Dear Reader:

I could hardly wait to get home from church yesterday, jump in some “garden” clothes and get my hands in that dirt. Why? Besides the gorgeous weather…I had found these daisies in a box at Tractor & Supply…and obviously decided I needed some “Becky” daisies in my garden.

All the other flowers in boxes like this one were bulbs… so in my haste to get it planted…I dug my hole, held the bag upside down…expecting a long narrow bulb to fall out of the long, narrow plastic bag…instead I ended up with a bag of dirt all over my shirt and jeans.

Now I had to scramble to find the “top”tiny stem from the dirt and teeny tiny roots…while putting the rest of the dirt back together. All I can say is “pray.” Don’t know if “Becky” the Daisy will make it or not…if she does…it will be…in spite of me!

But then again…my whole garden has survived…in spite of me. I owe you another ‘big one’ God!

As I was planting and pulling off dead stems from more plants…I kept stopping and staring up at the sky…it was so blue…it was easy to get lost in it and forget why I was even in the garden.

A quote (I must have heard in college or somewhere) came nagging back at me….and I finally found it. I remembered it had something to do with special, cloudless, clear, blue sky days that permit us a glimpse of God in heaven. * Should have known it was Lord Byron, himself.

And they were canopied by the blue sky,
So cloudless, clear, and purely beautiful,
That God alone was to be seen in Heaven.
~Lord Byron

I have always had a special affinity for daisies, along with many other people. They are very popular and seem so cheery and sunny all the time. For years I wrote daisy down for my favorite flower on hundreds of “Get to Know You” sheets of paper.

I still adore daisies…but like any good parent…with a garden filled with all kinds of flowers now…I find it hard to choose one over another…especially after planting many of them in the ground for a “shot” at life.

The origin of the word daisy is interesting in itself.

The name “daisy” was derived from “daes eage,” an Anglo Saxon term. A daisy was called “daes eage” or “day’s eye” because these flowers open during the day and close during the night.

Here are some of my favorite short stories and/or anecdotes stemming from the daisy flower.

1. (Roman Legend) (I often wonder if Roman gods ever did anything else but chase young women around)

Vertumnus, ( the god of flowers and trees) like many Roman gods, had an eye for beautiful women. One day, he saw Belides, an innocent wood nymph, dancing with other nymphs. He wanted her, but she had no desire for him. In order to avoid Vertumnus, Belides turned herself into a bellis flower. Bellis is the scientific, or genus, name for daisies.

( You go Bellis…maybe this is a good sign that my “Becky” daisy comes from ‘pioneer stock’ and can survive…no matter how badly planted.)

2. (Christian Legend)

Daisies have their place in Christianity. One legend has it that the daisy grew from the Virgin Mary’s tears. In fact, daisies are sometimes used to symbolize Christ and the Virgin Mary. You will also see the daisy as a motif in artwork from the medieval period as a symbol of Christ’s innocence when Christ was a child.

* This one is my favorite….do I feel a Christmas story coming on….umm?

3. (Christmas Legend)

Another Christian legend describes how the wise men were looking for a sign where the newborn Christ was located. When they saw groups of daisies near a stable, the wise men knew they had found Jesus as the daisies looked like the star that had led them to Bethlehem.

4. Victorian Tradition

The Victorians had affections for daisies. Chanting, “He loves, he loves me not,” while pulling a petal from a daisy originated during this time.

* I have a feeling by Saturday (Valentines Day) there will be many stem-less/beheaded daisies lying around in disarray. 

Today, the daisy continues to stand for innocence, purity and love.

(Information provided by Laura Evans...”What do Daisies Symbolize”)

While looking through quotes (hunting for Lord Byron’s quote used earlier)…I found another quote about stars at night that propelled me out in the garden to look up at the stars and moon last night.

Alas, the clouds, like angels, were scurrying in and out of the stars like children playing hide and seek…I couldn’t get a clear picture of the stars.

So then I went on the deck and took a picture of my garden with all the solar lights in lanterns sparkling back at me…garden stars. It was so beautiful…more than a photo can show.

The interesting quote:

Metaphor for the night sky: A trillion asterisks and no explanations. ~Robert Brault

So until tomorrow…remember: “A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it…it just blooms.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Joan’s latest terrific “pet painting” (That was fast Joan!)

Precious Georgie!

…and our precious Rudy!

Dear Reader:

I have been looking for some type of new decor for the centerpiece on the mantle for few months…It has been several years since I changed anything… the same metallic circle of butterflies has hung on the stucco wall… I was just ready for something different. A new year…a new design.

Then it happened…while at Tuesday Morning yesterday I started looking through the home decor and found it. At first all I could find was mirrors of all shapes and sizes. I did not want a mirror as the centerpiece.

I was about to give up when I noticed a board protruding behind one mirror….when I slightly pushed the mirror to one side…there it was…a wooden plaque with a big, dark, brown key on it. It is a wonder I didn’t break a mirror digging through the pile trying to get the “key” out.

I stared at it all last night…just perfect for the mantle…in size and symbolism.

Is it just me or do some of you become entranced with keys…especially the old “Victorian” style like on the plaque? I immediately think of words and scenes like… mystery, old creaky mansions, or a mysterious key slowly turning  a knob. Old keys send my imagination soaring…

As I stared at the mantle (with the key) Friday night I immediately pictured one scene from the most marvelous book on imagination and visualization…The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Rene Harris got me hooked on this book years ago… and I later used it for a creativity course I taught at CSU.

Without spoiling the strangest introduction to any book you will ever read…this book consists of marvelous artwork by Chris Van Allsburg in the form of 14 black and white drawings… with only the scene and caption to spark your imagination into creating a story that will never match another.

One particular picture shows a dark and shadowy basement with steps leading down to the ground where suddenly a viewer sees a tiny (miniature) little door cast in light (falling through the one window by the steps.)

The title of this picture is “Uninvited Guests” and the clues come in the form of two short sentences and nothing else:

His heart was pounding. He was sure he had heard the doorknob turn. 

I have used this book with elementary, middle, high school, and college students. And these black and white drawings unleash even the most reluctant learner’s imagination.

For one of my college students…he experienced a God’s Wink with my assignment. Each student was given one mysterious picture and told to create a story around it.

The young man said that when I gave him his picture…he could hardly believe his eyes…it was the same picture his fifth grade teacher assigned him many years before.

Now…as part of his presentation…he went on to tell the class that this was the year his parents divorced and he had quit playing sports, doing homework, and skipping school in his rebellion over the traumatic, uncontrollable upheaval in his life.

Then one day his teacher gave him this picture and (despite his defiant behavior) he was drawn into his idea of the story lurking behind the slowly opening door.

