This tortoise is going to win the race… by sheer steady determination!
Oh sure, there are days that feel like I’m falling behind, sometimes even rolling backwards.
Other days may even leave me confused as to whether I am the tortoise or the hare… maybe there’s a bit of both in me, at times.
Whoever came up with the saying, slow and steady wins the race, had to have been in a similar race as mine! They most certainly had to have experienced much, if not more, of some of my own obstacles and roadblocks!
The point is… if I keep going slow and steady, I won’t be needing a break!
This tortoise has an enormous dish of carrots and apples waiting at the finish line… and I am hungry!
My friend the hare ran too fast for too long, having to stop and take several breaks, so he will be along shortly! I’ll just set some of my goodies aside for him, once he gets here… I simply love to share my things with others, as a turtle can only eat so much lettuce and carrots, anyway!
I’ve decided that if I were to be any fictional cartoon character, it would be a fairy!
Not just any fairy, mind you, but a useful fairy that sprinkles good wherever she goes!
My official title would be Wiwohka the Word Writing Punctuation Fairy!
You know how you always see a fairy that uses her wand to sprinkle either happy dust, dreamy dust, or silly dust all over her subjects… well, it would be kind of like that, only with things like commas, periods and quotation marks!
Commas are my actual favorite and I love nothing more than to go over the words on my pages, generously sprinkling them here and there and everywhere!
Do you remember the movie, Rise of the Guardians? It’s an adorable animated movie involving Santa and a few others trying to save children’s imagination from the evil schemes of a dream stealer… this is a very loose description of the movie because I don’t want to ruin it for those who haven’t seen it.
Anyway, near the middle of the movie, there is a scene where they got a bit wild with the magic dust they were using, causing a bit of a kerfuffle! Ummm… sometimes I feel like that happens in my writing, with all the flying punctuations ricocheting off the ceiling in my literary loft.
If I were living in a fictional cartoon world, I suppose it would be perfectly normal to see my magic commas and quotations afloat in all the ponds, waterways, cereal bowls, and drinking glasses I can reach… but in the real world, well, not so much!
They made it look so easy back in school, when we were given a sentence to punctuate, a pencil to mark it up, and two hands to clap out the phrases to see how many places to put our commas. Perhaps this was the reason Captain Kirk always talked as if there were major gaps between every 3 or 4 words he spoke.
Whatever it is that makes me over sprinkle my magic punctuation dust, too much of a good thing can become unhealthy, infecting all the other good ingredients on the page!
Currently, I am having my wand looked at, just in case it needs repair or an update to its magic software.
If I am to be an imaginary cartoon fairy, then I shall strive to perform my punctuation Fairy duties to the best of my abilities!
In honesty, Google can have this prompt question as far as I’m concerned!
I still hold to my commitment to being forthright and non flippant in my answers to the daily prompt questions, therefore, I wholeheartedly suggest you search Google for the answer to what is considered the most important invention in my life.
Besides, I’m not dead yet so there is still time for something bigger or better to come… don’t blame me, blame the prompt for asking such an open ended question!
As I write to everyone on a daily basis, offering to share who I am to any who wish to take the time to get close with me, I highly doubt that my explanation about an important invention will be of any personal value to anyone.
When I arrived at the office this morning, a letter was waiting on my desk. Folded delicately and wrapped in a soft yellow ribbon, the note shouted to me from across the room, since everyone here at WTL News is familiar with these notes wrapped in yellow ribbon. Our Benefactor always wraps His messages this way, so I quickly crossed the room and excitedly picked up the note to read its contents.
This was the first correspondence I’d received since the office meeting last week, where I’d been promoted to being WTL’s first Time Traveling Journalist, so I was itching with curiosity and excitement for what might be inside the note. Could it be a traveling itinerary so soon? Or better yet, maybe it would instruct me to take an in depth training seminar, explaining exactly what my new position was? What exactly was I being expected to do, anyway?
Sure, I am able to pack light and travel fast, capable of surviving out in the field for long periods of time. Interviewing folks and writing about it has always come easy to me, flowing from mind to page smoothly, as if I’d been born with a pen in my tiny hand. Ever since the office meeting, I’d been pondering what might be in store for this quirky girl from country, turned investigative columnist… or Time Traveling Journalist, as the new name plate on my desk boldly reflects.
The note from my Benefactor instructed me to report to the Archives Department, where I was to be given full access to all of WTL Historical Records for study! Apparently, I am to spend this entire week perusing all of the documents, making myself more familiar with all of our history. At the end of the week, I am to submit my first three choices in time, for my first On The Job Training assignment.
My boss knows me so well, choosing to teach me hands on, as this is my natural way of really learning and remembering things. How better to figure out my new job, than to simply immerse myself in the task at hand. Reading a thing, talking about a thing, or even dreaming about a thing, doesn’t really make it work like it should until you DO the thing, if you get my way of understanding.
