Well… November is well upon us, and I am setting the stage for our upcoming events. I mentioned before that I wanted to do a Virtual Holiday and I am bringing it up again. I am giving everyone until Thanksgiving to come up with a Christmas Wish List for themselves and put it in the comments anywhere on my site, that is, if you wish to participate.
Anyone wishing to participate can simply use their Christmas Day Post to reveal what they got peeps from those lists… your post is yours so you can present your gifts anyway you wish. It is virtual so the sky is the limit! I thought it would be so beautiful to have the Reader covered with gifts and sharing all across WordPress. Be there or Be SQUARE!
I really hope more folks start adding their Jokes on Wednesday Laugh Off because, if left to my own devices, these jokes may get worse and worse and worse… it’s what I do!
Brutus continues on Live Novel Friday with another chapter.
There is another audio chapter of My Truths available in the Lobby.
Sundays Potluck theme is Lazy Day Take Out, so stick around after Live Wire and don’t forget to pick out your favorite slippers and pillow from the table by the door…
We all find ourselves in front of the fruit and vegetable department at the grocery store, at one time or another, and we want to gather our edible produce with as few blemishes as possible… as well as seeking the best flavor, smell, color and value. No one likes to get home and find a damaged apple in the bag, or maybe a damaged cantaloupe.
My point is, we take time to pick and sort until we find what we want to spend our hard earned money purchasing.
I guess I try to do this with my screen time. It is not as easy as said though, because sometimes it takes a good bit before I realize that what I am watching is wasting my time.
For those who are here reading, as well as myself, we all write blogs and spend a great deal of time in front of our screens, so our time is precious to us.
In all honesty, the biggest change I made was removing comercials from what I watch. When I want to watch a movie, I want my movie to play for an hour and a half, not 50 minutes of my show mixed with 40 minutes of suggested online shopping, therapy, or a new pill on the market… I am so glad my writing doesn’t come with some of the side effects of things like Potato Chips that may or may not make you leak!
I guess what I am saying is that I do my best to use my screen time for my benefit, get what I need done, and stay current on things without loosing hours watching things that waste my precious time …
Over the last year of my journey to healing, I discovered a very strong correlation between what I was spending my time watching, and my anxiety and/or panic attacks… strange, I know.
So I stopped watching most regular television, and chose to seriously police my time on most media platforms, aside from here at WordPress.
The only thing we have available for watching is Roku and YouTube, so for the most part I watch DIY things, and old ridiculously silly black and white movies. In honesty, I read more than watch things anymore these days… which is saying something since one eye barely works right at the moment.
Anyways, this was way more information than you really wanted to know about how this girl Screens…
I am being fully honest in saying that when my study of Moses life began, I had no idea how much I would have in common with the man. The closest tie we share, is that we’re both runners… in every sense of the word!
As I read through his story, in at least 3 different translations, there were things surrounding his story that I found myself relating to on a very personal level. From not being raised by a healthy family, being different than everyone around him, making bad choices, being harshly judged over something he found himself caught up in, and finally the running away part.
Moses found himself living as a foreigner in a foreign land. Hey… that’s how I feel today… right here… in this old RV. I live day to day, surrounded by a good number of folks… none of which I speak to in any form. We all live side by side and know nothing of each others true lives.
That’s part of the problem with running… both Moses and I found ourselves alone and out in the cold. What were the odds that I would encounter a man that could love me so deeply, I could be captivated enough to stop running?
What were the odds that Moses would sit to rest beside the well that would cause him to meet his future wife Zipporah?
I bet Jethro, the priest of Midian and the father of SEVEN daughters, asked himself the same question when his girls came home that day… telling of how an Egyptian man had saved them. When he found out the girls had left Moses back at the well, after besting the cruel shepherds that always ran them off from watering their flocks, he was like, Well… go get him and bring him home.
Was it God that stopped Moses from running, or was it a woman… or was it God using love through Zipporah that gave pause to the runner? The constant take away I get when reading through scriptures, is love… always love.
We, Moses and I, were both born into adversity, which instilled the self-preserving behavior of Running. I also noted that it was love that brought us both to a standstill. When God got ahold of our hearts, planting the seed of love… everything changed.
I take such encouragement from this part of scripture, as it reminds me that if God could do miracles in Moses life way back then, He is still doing them today… all those years I didn’t see Him moving, wasn’t because He wasn’t… I was just so busy running, I couldn’t see what was right before me…
Thank God for Love!
From Elevation Worship comes a song that hits it out of the ball park for me… Runnin I pray you would take a moment to listen.
It’s once again Potluck Sunday and I did my best to provide some lovely things that will sooth our aching fillings from all of the Halloween Candy I am sure that we DID NOT eat… wink wink!
It’s always good to start with some lite appetizers
I read somewhere that doubts were like little fears trying to come to life, or something like that. It makes sense if you think about it for a moment.