He ended his presentation saying ” In the picture it is too dark to see if a key is turning in the doorknob or not…but I don’t think it is a coincidence that I got this same picture ten years later. It is a reminder of how God has given me the “keys” to enter each next stage of my life… by the directions behind each “door.”

“This picture was the “key” for capturing and returning the imagination and innocence of childhood back to me. I became interested in learning again….and well,  here I am.”

…………………………

Don’t we use the word “key” for many different meanings? There is the “key” to unlock any and every thing from doors to imagination. Then there are the “key” facts in life that we are taught we must learn along our individual life journey.

“Key” can be a noun, verb, adverb, or adjective. A preposition can be added and the list of “key” words and expressions continue on and on. ( “keyed up,” “keyed in,”  or keyed on“)

Every year someone finds a way to insert “key” into something new….like a computer “keyboard“….or “key card.”  (Sadly the way things are going…we will never need a key again to start or lock our car…in fact soon cars will drive themselves…they won’t really need us either.)

In music we must stay on “key” or use the “keys” on a piano to help us do so…in painting one must paint in a given “key” to achieve a certain color.

The word “key” opens up all kinds of possibilities… no matter how it is used.

In the Grimm Brother’s last fairy tale, “The Golden Key,” a poor boy, while collecting wood for his father, builds a fire to keep himself warm, and while doing so comes across a golden key in the snow. He soon finds the locked chest nearby.

The key hole is so small, that at first he can’t find it…but at last the key starts to turn and slowly the lid begins to to open. The boy’s imagination is going wild…could there be treasures in the box beyond his wildest imagination…will this day be a “turning point” in his life?

The three paragraph story ends right there…purposefully the Grimm Brothers never reveal the contents. On one Grimm brothers’ site…this observation is added.

The box represents the treasure that many of us seek. It could be a lottery ticket, a new house, or just being liked. To achieve our goal, we have to anticipate the tasks and then go through them one by one. In the story this is the sequence followed:→ find a key→ find a chest→ seek a keyhole→ open the chest. All the time we are weighed down by other conditions surrounding us, such as the cold and fatigue in this story.

The Grimm Brothers wanted to leave the lid slightly ajar (in the story) because we should always stay open to the possibilities of change in our lives…no matter which form it takes…from imagination to more fairy tales to our journey back home.

When I stare at my big brown key over the mantle…I see God’s “key” guiding me back home…showing me the direction I should go…while providing excitement and anticipation for what the “key” will open for me next …for what is around the next bend in the road.

Madeleine L’Engle summed up our separate journeys of searching for  the “key” directions back home in this beautiful quote:

“We are all strangers in a strange land, longing for home, but not quite knowing what or where home is. We glimpse it sometimes in our dreams, or as we turn a corner, and suddenly there is a strange, sweet familiarity that vanishes almost as soon as it comes.”

So until tomorrow…Help us Father find the “key” that leads us to You…the greatest “Treasure” of all. Remind us that it is only by “turning” to you that we can “turn” the key of life.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Saturday I went with Mollie and Rutledge to the Southern Baby Show at the Omar Shrine Temple. Good gracious…how things have changed since I had a baby or even when Eva Cate was a baby….unbelievable.

We went to Zoes to eat at Town Center and it was delicious…it felt so good in the sun… we decided to eat outside… Even though Rutledge looks a little resigned here to spending Saturday with the girls at a baby show….He actually ended up having lots of fun!

One booth had a life sized baby which siblings could try holding…Rutledge loved the baby and was very sad when we had to leave the baby behind….(wasn’t the baby supposed to come home?)

To cheer Rutledge up….we let him play with a pillow mommy bought to help feed the new baby.

Some of you have been saying that Mollie hardly looks pregnant and/or you would like to see a picture of her to see how she is carrying the baby…(would help with your guess)…so here is Miss Mollie in profile. From the front she really doesn’t look pregnant…baby is all out front…but from the side you can tell Mollie is going to be a mother again soon…and we couldn’t be happier!

* And speaking of pregnancies….GOOD NEWS…our “Darling from Dubai” Ambika is five months pregnant! I told her in a few months we would have a contest for her and her husband, too..so excited!

Love ya Rudy!

Dear Reader:

“May you touch dragonflies and stars…Dance with fairies…and Talk to the Moon.”

Don’t we wish that thought for everyone we love….children, grandchildren, and children at heart? I never want to grow up and lose the wonder and awe of nature and imagination.

I feel so lucky to have small grandchildren so I can return to the magic of childhood, whimsy, and fantasy.

Sadly…my little Eva Cate has come to the ripe “old” age of four (almost five) and for the first time she has become very inquisitive about death. She wants to know about my parents and where they are and why they died. On every television show…she asks if some character is alive or dead now?

She asked me awhile back if I was going to die…because she would be very sad if I did. I replied “Yes”….that everyone dies at some point in their lives…but I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon if I could help it.

I have talked about Heaven and all of us being together again…but am not sure how it is all filtering down. She told me the other day that she didn’t want to grow up…because she didn’t want to die.

I then remembered the little dragonfly story that a friend (Cookie Williams) shared with me years ago…from a little pamphlet she had.

It was the best explanation of death for children (and adults) I had heard….I took it, revised it somewhat and personalized the little dragonfly…naming him David after my brother.

Not sure Eva Cate is quite ready to understand the metaphors but the story in itself is such a beautiful one.

So the next time….Eva Cate spends the night and we are dancing with fairies, touching dragonflies, and talking to the moon…we might just have a special bedtime story.

DAVID, THE DRAGONFLY, DISCOVERS THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

(Adaptation by Becky Dingle of Water Bugs & Dragonflies)        

                                    CHRISTMAS 2009

Once upon a time in a quiet little pond there lived a large family of water bugs. They were a happy group, always scurrying over the soft mud on the bottom of the pond visiting with each other.

 However, every now and then they did notice that someone in the group just seemed to lose interest in what was going on. And then one day the water bug would climb a pond lily until he or she moved out of sight. The strange thing was that no one ever saw him or her again.

David, one of the most inquisitive water bugs in the family, was always asking why someone just disappeared and never returned. Everyone he asked had the same response, “It is just the way it is.” But that answer never satisfied David. He kept asking, “Where do you suppose he went?” “Wasn’t he happy here?” No one ever had an answer. They were all puzzled but again replied, “It is just the way it is.”

 One day David gathered some of his cousins together and made a suggestion. “I have an idea. The next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk must promise to return and tell the rest of us where he or she went and most importantly WHY?” The little group all agreed. “We promise,” they said solemnly.

 One spring day, not long after, David found himself climbing up the lily stalk. He didn’t know why but he knew he just had to do it. Something or Someone was pulling him. Up, up, up he went. Before he knew what was happening, he had broken through the surface of the water, and fallen onto the broad, green lily pad. He felt suddenly very tired from the long climb and fell asleep.