With this in mind, I am off to the Archives to DO that which has been instructed so far, trusting that the records might reveal more of the What When Where and Who part of my new position. Personally, I have a handful of history participants that I have long since had a desire to investigate. Is it wrong to say that I already have a favorite in mind? She is someone that I’ve always found to be intriguing, as well as, incredibly selfless! I wonder how much I will be able to find on her in the records, as I’ve not found much in all my other research.
Oh well, I shall report to the Archives for my assignment, trusting my Benefactor to make the right choice for me at the end of the week. I shall do my best to thoroughly study all that lay before me, selecting the top three destinations, even if my first choice isn’t the one He sends me toward. If nothing else, I can discover as much about her as I can, while searching through the records. Perhaps I can visit her at another time if things work out, as time it seems, has now become my career…
Right now, it’s not even a hypothetical answer, considering that we are still surviving with only one working water line that only gets cold water to one faucet… no toilet plumbing, nor a working shower!
Daily writing prompt
Describe your most ideal day from beginning to end.
Now that you have a better understanding of why I am answering the prompt with a picture of an empty bathtub, I will tell you, in truth, what my ideal day would look like…
Every perfect day starts out with a cup of piping hot coffee, mixed to perfection with my favorite French Vanilla creamer…
As I sip my most favorite beverage in the quiet early morning hour, I study and rest on Gods promises, given to me within His word.
After several hours of reading, writing, and corresponding with those in the WordPress community, I am rewarded with a glorious walk along the river, continuing on into the park, where my favorite squirrels all live and play.
All that walking used up a great deal of energy.
Upon my return from the above mentioned walking adventure, I would then climb into a luxuriously hot and soap filled bathtub… you know those really lovely bathtubs with the clawed feet that sit on the surface of the floor… ya, that kind! I would just lay there soaking away all the aches and pains, worries and woes, and whatever else I’ve been carrying around.
All this pampering and relaxation, might lead you to think that it would be time for a nap… nope! There is still yet to be done in the hours left, so let the refueling begin…
Once refueled and re-energized, I would then spend several hours of uninterrupted quiet, continuing on in the writing of my upcoming novel. I may be close to halfway finished, so that’s an encouragement!
I would spend the remaining hours of the evening with my husband, sharing our day with one another and enjoying a quiet dinner together.
In truth, I already do most all of the above mentioned things… apart from having hot water, or a bathtub!
Don’t worry… I wash my hands before making your cookies…
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
2 Timothy 3:16, 17 says, “ALL scripture is God Breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
My honest assessment of the situation is this… I think I am in training… in fact, I’m pretty certain of it!
You know, there is so much truth in saying that in ALL circumstances, it is so imperative to stay in the Word and pray without ceasing… I mean WITHOUT ceasing!
As difficult as circumstances may be and no matter how hard the wind and rain rock me… I am fully anchored by my Cornerstone… Christ Jesus!
Our current storm, if you will, is pretty loud… and yet… I am more at peace than I ever have been! How is this possible, you may be asking? I see God moving in and around my life in ways that can only mean that I am fully in HIS hands!
Things are so rocky and uncertain that it often feels like I’m walking on a razors edge, with cliffs and darkness all around, save for the light I carry. Of late, I’ve been ravenously consuming passages from all corners of the Bible. From the book of Revelations, Job, much of the New Testament, and back and forth in Psalms, I am now entering into the book of Romans. I am 55 years old and for the first time in my adult life, I am learning that indeed there IS Power in staying beneath the Father’s shadow, steadily reading the pages of His word… over and over and over and over again!
Moment by moment, step by step, I am going to continue walking forward in obedience and faith, regardless of the outcome! Yup! I said, regardless! In all my readings, not once have I encountered a verse that said I would become invincible, nor did it reflect a life of ease coming down the pike for those who follow God… point in fact, it says quite often that we would have difficulties. Don’t get me wrong… getting INTO heaven is easy because Jesus did the hard part there! It’s the getting there part that takes effort… not in works, mind you, just in faithful obedience. And *Spoiler Alert*, we do get an E for effort!
When we get home, is the place that Perfecting happens! Until then, we are washed and covered in His blood, because we will never attain or overcome that which He has already done for us! 2 Timothy reminds me that the Bible has all that I need to get me home, not just to look at and read when I feel like it… it is my Manna, my bread of life, for my journey home! If I ate everything on the first day of the trip, I’d starve by the time I got even half way home!
As with Manna, hoarding and simply carrying it with me spoils its contents… I need it fresh each day, taking only that which is fully offered for my “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness”, sustaining me for that day, so that I’m able to walk on in faith towards the blessings that are ahead.
Knowing me, on the day He calls me heavenward, everyone will see an old rickety RV pulling up to the gates of Heaven and then hear one of those AWOOOGA horns begin to honk, announcing my sheer Joy at being HOME!
