Thursday Thoughts…

When the sun shines, in all it’s brilliance, I place my trust in Him

When the rain falls so heavily that I cannot see the path, I place my trust in Him

As I hold my granddaughter in my arms, I place her in His loving arms

As doors before me slam shut, I place myself in His loving arms

He is with me in the good…

and, with me in the bad…

Whether sun, rain, good, or bad

We are never alone… even when it feels that way.

How do I know these things? Why the bible, of course.

Look at what Jesus did for us, just to make a way to his Father

How must Jesus have felt as he hung upon that cross?

Alone

Betrayed

Abandoned

Rejected

Ridiculed

Despised

… and yet…

He stayed!

He could have called the angel’s down to assist… but he didn’t.

Hanging there, between two other criminals, both guilty.

How must He have felt?

Did he hurl insults and curses toward those who rejected him? No…

What must it have been like to discover at the moment the temple veil was torn, that you’d made a grievous error in your judgement of Him?

Whatever happened to those whom He’d healed while walking this earth? Where did they go? What did they do with the rest of their lives, in all that came after that Sunday Morning?

The stone removed…

The angel in the tomb…

The encounter on the road…

Where did all the people go that saw Jesus after the resurrection?

I find myself pondering these and other questions, at the approach of Easter Sunday. So much happened in Jesus earthly life, during his ministry. I can’t help but wonder what happened to those most impacted by their encounter with the Son of God.

It wasn’t as if there were only a handful of followers, with a lot of nasty government officials. It was quite the opposite, in fact. There were numerous believers, with only a handful of hateful leaders. It always amazed me what fear will cause people to do to each other. Jesus walked 30 years with humans, and He still walked all the way to that cross, willingly allowing himself to be impaled upon that post. He did it all out of love for us, His people. I’m always in awe of God’s willingness to sacrifice his own son’s life, just to save us from ourselves. We’re our own worst enemy, at times.

Whenever I write out my own struggles, and then compare them with His… I think I’m getting off rather lightly, compared to the path He walked. It really is a beautiful thing to accept a gift that you know you’ll never be able to repay… a sacrifice you can’t match!

Tomorrow’s Friday… but Sunday’s coming!

Hugs

Born to survive…

Daily writing prompt
How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Looking back over the last several years of answers to this prompt, I saw two sides of my own experience. Both sides were a bit painful to read through, but I did it as an exercise in being thorough. Don’t get me wrong. They were on point, in fact!

But, for the sake of my peace and tranquility, let’s opt for a fresh and uplifting answer to today’s question.

I made it!

We are still moving forward, and we’re nowhere near where we were this time last year. That’s progress!

As many of my readers and fellow bloggers already know, Covid-19 did quite a number on us. This time around, I choose to take back all that Covid has stolen from us. No, I don’t plan on reclaiming a bunch of lost junk and paper memories. I mean that I’ve no desire to let Covid take ownership over my emotions, my life, nor my journey’s direction.

Get off my lawn Covid!

Well, I don’t actually have a lawn, as of yet. But I will. You just wait and see…

Cookie time!!!

Wednesday Words…

I know it’s just a blogging site, Eustace, but I still believe that if we can imagine a thing that is good, healthy, and full of wonder, someone will believe in it!

If I believe in something wonderful, and you believe in it too, Eustace, then it will grow strong like a tree. It’s roots will spread powerfully beneath the soil. With the Son’s warmth, and the Father’s fertile ground, all we’ve left to do is water it with our faith.

If you’ve never watched The NeverEnding Story, you really should. That scene where the princess and Atrayu sit in the darkness together, holding onto the last spark of imagination left in the world, was my favorite part of the whole movie.

If we lose our childlike wonder and imagination, where would all those fantastical dreams and stories go? I’ll tell you where… gone! They would simply disappear, leaving us in a world that lacks all beauty… a world devoid of creativity.

I know today we’ve left you with some deep things to consider. Well, Eustace is a very deep thinking camel, you know, so it shouldn’t surprise you that we often have deep philosophical conversations. Just sayin…

Like salt to pepper…

Daily writing prompt
Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

There are no two people alike! Not even twins are identical, even though they call them identical twins.

Cloning won’t even work, due to a unique thing residing within each body… that would be the soul, if you hadn’t already guessed.

I was just talking to my husband about this today, in the car, on the way home from seeing our grandbaby. If you cookie stamped out a hundred identical bodies, and then placed a hundred different souls into those bodies, you’d end up with a hundred unique creatures. Each would have individual somethings that render them different than all the others.

I feel like peas in a pod whenever I spend time with either of my two closest friends, and yet there isn’t a drop of blood shared between us. Most of my flesh and blood are nothing like me, nor my daughter’s, for that matter.

My oldest daughter and I look nearly identical, and couldn’t be more different… or perhaps we’re too much alike, and we drive each other batty.

My point is, ladies and gents, that out of all the 8.3 billion plus humans on the planet, each is unique… individual.

That is the way God sees us, as well.