 When he awoke he looked around with surprise! He couldn’t believe what he saw! A startling change had to come to him. His movement revealed four silver wings and a long tail. The warmth of the sun soon dried the moisture from his new body. He moved his wings and suddenly found himself up above the water. He had become a dragonfly!

 Swooping and dipping in great curves, he flew through the air. He felt exhilarated in his new home. By and by, David lighted happily on a lily pad to rest. There it was that he just happened to look below to the bottom of the pond. Why, he was right above his old friends and family, the water bugs! There they were scurrying about, just as he had been doing before.

 Then David remembered his promise: “The next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk will come back and tell the others where he went and WHY?” So without thinking, David darted down and hit the surface of the water and immediately bounced off. Now that he was a dragonfly, he could no longer go back in the water.

 “I CAN’T RETURN!” he said in dismay. “At least I tried, but I can’t keep my promise. Then another startling thought hit him. “Even if I could go back, no one would recognize me in my new body. I guess I’ll just have to wait until all my family and friends become dragonflies too. Then they will understand what happened to me, and where I went.”

 …So David, the dragonfly, winged off happily into his wonderful new world of beautiful sun, light, and air.

*PLEASE REMEMBER ________________________WHO HAS LEFT THE POND WE LIVE IN. GIVE ______________A GOOD LIFE, TOO, IN A WONDERFUL NEW WORLD OF SUN, LIGHT, AND AIR. AND THEN REMEMBER ME, AND LET ME SOMEDAY BE WITH _______________________.

…………………….

So until tomorrow…Help us Father give guidance and understanding to Your children about Your Love and return back to their Heavenly Home.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 * Brookie sent this picture to reassure all the Ya’s and friends that she is fine and doing well….Go Brookie! Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and prayers.

We love you Rudy!

    * Don’t forget to vote for a “waterbug” little boy (scurrying around) or a “dragonfly” little girl (fluttering around)…..we would love to hear from everyone with their guess. The contest is making these last few weeks more fun for Mollie, Walsh, and Rutledge…please join in!                

Dear Reader:

The other day when I was visiting Kay at Baker’s Pond Nursery on Central Avenue…we strolled past this statue of the Patron Saint of Gardens…Kay had written some clues on a card to help any onlooker identify his name.

I had never heard of him and even if I had been able to spell the name (which I doubt) I never could have pronounced it correctly….(Fee ah Kra). Who knew? (That’s the French pronunciation…the Irish is different… he lived in both countries)

I took a photo and then wrote some brief information down in my trusty (carry-along) notebook… yesterday I re-discovered my notes ….I looked back in my saved photos from the smart phone and found the statue again.

Looking at the photo, now, I thought “Jeepers…that is one despondent individual..no eye contact. How could he be associated with gardens when they make me so happy?”

So I started researching ole’ St. Fiacre and discovered that this gardener saint was one unique individual….and a secluded “loner” by choice. And don’t even think girlfriend…as you soon discover with a famous incident that turned him against all women…well all, except the Virgin Mary… He had a statue of her in his famous garden in France.

Okay…here goes the story of “St. Fiacre on a Friday”…according to “Non-Saint Dingle.”

Once upon a time…a long long time ago….a young man was born in the late 6th century to ( some say a king, a bishop, and/or a warrior-depending on who is telling the story)…but Fiacre refuted power and/or fighting and instead he chose to live his life in a monastery following his mother’s death while still a teen.

Between prayer and devotion to God he began growing herbs and vegetables in the land around the monastery. Soon people heard that his “magical” herbs were healing people and the hungry were given vegetables from the garden.

One of his most important discoveries was a herb rub for hemorrhoids…yep…he was the pre-cursor to “Preparation H.”

Obviously he became a quite popular fella and since Fiacre wasn’t socially inclined…he decided to leave his home country of Ireland and move to France.

Now here is where legend and truth get a little “squirrelly”….the different versions go from early Grimm Brothers fairy tale-like x-rated versions (based on violence) to a rather more passive narration.

He finally got to France in a “simple boat” that seemed doomed to be lost at sea in a terrible storm.  It was said that his prayers caused the winds and waves to become quiet and still.  (For that reason, a bottle of water from St. Fiacre’s well was thought to protect one from shipwreck.)

Upon arriving safely in France… the Bishop of Meaux gave him land for a hermitage. He built a hut and planted vegetables and herbs and flowers. Eventually, he asked the bishop for more land so he could feed the sick and hungry.

*As the legend goes, the bishop said Fiacre could have as much land as he could dig up in a single day. The monk prayed for guidance, and the next morning all he had to do was drag his spade/shovel across the earth. Trees toppled, bushes were uprooted, trenches appeared and stones fell away. The horticultural monk established a monastery where he grew crops that fed the poor and helped the sick.

** That was the children’s version…the early version said that a jealous neighbor, a woman thought to be a witch, watched intently as the “magic shovel” cleared more land than possible and told the bishop that Fiacre was a witch.

The bishop didn’t believe her…but instead chose to believe that this had been some of type of divine deliverance. However, when Fiacre heard about the woman’s accusations he was furious and forbid any woman from ever entering the gardens, the monastery, and sacred chapel under fear of bodily harm. (Bodily harm defined as “stoppage” of breathing.)

* Quote from an early writing: ” It is said St. Fiacre barred women, on pain of severe bodily infirmity, from the precincts of his monastery.”

As far as St. Fiacre was concerned… all women were “w“itches.

One young female author (Irene Virag)  in a magazine article from Gardens ….called “With a Little Help From Our Saints” ( after much research) stated:

” It saddens me to report that he was said to be a confirmed misogynist.” (woman-hater) 

* Others defend him saying that monasteries were male-oriented and not overly nice to women back in the 6th and 7th centuries…a social “faux pas” of the time.

(A little trivia tidbit)… “And he is, also, considered the patron saint of Parisian cabbies, because the hackney carriages for hire in the 17th Century plied their trade from the Hotel Saint-Fiacre (where they got their name) Cabs are called fiacres.

His garden still flourishes today in France where royal dignitaries sometimes visit…but even royal women don’t dare enter the sacred chapel out of respect (and probably fear) of his wishes.

Many of his statues show him with a shovel in his right hand and either the Bible, a vase of flowers, or onions in his left hand with a monastic cloak on.

Well…I got an idea to have a little fun with St. Fiacre…I always have flowers and certainly I could find a shovel from my garage…so I decided to put on my raincoat with a hood to look like his cloak…and pose, as a female statue version, smiling with a shovel in one arm, and flowers in another. Just the complete opposite of St. Fiacre. (If the blog doesn’t pop up today….come check on me… St. Fiacre got me in my sleep.)

