Here is a free tip… if a man in a dark hoodie offers you free toilet paper… it’s a trick… your welcome!
I am trying so hard not to be snarky because, let’s face it, this prompt question is S T U P I D!!!!!! I tried so hard to think of a nicer way to say it, but come on…
I don’t want to sit here the week before Christmas and think of my grocery list, and I highly doubt you want to know about it either.
It doesn’t help that nowadays most grocery stores come with a full department store, a tire center, hair salon, pharmacy and liquer store! All our desires are met in only one stop… quick fix… instant gratification! Do you realize that it would take us all day to read each others shopping lists… especially right now with the holidays upon us!
This whole idea behind todays question just brings me down… and I ain’t got time… it’s almost Christmas and I have stuff to do before we all hear those sleigh bells in the sky.
I will leave you with a cookie, however, as it always fits the spot…
Come find my story about Tilly, for I promise you’ll like it a lot…
Aside from my husband, the list of men who have positively impacted my life come strictly from the bible… not sorry!
I think back on the trail that had to be blazed through history by these biblical frontiersman… it was not an easy one, to say the least.
Noah had to build a boat that was the size of a small city… without modern machinery!
David had to kill a giant with a slingshot!
Moses had to lead an entire nation of peoples around the desert for 40 years, while they all learned to trust and obey God.
Jonah got eaten by a whale that then puked him up on the shores of Nineveh!
John the Baptist… well, he spoke the truth til it got him killed!
I could go on and on about the different men in the bible whose stories, failures, struggles and triumphs have impacted my walk as a woman of God… but I will end the list here with the name of only one man that matters… JESUS! Trump that!
I think maybe, for the first time, the daily prompt put the exact perfect question in here at the most perfect time… right before we celebrate Jesus Birthday! This is the time of year that I can say what I think about my God, my Savior, and King… with little or no argument from others. It is a difficult task to buy and receive a bunch of gifts, in His name, on His Birthday, if you don’t plan on acknowledging Him!
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukah, the Manger, the Star, the Three Wise Men, etc. I could go on and on with all that we acknowledge during our celebrations, but I think you get my drift. Even those who profess to not believe in God celebrate with everyone, ignoring the Jesus part while they do it! Just saying…
Don’t be grumpy at that… you’ll get your cookie at the end, but I’m not done yet!
I stand by my answers about who positively impacted my life, as, to date there has not been even one single human man that has NOT let me down… even my husband, and he is a good man who loves God very much.
You see, placing faith in man is out of line with me… I place my faith in God and allow Him to put good men and women in my life. While I appreciate what differing men and woman have done throughout history, I just do not put my trust in them… they are fallible, just like myself.
If we are really talking about a positive impact, I think it is pretty clear to me that by His living and dying and then living again … well, that’s pretty impacting and noteworthy, wouldn’t you say…
The odds of those who actually end up exactly where they pictured after a year are not that good, I’d wager.
I can’t even look at the prompt without breaking out into laughter… my life now looks nothing like I pictured it might, this time last year.
From the place that I was in at that time, you probably don’t want to know what I expected things to be now… I was just returning from the deadlands, as I’ve called them.
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here since last October… I didn’t even fully start back to writing until March of this year. I had a very very long writers block! Life Interruptus as I refer to it.
The odd thing is… even though our circumstances are still not what I thought they might be, my writing seems to be deepening. It feels kind of like writing in the fire… letting the flames and heat of a tough journey fuel my writing passions.
The tougher the obstacles, the deeper I write. I think of what it takes to make a really good sword… both Fire and Ice can strengthen the metal so that in battle, it will remain unbreakable!
If you had asked me last year if I was going to be writing a book and making friends in the Lobby, I would have scoffed… I was so broken that I could barely get out of bed!
I have stopped trying to figure out what will be next year, next month, or even next week… I let God figure things out and I follow His lead… One Day at a Time! Let’s be honest here, there are days that I walk minute by minute.
I have discovered that God is the best planner, the best motivator, the best provider, and the BEST Gift Giver! Whatever I dream up, He will trump it! It might not seem that to you, but it is real for me…
For now, I’m going to work on what I picture things to be like tonight… for dinner… and maybe a show with my man…
So far this season, I’ve spent a large amount of time sharing music I love, going on and on about me me me, and taking everyone back to their childhoods. I have been all over the place with my holiday antics… and there’s a reason!
