…but they needed to look at the median age out there and cut those everlasting songs back to the original time intended..or the dancers were going to be falling like dominoes… I wasn’t sure if there were enough ambulances in the area to cover the fallen.

When we got home we ended up having the same discussion we have shared with each other several times now…especially since we all retired…we wouldn’t trade who we are and where we are now for those young girls back at Erskine (stepping over the starting line for the race of life) for anything.

Some episodes in life are only meant to be experienced once..they are too painful to repeat. We have all paid the piper with many of the “Top Ten Most Stressed Out Life Experiences” ….We have voluntarily pulled out of the race for life…and are content to now immerse ourselves in savoring the moment…not the race.

We have worked hard to get where we are today…strong, independent women who understand the top priorities in life- love, laughter, and friendship. As long as we have that…the daydreams of yesterday are the realities of today.

So until tomorrow….Let the children day-dream without admonishment…because they are learning creativity and imagination from within…and one day, if we’re really lucky, they become reality.

” Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Look what bloomed last evening!!!! ( It must have been waiting for me to come home)…I thought the vines were morning glory vines and then last evening…there it was! I had to do a little moon dance jig around the tree….

he Lovin Spoonful – Daydream (HQ) – YouTube

Dear Reader:

Don’t you wish that we could pin this reminder on the back of every politician and/or speaker? When did politicians begin thinking that the noise level of their message was more important than the words in it…or perhaps it is because of the words in it….that make some politicians scream it at the crowd. An audio “force-fed” rambling repertoire of lower-level mistakenly applied vocabulary.

As a lover of words…I cringe at their destruction in the wrong vocal chords of some speakers. I would much rather hear a beautiful poem with a melodious flow of precisely selected words. Here are just a few examples of some of my favorite phrases from literature…poems and stories…and how they could be applied to the ‘road to the White House.’

If I was running for office…I think I would read this passage from The Velveteen Rabbit and then say…”I, too, might be older… with loved off hair, poor vision, a little loose in the joints, and shabby … but my fellow Americans..”I am REAL and I LOVE this country we all call home..” !!!

 or

I would use this little poem in a political campaign (after reading it to the crowd) by saying:

“On my next birthday I will have TWO 6’s by my name… I am thinking I surely must be at my “cleverest” …so you need to vote me into office and then squeeze the very best out of me…since I am at the top of my game… for you, your family, and our country.”

or

After reading this selection from Dr. Seuss…I would tell my audience that...”It is time to return  “inside the box” for our thinking. We need to  look at the issues facing our country today from the inside out…not the outside in.…if this seems wierd…great! Join me my fellow wierd Americans and let’s change the perception of greatness and possibility from within. “

That’s my parallel political life…I will leave you with one of my favorite Abraham Lincoln “come back ” remarks…which goes to show how intellect and wit go hand in hand.

(I am thinking that most of the politicians today aren’t too intellectual because they scream back obscenities at those who oppose them or make negative remarks about them… instead of using humor and wit as their ally.)

Lincoln was much more about “laughing with” than “laughing at.” And when “laughing at,” it was often himself he was mocking.

In the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates, when Douglas accused Lincoln of being two-faced, Lincoln replied, referencing his homeliness, “Honestly, if I were two-faced, would I be showing you this one?” 

I think we should all look at the candidates running for the most important office in the world and search for a candidate with a witty sense of humor and a humble manner of presenting themselves. Is it too late to clone Lincoln?

So until tomorrow…Let us learn to use words wisely and softly…because, like softer sprinklings of rain, we want our words to help nourish others and help them grow…not shrink them in fear.

“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh

*Here is a morning glory vine that is  growing, growing with the latest rains (though they have had to put up with some thunderous rumblings lately.)

Dear Reader:

It dawned on me one day that what I am doing right now is creating and designing the life I always wanted.

I have lived a lot of my life, like the carriage horses with the blinders on….staring straight ahead…just trying to pull myself and my family through another day…oblivious to the outside world going on around me. (Just living in a type of self-imposed survival fish bowl)

But now, for the first time, I realize that the only one who can hold me back, with designing the life I want to live, is me. No more excuses!

And now that the blinders are finally off and peripheral vision surrounds me…my “new eyes” are seeing life so differently. Nowadays I can “see” God’s Hand in every thing going on in my life.