Even though modern sculptors have cleaned St. Fiacre’s statues up…carving more benevolent expressions on his face…he still is a little scary to me. Since I am a woman gardener….and obviously, not a male gardener…I think I will stick with (my gift from Honey) St. Francis of Assisi statue. (I would be afraid that a St. Fiacre statue might “gonk” me over the head with the shovel as I walked by!)

St. Francis, however, seems pretty nice and has behaved quite well so far….he seems to nod pleasantly to me each morning as I wave to the garden from the deck.

So until tomorrow…let’s all remember the good side of people who help feed the hungry and heal the sick (even with their eccentricities…but for goodness sakes…let us learn a lesson from St. Fiacre…SMILE! It does a body good! It’s a beautiful garden! It’s a beautiful world! It’s a beautiful day…get out and enjoy it!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Ted, Brooke’s husband, called me on the way home from Brooke’s eye surgery and she is doing good…(disappointingly she didn’t get her pirate’s patch but just a plain old gauze. Was really looking forward to the pirate look) Seriously…Brooke is doing very well…just needs a few days rest to let  eye, time, and God work their miracles.

Rudy will be returning home to Chattanooga with Kaitlyn’s parents, Butch and Susan, (in the next few days) for the surgery. Will keep you updated on the process, progress, and outcome…thanks so much for caring about all God’s creatures..including our beloved little Rudy!

* If you haven’t made a decision yet on whether Mollie, Rutledge, and Walsh are having a boy or girl…just give it your best shot and send me the vote. Mollie told me that she and Walsh are having such a good time reading the comments from all of you who have voted and why you went one way or the other.

There is still lots of you to participate. Jump in and join the fun!

Every “vote” is important! (Go back to the last three blogs for the ultrasound picture if you are behind in blog reading for  some info and photo to help as clues perhaps.)

Dear Reader:

Back in Victorian times…”tiddly winks” was an expression used for parlor games…particularly one in which the players tried to flip “tiddly winks” into a cup….the player with the most “winks” won.

Later this expression came to mean “something trivial or unimportant.”  Sample Sentence: “I can’t believe you don’t want to ride bikes…but would rather watch your “tiddly winks” television program.”

We talk a lot in this blog about “God Winks” and I realize now that there are no “tiddly winks” when it comes to God Winks appearing at just the right moment in our lives. A “Father to Child” intervention when needed most.

With Valentines Day around the corner..this little box of hearts caught my attention while searching for a book. It was wedged in a book shelf between two books. When I opened it…I immediately remembered when and what it was all about.

In January of 2012 I had major surgery, once again, to remove more “little c” and do a major skin graft….from my back to my chest. It took over eight hours to complete.

Doodle had told me about a little children’s book called “The Kiss Box” that a mother bear and cub exchanged… filled with kisses so the little bear wouldn’t miss his mommy so much when she was away.

So Eva Cate and I exchanged a “Kiss box” (before my surgery) filled with hearts to represent a 100 kisses…and some Hersey kisses…just because they are yummy.

Soon after I came to following the surgery I was aware of a little tug on my pink robe that the Ya’s had given me (to this day Eva Cate puts it on every time she spends the night with me) and then we were playing with kisses…Boo had come through and there was my sweet baby.

 There are no little “tiddly winks” from God…He sends kisses and hugs…along with His Winks.

In one of God’s Mysterious Ways (Guidepost) true stories….I had to smile at God’s Wink at a elementary school spelling bee.

The story goes like this (paraphrased by me): Author: Maria Francia (“A Miracle at the Spelling Bee“)

A little first grader had just found a new friend at the lunch table who ate cafeteria food. The first grader brought a  chicken leg from home most days and his new friend was envious.

So one day the first grader asked his mom if he could have two chicken legs to take each day and then explained about his new friend…so every day that week the mother sent two chicken legs.

At the end of the week the new friend’s mother called to thank the “chicken leg” mom for being so kind to include her son in the lunch bag. She worked shifts and couldn’t fix her son a bag lunch and was very appreciative of her kindness and generosity.

They began talking and “chicken leg” mom said her first grader was in the spelling bee for the school’s first and second graders. Suddenly…from the other end of the phone…the thankful mom asked ” Can your son spell b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l?

Puzzled she called her son over by the phone and asked him the same thing…he could not…he kept leaving the silent “a” out. All that week when they practiced together she would include the word “beautiful” in the mix (even though it wasn’t on the list)…and each time the little boy would leave out the “a.” Finally on the way to the bee he spelled it correctly for the first time.

The first grader made it through round one, then round two, round three until there was just him and a second grader left. The last word… “Beautiful.” The second grader missed it…leaving out the “a” himself. When the first grader stood up to spell it…he grinned down at his mom and nodded….mouthing (loudly) “I won’t forget the silent “a.”

The crowd laughed and the first grader proudly spelled “beautiful” correctly to the clapping cheers around him.

As soon as they got home his mother ran to the phone and called the other mother who had mentioned learning the word “beautiful.”

“Did you know something I didn’t…that word wasn’t on the list to learn?”

“No…I just thought what you and your son were doing at lunch for my son was “beautiful.”  And so it was. A “God Wink”….an thank you from God for showing kindness.

………………………………

Guidepost also had this one minute short video clip that gave me chills….How can anyone doubt that God exists with all the intricacies He has meticulously given each creature on earth?

A Puffer Fish’s Miraculous Work of Art

A Puffer Fish’s Miraculous Work of Art – Guideposts

* Wasn’t that spectacular….mind-blowing?

* I wanted to catch up with some readers’ blog comments on recent blogs…..the first from Jo Dufford concerning yesterday’s blog….”Healing by Reinventing Ourselves.” Her analogy to what the oncologist went through with his heart attack was so insightful!

The article on the difference between curing and healing gives us so much to think about. I loved that the doctor moved rocks around while he probably mentally worked through what to do with the rock in his own life. It seemed that he said to acknowledge how you feel about something, and then move the rocks the way you best can “heal”. What a powerful thought, no matter what your pile of rocks happen to be…

Sis Kinney made this observation from the blog: “Each Morning We Are Born Again”

 Loved the poem “Beginning Today.” So, beginning today, I will strive to do just as he stated. It’s funny how we change our points of view on this as we get older; we don’t worry about the past or the future. It is what it is and no amount of worry will change either, right?

I, had a God’s Wink on this Buddha quote also (Each Morning We are Born Again)….with a verse from the Bible by the prophet Jeremiah: (Bible study I am attending on Tuesday…and after this wink I think God wants me there) After I had finished my blog Monday I started reading some of introduction and first chapter of the study guide and what did I see:

Yet I still dare to hope

when I remember this

The fruitful love of the Lord never ends

His mercies never cease

Great is his faithfulness

His mercies begin afresh each morning.