I guess when I have doubts about my writing ability, that can be seen as the same thing as fear of failure or rejection.
When I have doubts that we will ever get beyond one step above homelessness, isn’t that the same thing as fearing God will let me down… that He’s forgotten me, or simply left me here?
Some call it doubt, some call it fear, and most often, you’ll hear me call it a Rabbit Hole.
Whatever we choose to call it, we all face obstacles that can cause us to doubt ourselves, and our fear of failing to overcome sends us down all sorts of rabbit holes to try and wriggle out of things.
I think the bottom line is whether we have enough faith, or maybe enough courage, and/or enough inner fortitude to rise above the things we face.
I think it is a good idea to regularly remind myself to do some self-checks of who and what I am… to God, to others, but very importantly, to myself! If I don’t believe that I am valuable and worthy of love, how can I believe that God feels that way about this daughter of His? Does that make sense? If I don’t I am worthy enough to serve God, it makes it very difficult for me to step out in faith when He asks it of me, because I get too caught up in doubt.
So, for a healthy reminder to regularly sweep out my doubt closet, Note To Self #12 is from one of my favorite authors…
“We are what we believe we are”. C.S. Lewis
Just to make sure I have brought my point across about doubt and about believing in ourselves, I’ve included a song by Lauren Daigle called You Say. I hope to leave you with a reminder for those who need it…
God Bless you WordPress, for giving out a prompt that brought me right to this picture only moments after reading the question.
Without a doubt, if I could go back and relive any time in my past, it would be my Baby Days…
What I would give to go back and experience, once again, those times of bonding, nursing, caring for, and watching those first milestones of my baby girls.
It was the first two years of each baby that I wish I could bottle and save within an old worn Hope Chest. I always wanted one at the end of my bed, but it would need to be an old worn one, and not a newly made piece. It should look like it had seen some battles and tough times, but withstood it all just to sit and hold my treasures.
On rainy days I could sit and go back through all my favorite memories that were stashed away for safe keeping. Special baby blankets I had made while waiting for each of my girls birth, their first pair of baby booties, and even favorite first books or teething rings with chew marks still visible. All I have now is a blue plastic tote with the few remnants salvaged from things… it works!
If it were possible I would go back to a time when my babies needed me, loved everything about me, and couldn’t stand to be parted from my breast.
I know deep down in their hearts, my daughters love me… they just don’t really want or need me anymore… it is what it is… I get it!
That was why I wrote all of those Do You Remember letters… one day they will want to look back and remember… one day, and for that day I will trust in God.
Until we meet again, they and I, there will always be those Baby Days…
I find it amazing that even to this day, leopards have spots… they are born with them, just like they were in history long ago… spots are still there… fascinating!
Two of which is the fact that we just had a question that asked if what historical events we remembered. I noticed a very somber atmosphere the entire day out on the feed. We are all pretty friggin miserable with the way of things in our world right now… forget about rehashing historical blunders and kerfuffles, and not too many seemed overly eager to dive in and answer that prompt.
The word Fascinating can be interpreted loosely in the heart of a man… it just depends upon which man is looking at the history!
Thirdly, I find it rather sobering that even today, we really don’t change… not really. Maybe on the surface we act as if we have risen above our own ignorance of mind or heart… but inside, it is easy to hide things that linger… like hatred, jealousy, deceit, malice. Similar to a leopard, I think we will always keep our spots… they just blend in neatly beneath our fur!
WordPress could do better for us all perhaps, if they posed the prompt question as, “What historical events did we as humanity learn from and change for the better”? Maybe lead with that next time…
Here, have a cookie shaped like a Blueberry Muffin…
One would think that being able to give a simple sincere “I’m Sorry”, would be easy peezy! Not nowadays!
When I was growing up, I learned through grown ups and public school, how I was supposed to apologize when I gave offense. Just say you are sorry and try not to repeat the negative behavior.
Gone are those days, I fear…
Now, when someone offends another, they make every effort to give an extensive excuse as to why they did or said whatever it was that was so bad, and push the blame onto another… most often the one who was offended!
If anything comes out of our mouth after the words “I’m Sorry”, often it reflects that we are not really sorry for the offense, but rather, sorry that we have to say we are sorry… if you get my drift.
It would be so refreshing if we could begin, once again, teaching our children to just say I’m sorry when they err in some way. If they can see that making mistakes is human, and no one is perfect… perhaps they would grow up in a society where they can take ownership of their own actions… the good, the bad, and the ugly.
We grown adults need to step up and make a better effort to instill the things our young ones need to survive this life. When it comes to teaching the art of “I’m Sorry”, we simply have to practice it… in front of our kids! There is absolutely nothing better to do, as a grown adult parent, than to say we’re sorry when we mess up with our kids… show them that we too mess up, and can be brave enough to admit our error.
Journey With Me! 