Even this recent unexpected home “renovation” was all part of His plan. I was given enough  time to acquire the funding I would need to pull this off…

The 2:00 a.m. worries over the aging home have suddenly disappeared and I am sleeping like a baby (actually better than a baby)…because God forced my hand to take action…it was the right time to get my house on a  firmer foundation, along with my life.

So many times we think the timing in our lives is completely wrong, that it is off-kilter…but that is because we are looking at time through our restricted “chronos” lenses…whereas God’s universe is timeless and everlasting.

It isn’t until later, with the wisdom of hindsight, that we understand why some situations or events happened when they did. It is then that we realize it was actually perfect timing.

Madeleine L’ Engle ( 40 Day Journey) understood this when she observed:

” The gods we erect (money, power, prestige) are easier to worship than the Creator of the universe. They’re more comprehensible. The God I believe in is not comprehensible in finite, mortal terms. 

God is infinite, immortal, all-knowing. I have a point of view, you have a point of view. But God has VIEW. Our problem is that we don’t like having to depend on that which we cannot control, manipulate, dominate.” 

Cancer was and is an on-going lesson in learning how to pray for healing in both attitude and perspective so that the day arrives when we can fully “let go and let God.”

Every day feels like a new slate now. I find myself taking more and more bags to Goodwill. I crave the simple life…an uncluttered life dedicated to spending more time with family and friends, less time on senseless spending for “stuff”, and special time with God.

If, at the end of our life here on earth…we can say…“We Designed the Life We Loved” (the life meant for us to live by God) then I think the angels in heaven will raise up their voices in joy and jubilation!

So until tomorrow…Let’s get busy getting rid of anything that stands between us and the life that was originally designed for us to live.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Even my moon flowers are, not only adapting, to the back yard fence but loving it…the blooms are much bigger than they were on the front porch…

*Brooke and I are heading up to Columbia later today to meet up with Jackson and Libby at Jackson’s house…Ben plays in a Reunion Band from high school/college and they are performing this evening…I am sure it will bring back lots of memories.

Dear Reader:

*(This post is dedicated to my Ya friend….Jackson-God’s Wink!)

“Holy Moly!”…it is hard to believe that August is winding down…and before we blink September will arrive in all her splendor!

One Sunday back in early June…I remember flipping through the hymnal…with some trepidation. It brought back scary moments and memories…when, as a child, I would start flipping through the hymnal (ours had some pictures in them back then) to keep myself occupied during the sermon.

If mother heard the rustle of pages being turned ….she would lean over Ben and David, slamming the hymnal shut (sometimes with my hand still in it) and pull it towards her with a glare so intense…I could feel the burn two siblings away.

I think I do have to give her credit for my innate “teacher stare/glare”…I was just imitating my mother. She never  taught school but she sure taught us not to deviate our attention away from the pastor for any reason!

As a child, then, and now as an adult…I always wondered why the first hymn in many Protestant church hymnals is “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

I looked it up and saw when it originated in the early 1800’s…how the author died young in his forties and how later the hymn was completed by another musician…but there was no reference to the selection of this particular hymn over hundreds of others for being the first selection.

It is sometimes called the “Trinity” hymn because it addresses the theological doctrine of “God in Three Persons.”

  “Holy” is one of those words that I find hard to define in my own mind. The synonym, sacred, first jumps out…but then nothing else follows…like in “holy” ground.

Madeleine L’Engle in her 40-Day Journey– examines this in one of her forty devotionals.

“Isn’t it a marvelous thing that “holiness” is nothing we can earn? We don’t become holy be acquiring merit badges and brownie points, It has nothing to do with virtue or job descriptions or mortality.

It is nothing we can do, in this do-it-yourself world. It is a gift, a beautiful sheer gift, waiting there to be recognized and received. We do not have to be qualified to be holy. We do not have to be qualified to be whole, or healed.” 

…………………

I really see, these days, that the time I have been given on earth is a holy gift. My diagnosis is what it is…I have a certain form of breast cancer. But the prognosis is where God comes in as the largest, most meaninful variable in our health predictions.

What I have discovered is that I can be whole... without ever being completely healed. That was a mammoth epiphany for me. “I am well, I am well, in my soul.” (Not even cancer “little c” can ever touch my soul.)