( Lamentations-3:21-23)

Johnny Johnson also gave a heart-felt testimonial on “Each Morning We Are Born Again.” Thank you Johnny for your candid and introspective thoughts concerning your personal life’s journey!

…Funny this blog should come today when just yesterday I told myself that I walked off my path and let things get in the way of my moto and prayer. I needed to get back on track.

I have had 13 spinal surgeries but I have never let it get me down or stop me from at least trying to do any and everything I want and or need to do. I returned to work after 11 of the surgeries but my employer asked me to retire while waiting for number 12.They were afraid I believe, that I might fall or something would happen where they would get stuck with a worker comp case.

But now I have drifted away from my original thought here as well as drifted away from my heart and mind set and that is why I pray to be a better person today than I was yesterday.

I let life and some pain cause me to lose that focus. So I am back on track looking to be a better person today and your blog, as God would have it, has reinforced myself to be a better person today. Thank you and as you say, your blog today was my God’s Wink!

I also loved Linda Carson’s thoughts on how God’s Winks help guide her daily.

I keep getting messages as I drive down Ladson on my way to work.  Its always nice to see the cross that stands in someone’s driveway that says, Remember, You are Loved.  But usually the days I happen to see that, there are always one or two more messages somewhere, billboards or license plates or a song.  Today it was a church sign:  Christianity isn’t just a religion, its a relationship. Isnt’ that so true?  Now that we are learning to listen and be open, how much have we missed?  Really great to feel closer and comforted in our daily walk.

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I will continue stopping periodically to share these wonderful thoughts and observations from you astute readers.

So until tomorrow….Everything is “B_E_A_U_T_I_F_U_L”!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Joe, Linda’s son, is going through a tough time right now…health-wise and job-wise. He could use your prayers to help guide him out of this valley.

Libby sent this message to all you for your prayers for Betsy…

The blog today was absolutely “on target” for me, as it usually is!!! Thanks to you and the wonderful friends of “Chapel of Hope” members who have prayed for Betsy and sent messages of love and care…..We could actually feel the blessings!!!

On-going prayers for our little Rudy are appreciated so much by the family.

**** Don’t forget! If you haven’t cast your choice yet for boy or girl in the “Give it a Twirl” contest for Mollie, Walsh, and Rutledge…please take a minute and shoot me an email or put it under comment. The tally is turning very interesting…..

* Adding this on…been waiting to hear from Brooke today…she  had more surgery done on one eye (around noon today-MUSC) to help with a problem she has had since childhood….please keep Brooke in your prayers as she goes through this final process with her eyes. They are too beautiful not to be seen or sync’ed….we will soon have a new “Miss Blue Eyes” again! Our Ya “Unsinkable Brookie Parker”!!!!!

Dear Reader:

I made the most delightful discovery yesterday while collecting broken branches, sticks and big pine cones. (I do believe I could win a pine cone contest….the pine trees are so old and so tall here in Miler that when they drop a pine cone…it could knock one senseless if it fell on your head.)

(Here is my pile of sticks, mostly tree branches and pine cones…I will sleep good tonight!)

But I digress…as I was straightening up the potting shed…I came across two cabbages I had placed in there in late fall (they were in pots…had watered them thoroughly but was too tired to plant them that day)….and now there they were ….just beautiful…..glowing from within…with special colors popping within other colors. (I cleaned them both up by pulling off all the dried up dead leaves around the bottom and gave them lots of overdue watering!)

I quickly grabbed my shovel and planted both of them beside each other…what an amazingly lovely pair they make….I am beginning to think cabbages are my favorite plants.

In spite of drought and a dark garage…these cabbages found a way to not only live…but bloom. They had healed themselves from within.

I found the most amazing article yesterday from an oncologist who shared his thoughts concerning the difference between curing and healing. When I finished reading the article….I just wanted to jump up and shout Hallelujah!

This is exactly how I feel…whether or not I (hopefully) one day am cured I still feel healed…from within. My “new eyes” help me see the world completely different these days...healing with feeling.

I have been give a second chance at re-inventing myself…can anyone ask for anything more than that?

I hope you take from this message a whole new perspective on healing. I rarely put a whole article in my blog…but this one was so powerful (and short) …that every word was needed to be heard.

” Difference Between Curing and Healing”

Dr. Michael Lerner, PhD.

Awakin Weekly

In my thirty years of working with cancer patients, I’ve seen a profound distinction between curing and healing.

Curing is what a physician seeks to offer you. Healing, however, comes from within us. It’s what *we* bring to the table. Healing can be described as a physical, emotional, mental and spiritual process of coming home.

Even if we’re losing ground physically, there’s extra-ordinary emotional, mental and spiritual healing that can go on. One of the most toxic new-age ideas is that we should “keep a positive attitude.” What a crazy, crazy idea that is.

It is much healthier, much more healing, to allow yourself to feel whatever is coming up in you, and allow yourself to work with that anxiety, depression, grief. Because, underneath that, if you allow those feelings to come up and express themselves, then you can find the truly positive way of living in relationship to those feelings. That’s such an important thing.

Then there’s the ideas we have about ourselves, our lives, about what the disease means. Often, people feel like their disease is some kind of judgment on them: “What did I do wrong?” I’m not sure that’s an idea that serves people very much.

When I had my heart-attack, I felt as though I was reborn. Even though I had been working with cancer patients for 18 years, when it was *my* heart attack, there was this profound rebirth experience. My beloved wife says that after the heart attack, I spent the first three months just rearranging the rocks in our garden.

The whole world seemed new to me. I was inventing my life all over again. So there is the opportunity that comes with cancer, to ask ourselves how we want to reinvent our lives. And that can be one of the most powerful healing things we can do.

Healing is the most fundamental aspect of our condition, and it’s a continuous rediscovery of what it means to be alive. It spills over into the rest of our life and guides us. It’s not only about some “spiritual experience” of being high all the time. Not at all. It is about living with the ongoing stresses and strains and difficulties — and joys — of life, but doing so in a way that we feel whole.

Living in relationship with the struggles of life is what makes us human.

………………………………

So until tomorrow…”Amen.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* I asked Kaitlyn to send me different pictures of Rudy…and I would simply put his picture in each day with a call to keep our little family member in everyone’s prayers. I love the following picture taken earlier at the “Blessing of the Animals.” Can’t help but think that will help too!

