Peace

I remember when as a little girl I first realized that I was going to die. It was scary to me. I talked about how I was feeling with my favorite babysitter. I didn’t talk about it with my mom. I never talked about anything with my dad.

At 54 my body tells me everyday that I am getting old but rather than get depressed about aging or mortality, about something I can’t do anything about, I TRY harder to live up to my favorite axiom:  “May you live all the days of your life” J. Swift 

When life goes from hard to harder I TRY to work on what is most important to me. I think that with all that’s going on with Japan and Libya and other people’s injustices and suffering I can be thankful for my own problems (be them unwarranted)

Life goes on weather we are living it or not.

Today:

I prayed

I walked the dogs with my husband in the cool of the morning

I then road my bicycle 6 ½ miles

I read

I sent an e-mail query to an agent

I printed up a book proposal to an agent to mail tomorrow

I asked for a book review for a celebrity

I ate lunch with my husband in the sunroom & read out loud from inspirational books & later wash the dishes by hand

I e-mailed with my son

I put a photo of my son holding his infant son in a magnetic frame on the refrigerator

I ate lemon yogurt for a snack

I just checked with my husband about our plans to spend the late afternoon together

3 things

My husband

My health

My first grandchild

“If you don’t believe in something greater than yourself you won’t do anything greater than yourself.”

This is a quote from a nun on Oprah. I seldom watch TV and even more rarely daytime television but I happened to be home when this was on and had heard about it. Having been raised Catholic and once upon a time wanting to be a nun (as perhaps most little Catholic girls) I wanted to watch.

I’d like to think that nuns actively do what the rest of us (Christians / spiritual people) claim and that is constantly growing to better ourselves as to the kind of individual we are…

What is the point of life if we are not constantly making that effort ~ activity moving forward in life ~ not with career or possessions but in improving the kind of person we are. I feel like my daughter genuinely does this more than any other single person I know.

My daughter does the kind of work the nuns do. Elizabeth graduated from Rice University at 20 years-old with a double major and being bilingual. She has done a number of different things including teaching for the exceptional program Teach For America. She is now finishing up her 1^st year of a 2 year program at Brandeis University. The program is a Masters of Sustainable International Development.  The degree will credential her to run programs to improve the quality of life in developing countries and work for organizations like the State Department and the United Nations.

I believe that her dad and I were her sparks.

Let us go forward and make it an exceptionally good day always working hard on self improvement ~ have people leave our home, our presence, feeling better for having been with us ~ through God all things are possible ~ Peace be with you ~

I had the most wonderful day yesterday ~ I will cherish & remember it for a long time ~ as what do we really have but our memories ~ even the old folk, with their scratched & dented minds have their memories.

The day was precious from the onset with the morning sky that looked like a baby blanket all soft blue with pink clouds ….the pond had that enchanting mist that happens once in awhile when the water is much warmer than the air…ah, that cold spring air in the 30’s that left me deliciously chilled was absolutely wonderful! I opened all the windows & put the attic fan on until the inside temperature was 55! I could never have done that if Bruce was home. I closed the house up when the day begin to get warm & it stayed cool all day without using any electricity!

I like getting up alone before dawn…while the house is still & hidden in the shadows… I like having so much of the day to use & I like seeing the dawn come in & savoring the cold morning while I sip hot coffee…sometimes I have deep thoughts & sometimes I just totally enjoy my senses in the moment without having to share any of me.

I got another cover letter together & another copy of my resume & sealed them with my husband’s & I bicycled to the post office to get it out on the morning pick up. Oh joy! Oh delight! I was bicycling in another green & blue day ~

Spring & I played ball. I answered e-mail & finished my part of our volunteer work. I worked on my current book & curled up with vanilla decaf & read my current book. I ate my lunch with my book in the sun. I cooked dinner & my potatoes (Bruce even made the positive comment about them) came out right. Bringing in our bath towels off the clothes line I shuddered at the perfect-ness of the day…

Bruce, Spring & I dinned in the sunroom. Elizabeth called as we were finishing up. We talked & laughed & shared & enjoyed each other in our mother-daughter bond. There is a special-ness that is just for us. Bruce, Spring & I went on a walk around the property; Bruce with hoe in hand to protect us now that the snakes are out again. I picked tiny bell shaped wildflowers. We saw bluebonnets blooming in new places. The evening air was delightfully cool again. I had my bath yet to enjoy ~ stretching out in my big tub with special soaps & oils…

Bruce & I enjoyed the stars together, called Spring in, knelt to pray, I read a poem & we kissed goodnight – twice.

Fully enjoyed days like this are rare. Elizabeth & I have spoken about this & agreed, if we only experienced joy we wouldn’t know what it was…clearly that is the case today as my husband has attempted to ruin so much about today, I write about & relive yesterday, savoring it again.

Scripture reading this morning was perfect for the situation (there’s a surprise!) A very close friend is having a double mastectomy this morning. One of my daily devotionals read: love is healthy

“Then your light will break fourth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear: then your righteous will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.” Isaiah 58:8

“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

Thank you Father God for guiding the doctors and ill ones to know just what has to be done and to do it and be healed! Amen!

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” – John Lennon

We planned to leave the mountains for TX this morning but waking up to 6 inches of the glorious white stuff changed that…I just witnessed a new phenomenon. As the sunshine came out the snow started tumbling off the river aspen but inside the trees, not on the edges of the branches.  I have been up here for about 25 seasons of snows and hadn’t seen that before ~

The deer, at least the fawns, are making meowing noises like kittens – I just heard that sweet sound for the first time…sitting outside in the silence of the snow, seeing their adorable faces and hearing that sweet sound…oh my…

“I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)”

It’s that mystical time when night & day melt into each other…I was just out on the deck in my robe, hardly aware of the 20 degrees, clutching my coffee mug, listening to the owl & the river, watching the stars, aware of God’s presence…

In the USA research shows that after making enough money to meet our basic needs: food, shelter, and clothing, that any money we make beyond the basics will have an insignificant effect on our happiness.

Once we make enough money to support our basic needs, our comfort level may improve, though ones happiness is not significantly affected by how much money we make, but by our level of optimism. I’ve been called a Pollyanna but why choose to live in a world that is half empty, dark and sad?

Our attitude is our choice.  If we don’t enjoy the simple everyday gifts we are given we are not living a full life.  For me, no career, lovely house or money to buy stuff matters without a well balanced life that includes health, loved ones, a positive, giving spirit and taking time to sit and be still in nature.

Healthy life habits are crucial and it is appreciation for life’s simple gift that matter most. If we live our lives working weekends instead of enthusiastically attending that little league game, taking the beauty in nature that surrounds us for granted, watching TV instead of taking a walk or engaging in time with our spouse, we are missing out on a full life…it is a choice…no one is guaranteed tomorrow.

Everyday is a gift. Seek balance. Reflect periodically and make changes where necessary while you still can.

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”