So until tomorrow…Thank you God for Your Holiness that gives us back to ourselves with the wholeness you intended us to have. (Madeleine L’Engle)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Honey told me to get some special glue to be able to put the personalized clay labels (on the mason jars) that she made for me. I did and look at the results….(*If anyone has any mason jars just sitting around doing nothing…call me and I will gladly take some off your hands… clear or colored…I will pick up or you can  just drop them off on my front porch.)

Honey and Mike Burrell just got home from White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia…staying at the National Historic Landmark-The Greenbrier (where Mike met Lee Trevino…remember?)

Mike and Honey love visiting historical sites and landmarks (which makes me very happy.) A few summers ago they spent several weeks visiting Civil War battlefields.

One night, during this sojourn,  Mike had a dream at some hotel where he and Honey were staying…and the next day in the car he shared it with her.

He told Honey that he was at the Battle of Antietam…and was talking to several soldiers when he looked up and saw someone who looked so familiar. It was me. He was so startled he wasn’t sure how to handle the situation but he said, “Becky…you can’t be here at Antietam…in my dream…because you have the cancer..remember?” I replied, “Not any more …not any more..I’m not sick any more.”

“Holy Moly” …I sure like Mike’s dreams.

Honey told me that Mike secretly commissioned an artist co-hort of hers (Amy at MobArt in Hendersonville) to paint a picture of their beautiful Hope Falls…this is the result! Holy Moly!

*I thought yesterday was Rudy’s second diagnosis but it is today around 12:30…please keep Kaitlyn, Tommy, and Rudy in your thoughts and prayers as they are praying hard for a different option or any option at all. Believe in possibilities!

Dear Reader:

Can you hear it? Listen…do you hear it? The sounds of fall.

The sounds are very subtle…the soft swish of freshly fallen pine straw hitting the ground or the ruffle of wings of monarch butterflies stopping to rest and re-energize on their way to Mexico.

I can hear Summerville High School ‘s band practicing in the afternoon/evening while sitting on my deck or front porch. Football season is approaching.

Visually…the clues are becoming more obvious…particularly the “red clues”…the brilliant red leaves that are popping up among the green foliage …as if they are leaving calling cards to remind us the seasons are starting to change.

…And it is just not the red’s that are returning to claim their domain…but the shades of purple are giving us one last performance….

“Hi beautiful butterfly…I am so glad you stopped by my house to nourish yourself for this “leg” of your remarkable journey of life.

I feel quite honored that you chose my garden to have a “tea party” in.

Boo’s Blessings’ (my new name for home) make-over is coming along nicely (Depending on the weather today) the roofer is supposed to start tearing off old shingles and putting on new ones. I feel like the house is getting a new “hair-do”….out with the gray…on with the brown.

An update on the house repairs: three new column are now up…two on the front porch to replace the old rotten ones…and one in the back to better secure the roof from that angle. Most of the trim repair has been done…just a few sections left.

Work still needed: painting the doors, trim work and windows. Busting up the cement on the front porch, removing it, and pouring new cement in to stabilize the porch foundation.

Replacing rotten windows/panes with new vinyl windows.

Here are some pictures I took yesterday of the progress….

The old house stands poised in dignity awaiting all the changes about to happen…standing firmly on the porch with its two new columns to secure it…soon the make-over will be complete and a proud home will smile out at the street at all who pass by.

I went to take some Boo’s Garden (fall version) flowers from the garden to thank Anne for helping me with some decisions concerning the house renovation… and ended up staying for lunch.

 To my surprise I  brought home the old Boo’s Garden empty mason jar that Anne had in which she had placed a beautiful green hydrangea…a trade-off.

So until tomorrow….take a moment and listen to fall…it’s coming… pine needles softly landing….then look for the longer afternoon shadows, smell the Confederate jasmine…(mine just started blooming again) and taste the cranberries, nuts, and spices (like pumpkin) in soups and jams while touching the fabric of  leaves changing colors….. (Like Jakie’s tree)

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 My thin-leaf  sunflower stalks are growing and blooming!

When I returned from Anne’s house I promptly fell asleep in my wonderful lounge chair while reading….for our section of town the rain fell…for the first time… so when I awoke it was to gray skies with peeks of sunshine…I went outside to check the plants and my backyard had turned into a virtual fairyland! Amazing what a little rain can do! Magical raindrops!