This is Rudy at the blessing of the animals! He liked the priest. Thats John Zahl. He is at Grace Episcopal Downtown now 🙂 

* Great news today…the doctors have put Betsy through tests and more tests but a new doctor yesterday said he felt like the medication was in place to help Betsy now (hasn’t had an “episode” in two weeks) and the test results (for possible other causes) were ambiguous enough to simply continue checking at intervals but in the meantime….go live your life fully.

Awards go out to Libby…Caregiver of the Year and Betsy…Patient of the Year. Y’all make a great team gals!

Joan finished her initial sketch of Sadie by turning it into this….just amazing! I don’t have a dog and I want Joan to paint a picture of my imaginary one!

If you haven’t voted in the “Boy or Girl…Give It a Twirl” baby contest for Mollie and Walsh and Rutledge…here is the ultrasound photo again…going to be a big baby (around 9 lbs…legs are in the 98th percentile…so long as well…and as you can see lots of hair.)

The baby will arrive in just a few short weeks with the jonquils and daffodils…I will keep the results of the tally a secret until after the delivery and then give Mollie the sheet to keep in the baby’s keepsakes. So if you also want to make a comment…please do and I will add it along side the guess.

‘Healing with Honey’ works too…she arrived yesterday with sunny flowers and sunny soup…but most importantly sunny Honey!

Dear Reader:

I slept in later than usual yesterday when I looked out the window drowsily and heard the rain pattering down. It would have been an easy day to just stay in the old p.j.’s and have a lazy, hazy day at home.

By noon, however, the sun was breaking through, the blue skies were sapphire and I decided it was time to match the cleanliness of outside in God’s Home with my not-so -clean kitchen.

Isn’t it amazing how we put off such simple chores for so long? When we finally get around to doing some down deep cleaning..it makes us feel so good. I left the kitchen shining and smelling ‘lemony’ wonderful from the floor mopping and cleaned out frig.

Then I felt ready to go outside, peruse my garden, and then run errands with smiles for all I met. Everything smelled and seemed so fresh after the rains had come and the winds had blown debris away. God’s way of helping us keep this world beautiful. (Of course now I have to play “pick up sticks” all over the yard before the truck comes tomorrow)

Jack Kornfield (“Little Buddha”) paraphrased an old Buddha thought/quote into:

“Each morning we are born again…what we do today is what matters most.”

To be given a new chance every day to make a difference in this world is unbelievably generous of God…no matter how many times we mess up…He helps us clean up.

Mollie sent this ultrasound she had taken yesterday….the doctor told her the baby was going to be another big one…probably around 9 pounds if full term and lots of hair.

I couldn’t believe how much the baby looks like Rutledge in the dark hair coloring and features…the newest little Dingle will definitely share a resemblance to its older sibling.

Okay…let’s have some fun. Since Mollie and Walsh are letting the gender be a surprise at delivery….I would love for all of you to let me know whether you think the baby is a boy or girl. I will keep the tally secret and then we can have some fun all together when the baby comes next month. Name of the Game- “Boy or Girl…Give it a Twirl”

(Isn’t it wonderful to play in a ‘win win’ game…there can be no losers because, at the end of Mollie’s pregnancy, a beautiful child of God will be added to the family and world.)

Your one and only clue: the rather distorted (always) ultrasound photo and your “gut” instinct.

The photo really makes the next little Dingle’s arrival feel more real now. With that in mind…I would like to share this poem with you for today’s story. A great reminder for us to keep on…keeping on…the world awaits our better selves as we grow wiser each day!

Beginning Today
By: John McCornack

Beginning today I will no longer worry about yesterday.It is in the past and the past will never change. Only I can change by choosing to do so.

Beginning today I will no longer worry about tomorrow.
Tomorrow will always be there, waiting for me to make the most of it.
But I cannot make the most of tomorrow without first
making the most of today.

Beginning today I will look in the mirror and I will see a person worthy
of my respect and admiration.
This capable person looking back at me is someone I enjoy spending time
with and someone I would like to get to know better.

Beginning today I will cherish each moment of my life.
I value this gift bestowed upon me in this world and I will unselfishly
share this gift with others.
I will use this gift to enhance the lives of others.

Beginning today I will take a moment to step off the beaten path and to revel in the mysteries I encounter.
I will face challenges with courage and determination.
I will overcome what barriers there may be which hinder my quest for
growth and self-improvement.

Beginning today I will take life one day at a time, one step at a time.
Discouragement will not be allowed to taint my positive self-image,
my desire to succeed or my capacity to love.

Beginning today I walk with renewed faith in human kindness.
Regardless of what has gone before, I believe there is hope
for a brighter and better future.

Beginning today I will open my mind and my heart.
I will welcome new experiences. I will meet new people.
I will not expect perfection from myself nor anyone else: perfection does not exist in an imperfect world.
But I will applaud the attempt to overcome human foibles.

Beginning today I am responsible for my own happiness and I will do
things that make me happy . . .
admire the beautiful wonders of nature, listen to my favorite music,
pet a kitten or a puppy, soak in a bubble bath . . .
pleasure can be found in the most simple of gestures.

Beginning today I will learn something new; I will try something
different; I will savor all the various flavors life has to offer.
I will change what I can and the rest I will let go.
I will strive to become the best me I can possibly be.

Beginning today. And every day.

……………………………..

 So until tomorrow…I think “I will savor all the various flavors life has to offer” by stopping by Tastee Freeze and getting a “Rainbow” cone….savor all the flavors! Got it covered!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Rutledge, in the immortal words of James Brown says: “I Feel Good”..no pain…ears clear….and a big “Cheese” to one and all! (Thanks for all the prayers and continued inquiries about Rutledge’s ears…Mollie and Walsh are thankful for your thoughts and prayers.)

* Rudy (Kaitlyn’s dog and loved by all) is having some potentially serious health problems which requires surgery. Kaitlyn has had this precious dog for many years and Tommy adores him also…very upsetting…thoughts and prayers are appreciated for a full recovery.

Dear Reader:

I came across a quote the other day that caught my attention. It was credited to Mark Twain (but I also saw it credited to William Barclay)…either way it is pretty profound.

“The Two Most Important Days in Your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.”

Since we can’t take either credit or responsibility for the day we were born…the most important day in our conscious life is the day we discover why we were put here on earth.

The closest I came to answering that question happened on a September 3 day, a December 23 day, and a December 29 day…actually “birth” days of my three children. (Portraits Mandy (far left) Walsh (right)…Tommy below in the middle)

I remember thinking each time as I stared down at my individualized perfect little being…that if I never do anything “important” in my life…I did help create three wonderful possibilities to make the world a better place.

(I have lived long enough to see the “possibilities” become realities… I am so proud of my three kind and caring/compassionate adult children.)

The search for our life’s purpose doesn’t come easy…in fact the answer to that question is a life time quest.