As I stand now in the Eye of yet another storm, I will not be shaken, nor will I falter! I am carried by the Righteous Right Hand of my Creator!
Back in the day I was a professional list maker… ask any of my kids. White boards, Poster Boards, notes in lunch boxes, you name it… I listed it!
I was always making grocery lists, laundry lists, homework lists and even vacation lists… I classed myself an expert!
Gone are those days… and gone are any lists… anywhere! I have a white board Calendar that never displays anything more than the days of the month that I rewrite each time the months change… that is as far as that goes.
At some point, things just became a long line of polls being knocked out from underneath my boardwalk, eventually leading to now… where most days find me adrift, on a piece of broken plank I’d been standing on when all the supports gave way!
When you go into what I refer to as “Survival Mode”, there is no need of any lists… just wait for the next wave and hold on!
There are days that I truly wish I could write a list and then “Poof” things would just begin to fall into place like a puzzle, creating something beautiful and lovely to gaze upon… but believe you me, I tried that and it was fruitless!
There is freedom in surrender! I choose to take one day at a time, praying that my father continue to guide my path, as He faithfully does. Living this way causes the need for making lists obsolete!
I do not need a list to guide my path, as I have already found the light and He guides me fully, in all things!
If you look behind the woman smiling, at the warzone that seems to surround her, one might think it odd that she seems to be happy.
With so much destruction and danger that she is sitting amidst, the woman would be more likely to have tears in her eyes, probably even fear and exhaustion… why doesn’t she? Is she oblivious to the war going on right behind where she sits?
One might even feel irritated at her bright smile that is disrupting the atmosphere of chaos!
What on earth could make her so daggone chipper, in that awful situation? What could she possibly be thinking about or maybe observing, that could even begin to pull her mind away from that which is going on around her?
With this picture in your mind, I want to share my next Note To Self, followed by a bit of a break down, as to what I think it means and why I chose it!
Note To Self #24
For the Lord is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Psalm 84:11
As I explain what I believe this verse means to ME, I want to now offer a bit of a different perspective of the woman, so as to give you both an example of external circumstances… and one of internal, or, better than that, circumstances of the heart and mind!
Now you still don’t have all the facts, but at least it is perhaps a start in understanding some of her mindset.
I believe that the verse from the book of Psalms means a great deal more than what one thinks when they first read it. Let’s break it down a bit…
“For the Lord is a sun and shield” makes me think that God is not only providing for my needs, but He is my Protector!
“The Lord bestows favor and honor” just made everyone’s eyebrows go up, while thinking about the warzone around where the woman is sitting. I am currently sitting in the middle of things completely out of my control, and yet I am NOT sleeping on the ground, nor am I even hungry… I am at peace! We humans are the ones that put a monetary value on our successes or failures, Not God!
Here comes the pivotal part of the entire verse, as far as I can understand. ”No good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” Two things that everybody is now zeroed in on, are “no good thing” and “blameless”!
What good things, who has em, why can’t you see them in the picture, and where’s all MY good stuff? It may or may not have anything to do with money, honey, health, wealth, boys, toys, owning cars, being stars, travel the world, or getting the girl! You remember the saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”? What you or I consider to be a good thing, may have nothing to do with what “Good Thing” the woman is thinking on… what Her Joy is! It is so easy for us to assume we know what would be considered a good thing for another, but in truth, we DO NOT!
To be “blameless” is a tough sell here, but stay with me, if you will, a bit further. Before you cut and run at the impossibility of trying to be perfect, in order to get good things, remember a very important thing… JESUS ALREADY DIED for our blame!
So, what does this mean for us then? We are human, imperfect, selfish in nature, and prone to do things we know will certainly be blame worthy!
This verse reminds me that God is with me, in all things, guiding me with the words left in His Book! He knows I am imperfect, but He also knows my heart, which is what this verse is all about, I believe. To have a heart that strives to be blameless, seeking to emulate the example left by Christ! I know that I shall never attain such blamelessness, but I will seek it nonetheless, as I believe God holds my heart in the palm of His Mighty Hand!
I put an additional verse down below. Just consider that today you get a two fer! Why? Because, as much as I talk and write all the time, moments such as these are written better than I could ever fully express!
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
Sometimes daily encouragement comes from life itself! Psalm 84 helps remind us, not to look too far around or behind, during the storms we face in life… if we look up, we might see that while sitting in the eye of the storm, one can see straight up to Heaven itself!
No matter the winds and rain, nor the crushing waves that crash against us, we are held in our Fathers hand… and though I am clearly not blameless, my heart belongs to the one who IS, so I am at peace!
Now I don’t even need the second picture to understand how the woman in the first photo can smile so sweetly amidst all the ugliness… she is looking up!
Journey With Me! 