I am the proverbial kid in a candy shop this year, as far as this Virtual Christmas is concerned! While you may be viewing this behavior as a bit odd and/or childish, perhaps it is exactly where I want you… feeling childish, but in a wonderful way. Why do I want you this way? Because, maybe feeling like a kid is what we all really need once in a while.
If I could ask for anything this Christmas, it would be you… or your time actually. I want to borrow your hearts and minds for about 5 minutes each day this next week, as I’ve something very special planned.
Christmas is my favorite time of year and I find myself overflowing with Joy during the season! The thing about joy is, it has to be shared. How do I do this? My first plan was to do a Virtual Holiday, which I am currently preparing for our Christmas Morning Celebrations. But I will admit that I am a selfish person and I wanted more this year. I want to spend time with people I care about, that’s you, celebrating together for just a few moments each day.
How can I give you a gift that is real without actual paper or bows? How might you receive something you can feel but not touch? I am going to attempt to do this very thing for you, if you are willing to let me try.
Meet me here tomorrow during our Merry Monday Messages for your ticket on my Holiday Adventure Train, and you need only bring your imagination, as I’ve taken care of everything else … and don’t worry, there is plenty of seating for everyone.
It did make me think about an old Christmas movie I have loved watching since I was small. Remember that my family didn’t celebrate holidays? We were not allowed to watch most secular television. While I’ve shared about things I could not do, I failed to mention that this child had skills… special skills… skills involving ninja style tv watching, and I was an expert!
You’d be surprised how easy it is for a kid to be sneaky.
So, one of the shows that I watched when my parents were distracted was “The Isle of Misfit Toys”. I was so sad when they all made the little dentist guy feel bad for not being good at building toys like everyone else.
He was skilled, and he had learned something very important and necessary… folks just needed to accept him as he was. A dentist was very important to a bunch of elves making candy and toys all day. I saw an awful lot of candy and toys, but no toothbrushes!
Now I understand that this answer isn’t a very good answer to the prompt, but you can blame Christmas for that… I can’t help it… there are lights everywhere, music flowing, good comfort food at every turn, and hearts overflowing with love and generosity… I blame you guys!
While I looked the movie up on google, I was taken aback at who all was a voice in that movie… actors like Jamie Lee Curtis, and Rick Moranis… and it was narrated by Richard Dreyfus. All the years that have passed since I watched this movie for the first time, and it was only today that I took the time to read about it’s creation. It wouldn’t have made a difference back then, but it fills me with nostalgia now. I’d no idea of all those who took part in this production.
There, it’s something new that I learned… hey, I did answer the prompt!
In the past I have written numerous times about things like perspective, the power of intent, and/or attitude. If you live the way I do, attitude can make or break you…
When I am faced with something out of my control, which is nearly every day, I have to guard against an attitude of fear or worry. I am a control freak by nature, so patience is NOT one of my virtues… not naturally!
Writing allows me to see my own attitudes and emotions, assessing whether or not I’m looking at things from the correct angle… or whether I’m making a mountain, if you know what I mean?!
For an attitude adjuster, I chose a little something from someone I greatly admire…
My Note to Self #17 is,
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you don’t change it, change your attitude.” Maya Angelo
The way she said it, there is no need for me to explain any further!
For todays Christmas Music, I have selected several songs that just made me feel good and I wanted to share them with you.
Try putting this song on when your havin a bit of trouble getting your attitude station tuned properly… O Come All Ye Faithful by King and Country… yes I love this group and therefore you hear me playing them often.
Once you’ve ensured that there’s a grateful station tuned in on your attitude, follow it up with All I want for Christmas is by Mariah Carey… your welcome!
Before I even tried to answer this prompt I headed to my local google looking for some important information. First of all, I wanted to know exactly what my choices were.
According to Google, “As of 2018, there are 19,495 incorporated cities, towns and villages in the United States. 14,768 of these have populations below 5,000. Only ten have populations above 1 million and none are above 10 million. 310 cities are considered at least medium cities with populations of 100,000 or more.
This is tough question for me, logistically, since I spent approximately 5 years in a Tractor Trailer with my husband, driving OTR from one corner of our great nation to the other, and back again. We have been to all but like 2 states, and traveled most of the back highways more times than I can count.