In  a Huff Post (Good News) article by Sue Shanahan/author/illustrator titled “Over the Rainbow-Your Life’s Purpose”… the author examines her own journey of self-discovery. The answer she sought came in the form of understanding the difference between a “calling” and one’s “talents” or “vocation.”

...Everyone’s life has a calling. We all come here to fulfill a sacred duty. I am an artist. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been creating things. My aunt recalls me, at age three, playing with a handkerchief for hours. I would fold and form it into different props for my land of make-believe.

Although I came here with special talents, I now know they’re not the reason for my existence. My artistic ability is woven through the fabric of my soul to support and help manifest why I was born.

Shanahan’s search continues until the day she receives a special email from a songwriter friend. The artist in her draws paintings of children….bringing out their own unique individuality for the world to see.

She loves the quote: “Every child is like a flower, unique in beauty and design.”

And then comes her epiphany from a comment in an email.

“In an email from singer/song writer Rodney Crowell, I found my answer, “I notice things in your work I love about Renoir’s. Seeing soft beauty in the commonplace. Heaven on Earth if you will.”

That’s it! I see the allure in the ordinary and reflect it back to my subjects and the world. I do that in my writing, too. We are all here on earth with the longing to be validated. There is not a heart that doesn’t yearn to be seen and loved for itself. In a society saturated with celebrity glitz and glam, my creations celebrate the extraordinary in the ordinary.”

Shanahan finally saw beyond her artistic talent…that was all well and good… but it was just a tool she used to “celebrate the extraordinary in the ordinary“- that was her “calling.”

She realized one doesn’t need a “talent” as society defines it to discover one’s “calling.” She then gave an example concerning her sister’s “vocation.”

“Does everyone have a calling that includes an obvious talent? I don’t think so. My sister Ann owned a cleaning business. And no, she didn’t have a passion for cleaning. Over the years, she discovered what filled her cup was to be of service. Explaining the new found contentment in her job she told me, “I clean toilets for a living. I had to figure out a way to find meaning in that.

I realized my cleaning and organizational skills were a gift to my clients. When I began focusing on helping others, everything flipped.” Ann had claimed and named her dharma/calling. After her epiphany she couldn’t satisfy all the requests she garnered for her services.”

…………………………..

Finally, in my sixth decade of life, it is slowly dawning on me that writing and storytelling are my passions…my gift/my calling to the world. To be able to put my thoughts “out there” to share with the world brings me more joy than I could have ever imagined.

I heard a comedian tell a talk show host…that his childhood was a disaster according to society’s standards…crazy parents, moving constantly…but that it what gave him the “material” to make people laugh. If he had a “normal” childhood…he never would have become a comedian.

How true! If my early childhood had not been fraught with the tragic loss of several imminent family members and other family members’ physical disabilities ….(if I had grown up in a “normal” family)…I doubt I would have lived in my imagination and fantasy world… which, in turn, gave me the gift of writing and storytelling.

I remember when I first started the blog…I thought that even if nobody ever viewed it or read a single line in a single post…I would keep writing…and maybe, just maybe, one day a star would read my thoughts… way out there in “cyber-space”… and, then, that night there would be an extra “twinkle” in the sky.

That hasn’t happened yet…thanks to you loyal readers…instead I discovered a powerful lesson…that one small voice can still be heard today and make a statement about life that we, as a human race, can all relate to no matter our color, gender, or location.

Who knows? Maybe, one day,  it will be my destiny to return to stardust in order to see the  “twinkles” waiting for me. Storytelling in the Stars…it will be spectacular!

So until tomorrow…pause and think about that second important day in your life…the real “calling” hiding under your talents and occupations. It is there waiting for you.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* While gathering family pictures yesterday for the blog…I came across one photo that made me stop in my tracks. It is one of my favorite family photos because it is the only one with my daddy and me in it together.

It was my younger brother David’s (died from Marfan’s Syndrome complication at 21) photo that made me halt in my album search.

I had forgotten what a little “chunker” my brother, David, was when he was little. By four this precious little child was as thin as a skeleton, legally blind and was never allowed to participate in physical activities. I just remembered this extraordinarily tall frail frame that David was forced to live in during his short stay on earth. It was so good to recall that once he was a healthy little toddler.

David, was also the kindest soul I have ever met in my life. He was a “jack of all trades” who could dismantle a clock and put it back together, grow the most beautiful flowers, and was the most tolerant child to all the taunts he endured because of his tall think skeletal frame and poor vision. I think he was just too good for this old planet…God wanted His child back in His safe haven with Him.

This was the last picture taken of David (senior year at Erskine) two months before his death. You see how he loved animals and all of God’s creation.

Having just spent time with Jakie Saturday night while we all laughingly kissed his cute bald head with coconut oil (thanks for the advice Kaitlyn) glistening off his head…the resemblance hit me hard. Even though David is older in this picture than little Jakie (18 months vs. a little over four months) I see a resemblance that makes me smile with fond memories.

David was bald until he was past two  and then he had blond hair as a toddler….the strangest feeling came over me as I stared at my little brother…I felt like a part of him was still here for me…in little Jakie. Heredity, chromosomes and genes are  one of the last great mysteries on earth.

* It’s Groundhog Day and I think everyone is holding their breath praying that old groundhog doesn’t see its shadow. Maybe we can pay Nana (the Darling’s dog who stole Peter Pan’s shadow) to do the same for a few important groundhogs. I’d be willing to chip in!

Dear Reader:

Almost a century ago (91 years to be exact) on February 1, 1924 the State General Assembly voted unanimously for the “yellow jessamine” to become our state flower.

The yellow jessamine is indigenous to every part of the state. It is a climbing woody vine with evergreen leaves and blooms small, yellow, tubular, fragrant clusters.

One characteristic separates it from all the other state flowers and that is its wonderful fragrance. It is the sweetest smelling flower/vine of all the early spring flowers.

It blooms in very late winter or early spring, offering the first hope of warm weather to come! This flower loves sun and can grow quite fast given plenty of space and moist, well-drained soil.

When the US Mint decided to release quarters for each of the states, it was decided that Yellow Jessamine would appear on South Carolina quarter, along with the palmetto tree and the Carolina Wren (our state bird).

Unfortunately….the sweet fragrance of the vine lures wildlife and small children to taste it (they mistake it for honeysuckle)…it is extremely poisonous and life threatening.

This last piece of information became the backdrop for my story on the state flower that I wrote two years ago this February…“The Gift of the Yellow Jessamine.”  As Donald David, one of my favorite storytellers, always said…“If you have a problem…you’ve got a story.” (If you don’t have a problem..you’re dead.)

Yesterday when I went out to check my yellow jessamine vines…I could see the tiny buds just starting to open and was so excited. Immediately I thought of my three main characters in the story….Sally, Sukie, and Old Boy…the Scottish border dog.