No two are alike to him, nor can one’s behavior and character effect another’s ability to walk through the pearly gates! If God created my inmost being, knitting me together in my mother’s womb, he did it for each and every one of you. God loves you, cherishes your uniqueness, and jealously protects his relationship with you… you, just as you are and not like anyone else.

Cookies?

(2024) Let’s Dance…

Daily writing prompt
If you could have something named after you, what would it be?

I think it would be absolutely fantastic if we could come up with a dance move called “The Wiwohka!”

Basically, it’d be the name you can give to people when they question your style of dance. The stranger, the better! Preferably, you can form your style into that of an inebriated surfer, riding the waves of the music, as if you’re being stalked by a great white!

Try it! It’ll be fun for the whole family!

Here, have a boogie cookie…

(2025) When I was five???

Daily writing prompt
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Quite honestly, I’m not sure I was thinking in terms of my future career when I was five years old. Baby dolls, kittens, puppies, candy apples at the fair, and how much I hated liver and onions are mostly all that I was thinking about at that age.

Being born and raised on a farm, my early days were spent on the back of a horse or eating all of the strawberries that my mother was trying to pick for making jam.

Though I may not have thought of my future career when I was five, it’s funny that I ended up doing one or more of my childhood activities for adult pursuits, i.e. raising babies, baking, gardening, camping, hunting, fishing, breeding dogs, homeschooling my children, and now, becoming a writer.

The writer part is the result of the thousands of books I read from the time I was tiny… that and watching Willy Wonka, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Sound of Music, just for starters!

I think that maybe that’s what a five year old should be doing at that age… not dreaming of a career, but dreaming of magic, miracles and adventure, pure and wonderful!

Who knows, though, maybe I was just slow to develop in that regard. Maybe I just watched too many cartoons, and/or read too many silly adventure books. Oh well, I’m still glad I spent my childhood with Gene Wilder, Julie Andrews, Dick Vandyke, and Angela Lansbury, aren’t you? Why? Because, my imagination was born there…

Have a cookie…

We can share!

What’s love got to do with it…

Daily writing prompt
What’s something most people don’t understand?

Probably one of the most misunderstood things on this planet, this feeling we call love!

Everybody wants it

We all think we know how to handle it

We crave it

We steal for it, lie for it, pay for it, and often die for it

But does anyone understand love fully?

I’d bet my considerably small fortune that most humans DON’T have a clue about the depths of love; it’s power, it’s strengths, it’s weaknesses! Not even close…

Love is a gift

Love is sometimes a curse

Often times, love hurts, too

Love makes the wisest of men act out of character, go against everything he knows to be true… for only one moment, one smile, one touch…

Love is free, and yet it costs us everything…

Love is the cost that many will save for, but an expense few are willing to fully pay.

Love is a gift that if not given away only poisons the heart, thereby destroying the one holding on to it. We all have an entire lifetime to practice the art of giving and receiving love, and yes I said receiving it, also.

Just as it is nearly impossible to understand it, grow it, and give it to others… love is even more difficult to receive from others. We struggle with motives, liars, deceivers, and worse yet, our own distrust of what love should be.

We are each born with love in our heart, and only one lifetime to grow it, use it, and receive it from one another. Let’s not waste any more time talking about it…

let’s eat cookies!

(2024) If you have to ask, well…

Daily writing prompt
How has technology changed your job?

What a silly question to ask in this day and age!

I’ve no intention of wasting my time explaining things that everyone already knows. Besides, what I do isn’t considered a job… it’s my passion, my purpose!

A job is something one gets paid to do, in dollars and cents, which is something I’ve never received for any of my efforts. I birthed and raised my children for nothing, served in the church til my fingers bled for nothing, and chased after caring for others needs before my own… for nothing!

Technology changing made no difference in any of those categories.

However, I’ve worked in paid positions, attained a college education, and benefited from technological advancement in both. I believe everyone has, so this prompt question is rather silly!

If you know how to use Google then you’re fully aware of how far we’ve come… nuff said!

Here is an advanced cookie…

Wednesday Words…

I know I told Eustace I would help him in the yardwork today,

but it’s so sunny out,

and Creed asked me to play computer games,

and well,

I hate weeding!

I love everything else about gardening, except weeding… ugh!

(2023 remix) Space Travel, Here We Come…

Daily writing prompt
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?

The Big T!

Teleportation!

I know it’s not technically a skill or ability, but it kind of is in the world of imagination. That’s how I wanted to answer this prompt, so there’s that!

I hate to sit in an airplane, next to the door with the writing, “Occupied” above the handle. I want to travel, and see my loved ones, but between the cost of the flight, whether I want to pay to take my toothbrush, or if I want to drink anything better than water and a biscuit, I get discouraged.

Not even reserving my spot in 1st class, premier, or anything other than, hurry get on or we will leave you here, it is no longer easy, nor is it fun for me to travel.

If it were not for the blip in a movie where the object arrived inside out,

I would have pursued building and trying to use my own. For now, I will leave it to Hollywood, but once a large number of more daring volunteers successfully make it, I am for sure, all in!

Cookie?

I wasn’t sure if you wanted plain or frosted, so I made both…

Maybe cookies are actually my real secret ability, after all!