*The last two photos show my first moon flower bloom on the magic moon  gate…it finally happened!! Enchantment!

After I sent these photos of the flowers to Anne she checked her moon flowers and they, too, were going wild…six blooming. I think it was a transforming night last evening.

Anne also wanted to thank everyone for their prayers…so far her sister Nancy’s (“Nance”) tests/biopsies for the cancer spreading to the brain, bone, lungs, organs, etc. have all returned negative!!!

She is slated to begin chemo next week (followed by radiation and surgery). Please pray that the treatments will do their thing and Nancy can soon resume many of her earlier activities with new strength and determination.

Update on Rudy: Right now the prognosis is not good… just a few months, probably, with the tumor returning so quickly… Tommy and Kaitlyn are going to get a second opinion today to explore any other viable options. Please keep them both in your hearts and prayers…tough decisions will probably need to be made in the foreseeable future.

Pip seems to be fine….just some strange bug or virus they think…so that is good news. And Atticus continues to be happy with his two “brothers.”

*Mike sent this photo….we think Cocoa knows that fall is in the air too….and time to return to school. She has started reading the morning paper! Literacy is very important…after all!

Dear Reader:

I had some sort of epiphany after leaving Doug Cargill’s office (my Horace Mann “rep” and old friend) yesterday.

But before I tell you what happened…let me fill you in with my visit to sign away a lot of savings…it’s just money…right?

I went in and told him that I had a fairy tale for him before I put a big hole in my annuity fund. He sat back with a big grin and said…”Tell it girl!”

Once upon a time a beautiful young princess happened to look down at the royal palace’s entrance floor and saw a big crack in it followed by a distinctive un-leveling floor base.

She immediately told her mother, the queen, who stared in horror at the dipping cement. “Oh no” she said….this can’t be happening because the royal cement floor  holds up my two royal columns which then holds up my royal roof. “

“This is supposed to be a fairy tale…not a horror story” the Queen lamented…feeling quite alone and forlorn. Pity party…Pity party!

“Maybe you should think of selling all of this royal “stuff” and finding something closer to your children and grandchildren”...suggested the beautiful princess.

“ I couldn’t ever leave my Happy Room, my delightful deck and my magic moon gate garden that I built for my royal grandchildren with trees in the process of bearing their royal names in stately stature. These are my sanctuaries that bring me much joy.”

” Besides... I have fixed up almost all the royal rooms…new paint, new appliances, new fixtures…it is so close to being perfect…I can’t throw it all away.”

… “So even if it drains most of the royal funds…I will rebuild and save the kingdom…it might never be perfect…but, to me, it will be close enough…perfectly imperfect.”perfectly imperfect!

And so the queen called in the royal workers and told them to do what  needed to be done to keep the royal roof from falling in on her royal crown…  to rebuild the royal palace so it can entertain family and friends for years to come…filled with laughter and love.

This command was perfectly “imperfected” throughout the royal palace…because nothing on earth should ever try to be perfect…we have to wait until we go live in God’s Kingdom for that!”

…………………

Doug laughed and said that “the royal paperwork was ready to sign” so I can finish the completion of the “Perfectly Imperfect” happy home!”

I had been dreading that visit to remove hard-earned savings… so that is why I tried to lighten the mood and  conversation.  It ended up with Doug and myself just laughing at getting older, becoming perfectly imperfect “seniors” who are just happy to have these earthly problems…if we have a problem, that means we are still alive and kicking!

Once I let the money issue go…it actually was quite freeing. On the way home I felt almost giddy…like an albatross was off my back.

It was then that the epiphany hit me. I was never meant to have a whole lot of money because I would never have been forced to become more creative which was and is my passion.

I appreciate every penny I have now…that would not be the case if I had too much more than I needed…I would think that I was totally in control of my life and put God in the back seat along my journey.

Instead I am so appreciative of my deck,my garden, and home…where I can commune with God…to form a daily reliance on Him. Instead of relegating God to the back seat… God will take his seat up front to direct my journey.

So until tomorrow…God, You know us so well…what we can and can’t handle…so all we need from You is Your assurance that You will always love our “Perfectly Imperfect” selves!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Walsh sent me the following video about a conversation he had with Rutledge about his name….Walsh is telling him that his name is Rutledge Dickey Dingle while Rutledge denounces that name for Rut Rut Ding-Truck!