When I asked Joan to create the cover for the story…I had no idea that a God’s Wink was forming. Using only my description of Sally from the outline… she captured her precisely as if she had plucked Sally from my imagination /visualization and plopped her right down on the cover.

Joan said it was easy….because she was Sally. She, basically, drew herself growing up on a farm in Alabama… since she, as a little girl,  matched my description of Sally precisely.

Joan, also,  came up with the idea of adding a dog to the mix…because she couldn’t imagine children in the post-Civil War period not having a dog in a rural area… (like where they supposedly lived in the lowcountry of South Carolina.)

Last year Tim found these old planks from a  fence that had been torn down when my neighbor replaced a section…so he moved it and propped it up against the outside garage wall/potting shed these days.) We planted the yellow jessamine close enough to the boards so hopefully it would start climbing.

I remember watering it a lot during the hot summer months and hoping it would make it. It grew outward but not upward on the piece of fence and I was kinda disappointed.

But when I checked it yesterday that sneaky yellow jessamine had crawled through the open slats and climbed to the top of the fence from behind. It was now starting to drop over and start down the front.

Isn’t life like our state flower? It’s the old paradox of good versus evil, beautiful versus ugly, truth versus lies and so on. The yellow jessamine is beautiful and sweet smelling but quite poisonous if ingested.

It is one of those things in life that is better to admire from afar…can’t we all remember other such situations?

A few days of sunny weather and in a blink Summerville will be consumed by this lovely little vine….don’t we love living in this amazing town?

Here is an update of new additions to the garden and life popping out on top of the ground.

 During one of the last windy winter storms my “Hope” pieces of cloth were blown away. I found one stuck to a tree trunk…one under the deck and two rolled up in a planter.

I washed them and put them back up yesterday…because we can never let “Hope” disappear. (You know you are a teacher when you “pin” them back up to the deck rail with colored stick pins!)

So until tomorrow..remember nature/ our state flower/ is offering us…the “hope” of warm weather to come.”

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Mandy sent me this picture…Jakie’s toes can finally reach the floor and for the first time he can bounce…isn’t life exciting when learning becomes a daily delight?

Right after she sent this picture she called me to come have dinner at their house…and off I went…delicious supper and fun with the grands….Jake had his first rice tonight…gulped it all down…the boy is an eater!

 John and I decided precious Jakie might not be an Auburn War Hawk…but definitely a “Bald” Eagle! We love him so…too  adorable!

Before I turn in…Sunday is February 1…so you know what that means…we must all say “Rabbit” first thing this morning…so we will have good luck all month! (Old Irish tradition)

This is a rabbit (statue) from Doodle’s yard…if any of you have picture/painted rabbits, stuffed rabbits, garden rabbits…you name it…send me the photo and I will save it to use on the first of each upcoming month!

Dear Reader:

Yesterday I woke up to bright sunny skies and could hardly wait to get the day started…a wonderful sense of expectancy and happiness swept over me.

After checking emails and comments…I started skimming over articles that had popped up…. one was examining the mistake too many people make when it comes to happiness.

Somehow we take Thomas Jefferson’s words too literally from the Declaration of Independence….in reference to the “pursuit of happiness.”  We think happiness can be found somewhere “out there“….we don’t know where “out there” is… but it becomes an all-consuming”pursuit” into futility… because the search party is going the wrong way.

Blogger Jessica Ainscough in her insightful article (“Creating Happiness from within…”) makes this profound statement:

“We tend to think that life comes at us, not from us…we are constantly looking outside of ourselves for happiness when all we need to do is send the search party within.”

Isn’t that the truth? Don’t we find ourselves blaming life itself…bad luck or random unfortunate happenstances… for our lack of success in finding and maintaining happiness?

It isn’t until we come upon major obstacles in our own lives that we learn the secret of inner happiness…that we had it all the time while searching outside for it. We are capable of tapping into the deepest part of our soul where miracles await. To date that has been my biggest discovery on my sojourn here on earth.

Ainscough had a quote in her article that I really liked and want to share with you:

” Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude– Denis Waitley.

In my photo search for happiness yesterday I came across an epiphany of sorts… or at least a good God’s Wink.

I had gotten pretty far into writing today’s blog when I heard Lucy (the cat) scratching on the front porch screen…she wanted breakfast….now! So I stopped typing and went to fix her bowl.

The whole time I was going through this rather mundane daily ritual…my mind was thinking about something around the house that makes me happy that I could take a photo of… for the title picture.

I found myself grabbing my Iphone as I went out on the porch to drop off the food for Lucy. As I watched her eat….I was thinking “What is something around here that makes me happy”….actually the question could have been reversed…I just love my home and garden so much…it all brings me such happiness.

But my newest addition…the gray kitchen cabinets on the B&B side of the house seemed to pop up out of nowhere in my mind.

I was so proud of making the decision to go dark gray for my kitchen cabinets and use a new paint that gave them a rustic look….and then have it turn out just the way I envisioned.

As I got ready to ‘shoot’ the photo of freshly painted cabinets…however, it was the light from the kitchen window that drew my attention….I found myself looking out the window and from this angle…I could see part of the deck and the garden beyond…two great sources of happiness that didn’t even exist two years ago…I took the picture and smiled.

It was then it happened…I had purposefully left one wooden Christmas decoration in front of the kitchen cabinets (by the kitchen window) because I loved its contrast of brightness against the dark gray and the familiar Christmas scripture.

As I re-read the scripture again….a thought suddenly came to me. Our happiness here on earth centers around the spiritual experience of having God in it… who is “Wonderful, our personal counselor, mighty (beyond our comprehension) our everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.”

Think back to the times when we have felt a deep sense of contentment and happiness…hasn’t it come after experiencing a kind comment or some act of love given and received?

We feel loved by Someone who personifies LOVE and we feel a deep-seeded sense of peace permeate our body and soul. The directions to happiness were right there in the Christmas left-over decoration filled with the WORD…the WORD of GOD. We need look no further for happiness.

So until tomorrow…take time to look around you in “love, grace, and gratitude” at all God has given us to bring happiness into our midst…and then look inward and send a “thank you note” to God. I just licked my envelope!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Gin-g and I went to the Continental Corner for dinner last night….so yummy! We had so much catching up to do and laughter did abound. Father Ernie even gave us a free dessert. (Since we talked the whole meal about cutting back and being “good” with our diet this month… we split one piece….sharing dessert with a friend produces no guilt…a mandate among girl friends!)

I felt so honored to get to ride in Fred’s red jeep…”The Bomb”…I felt like I was back in high school or college.

“The most wasted of all days is one without laughter” – e.e. cummings