There are a great many cities in this country that no one knows about, aside from those living within these lovely communities. It just seems sort of unfair to so many of these hidden gems.
The next thing that stumped me about the prompt was the openness of the question… why am I wanting to visit, how long will I want to stay, and who else should be there. If I attempted to answer all of that, we would need a great many more cookies in the room to keep you all here. There is that tiny line that shouldn’t be crossed called TMI or Too Much Information!
I don’t think that I would be a great representative for most of the big cities we traveled to or through, while making deliveries. Perspective changes everything, including this prompt question! From a truck driving wife’s view… most big cities leave much to be desired, and they hide their ugly side pretty well from the average visitor… but not us! We got to experience the dirty underside of most those places. To be honest, from my perspective… the little cities were much more memorable in good ways than the bigger ones. Things would have looked much different if I were a tourist, though, so I am not sure it is fair for me to talk smack about the big places.
Truth be told, I have no place that I really desire to visit. I have a great many lovely memories of the travels we had, but I really just love my local park and squirrels… I’ve no reason to want to go anywhere at the moment.
I do have a dream of sorts, though. Wanna know what it is?
I have this dream that one day we will be traveling on the open road again, but with a greater purpose than ever before. Our Motor Home will have an overhaul so that it can be trustworthy. We will have a new skin wrapped on the outside of her that reads JOURNEY WITH ME! We will travel to wherever we are called and I can do live performances for children in hospitals, schools, orphanages and churches… giving stories of Acorn Valley, Just a Bag, Brutus and more… If they have a hook up, we will come!
That is really the only visiting I feel like doing…
Imagine, if you will, sitting beside a roaring fire and listening to holiday music. As you listen to the music playing, you watch the falling snow outside and your mind wanders off down pathways of Christmas memories…
Light of The World by Lauren Daigle should get us started…
Picking the right songs for our Fireside Friday required a great amount of listening to holiday songs… poor me… not! I set about searching through what’s out there, but it wasn’t long before I noticed something odd. I found a ton of music for Jesus, Mary, the Wise Men, the Angels, and most of the animals that were in the manger. But, it occurred to me that I’ve been missing music about a very valuable member of our manger. What must it have been like for Mary’s husband Joseph, I wondered… so I went searching, and I found a beautiful song that gives us a peek at things from his angle…
Enjoy The Carol of Joseph by King and Country
I sure cry a lot during Christmas, but it isn’t because I feel bad… it’s just the opposite! Music has always effected me this way. When someone puts a melody with words, it changes how we listen to things. Saying I believe in you, with tender music, just makes me bawl my eyes out. I’m not sure it would have the same effect on me, however, if there was circus music playing… see what I mean?
Now that I’ve managed to start my morning off with a tear stained salty cup of coffee, thanks to my choices in songs, I will turn up the Christmas cheer volume…
There’s no better way to do that than a little bit of Brenda Lee…
From fun with Brenda to some jamming with a group called Train…
Before we end this music madness, I have one more for the road. Christmas is not the same without a bit of Chuck Berry…
I’ll be honest in saying that at first, I thought the question asked what I thought people were saying about me, rather then what I hope they say. I stopped and made a cup of coffee and reread the prompt before answering.
While I am fully aware of what has been said about me in the past, what is possibly being said at this moment, and what may be said of me in the future… I no longer care!
In truth, I do not wish for anyone to SAY anything ABOUT me… instead, my hope is that they SEEsomething IN me!
There is only One whose opinion matters to me and only one thing I hope that He says… “Well done, my good and faithful servant” Matthew 25:21 … that’s it!
Whenever I think for any time at all, on what others may say of me… I feel like being Snarky or sassy, and that makes me not like myself. I consciously make the choice for my thoughts to dwell elsewhere!
Anyways… talk is cheap, and there’s a lot of it flying around most days. Sometimes folks say nice things about us and sometimes not! Depends on the day, the time, how they feel, if they liked you, and/or if they want something from you. Remember, I said sometimes… not all the time!
My answer reflects the only opinion that should matter for anyone… care about the words said by the one sitting in that Fox Hole with you, instead of everyone else barking at you from the field outside…
Journey With Me! 