I will let you in on a little secret…I did not choose my new name…
But I have no Doubt who gave it to me!
Beloved…
Tag: dailyprompt
Chocolate?
Of all the LIFE INTERRUPTUS going around, it seems, why would writing a blog about chocolate be something I focus on? Hmmm…well, as much as I do like chocolate, and I do have some go to sweets, I can actually go without it for the most part.
I do have some random funny memories of chocolate, and I guess if one can ask me randomly about my chololate love, I can answer with randomly funny memories. At least that is what I am telling myself, as I sit here typing this.
I do remember eating a whole bag of Riesen chocolates, in one sitting, nearly causing myself to founder…don’t judge, I am proud of my accomplishments in chocolate and caramel.
I remember teaching my kids how to play poker and blackjack using m & ms as our different money currencies, and then we could eat our winnings. Not as fun as it sounds, since, by the time we were eating our winnings, they had passed through the sticky fingers of three little card cheaters.
I remember making, what others refer to as the best chocolate chip peanut butter cookies ever! I used to make a triple batch to sell at the church bake sale, and every time someone asked for the recipe, I told them that if I told them, I would have to kill them. Not kidding!
The last memory worth sharing is the one where I thought my husband had poop on his side and on the back of his shirt one morning, until he reminded me of our chocolate chip party from the night before, with a disgusted look on his face saying, “If you thought it was poop, why did you stick your finger in it, ugh”!
I guess this might be the reason that WordPress gave the chocolate question. Sometimes, what we think is something silly, or even oddly placed, can in fact be an opportunity for ideas. Who know, but I am happy to have made the effort to ponder and find an applicable answer, that isn’t more than a list of edible morsels.
I, personally, am walking away from this excercise with two stories for my monday posts, a feel good about making some other reader smile, and an overpowering urge to dump half a cup of Hershey Chocolate Syrup into my morning coffee…
I will never forget you Ralph…
I have been a fan of Beverly Cleary since I was a small child. I read most of her books, but the most vivid memories come from one book alone… Runaway Ralph! To this day I can picture a tiny mouse on a miniature motorcycle driving across the furniture. Once I was an adult and a mother, guess where we spent many a night storying it? Ralph and I found great joy in expounding on details of his little bike, things he was doing, or places he drove his set of wheels. I loved seeing the story come alive in my girls eyes. Thank you Beverly…
Keepin it simple…
One would imagine that a writer would have a list longer than ones arm, readily available to regail you with insightful pearls of wisdom. Ya….No! Don’t get me wrong, I am a writer and I have read enough books to fill a small library. And trust me, I have many things I could pull from them to impress.
What I will do, is share my three favorite books with a quick why attatched. No fancy bells or whistles...
Hinds Feet on High Places by Hanna Hannard – It brought home to me who God was, to me, at a very delicate time in my life.
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis – For me, this book was almost a preparatory step towards my salvation.
The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman – This book not only opened my eyes in how to love my girls, it has shaped how I try to fulfill love in others, children and adult alike. For me, this book was a life changer!
Talk about the GOD…
Yup! I am just going to fling it out there! I used to fear being laughed at, judged, turned away from, and the like, if I had the balls to stand up for Jesus!
How did I overcome it, you ask? I got brave…
How did I get brave? I got serious about speaking the truth…
How did I get serious? I burned out…
I burned out in the church, I burned out as a mother, I burned out being a plaything to others…
Then I quit! I told God to screw off!
I ran into the wilderness, where no one knew His name so I need not speak of Him…
I found myself in a place where the only name that would come to my lips was His…
The enemy knew His name, just as I did…
When I shouted out of my God, the earth shook and the enemy fled…
I am a terrible judge of character in people and it has cost me almost all of ME…
I speak the name of God everywhere I go, because if you stay, then I feel safe in His name, His presence…
If I speak of God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit, you should only feel good after our encounter…
If not, then go…
I will still speak of Him for you…
I will stand in the gap…
for HIM!
Live Wire…
Daily writing prompt
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
I walk…
I try to get out on the trail nearly every day. I walk for a variety of reasons. Aside from the health benefits, it does really provide me with a great amount of joy for such a small effort. I can honestly say that I feel blessed each time I set out.
As I was walking down the path yesterday, I had the sweetest experience and decided to share it with you. I see people on my outings all the time, some days more than others. On this day, coming down the path towards me was a gentleman accompanied by his two young sons. When I say young, I mean they were tiny little guys. The smaller of the two was at the walking age of a tiny drunken sailor. The older boy was not much bigger.
The closer the family got, the more apparent it became that these little adorable bundles knew what a “MeeMaw” looked like. Me! Their smiles got bigger and bigger as I approached. Just as we passed each other, both boys simultaniously shot their arms up and waved at me. Their father graciously slowed, allowing the boys to greet me. I think I probably wore a smile for a good five minutes after we all went our seperate ways.
Sometimes, it really is the little things…
Hmmmmm…
How do you practice religion anyway? I guess if you compare it to a soccer practice, then church or religion would probably look similar to that, I think. Alot of folks milling about, drinking coffee and socializing with the other parents. Getting all of the little ones into the right sunday scchool classes, finding a place to sit in order to see and shout out words of encouragement. Watching the coach teach the rules, and either agree with what they say, or sit and judge them for being no more than Timmy’s dad. Yup, this does kind of sound like practicing religion.
I think I would have to say that, no, I do not practice religion! I do however, practice walking a life of Faith! It’s just how I roll!
Life before Interuptus…
Swingsets…
Imaginations running wild…
Time for hands on cooking…
The great outdoors calling, could still be heard…
Eye contact…
Being out there making actual memories with the ones that are important…
That being shared, I am grateful to the internet, as it has enabled me to preserve memories and to share them now with you…
Balance…
Investigating Truths…
Warrior!…
Warrior?…
Which is it, Lady?
There are days I feel so powerful, so confident and assured that I got this! Then there are the other days…the ones where I don’t “Got This!” I have days in which I can write with such purpose, intent, and directed passion, that I think God is really working in me. Then on the other days, it feels as if nothing is coming out right and I struggle with how others may perceive my writing as perhaps, very chaotic, fragmented, and pointless.
I have days where I feel better than I think I did in my 20’s, and yes, on the other days, my IBS, Fibromyalgia, and bone and arthritis pain leave me bedridden for days, which leaves both of my frenemies plenty of time to gather everyone for my Over thinkers Anonymous group, freeing me up to practice my gift of feelsorryformyselfery. I laugh at myself for thinking that just because I walk with God, I am anywhere near being sufficient enough to always see and walk with Gods Perspective.
He reminds me that He is God, and I am not! I am human…with a soul, a heart, and a physical body. While my soul is fully camped within the shadow of my Almighty father, my earthly physical body resides in the real world, and my emotions are right in the middle of it all. Growing older really is not for the faint hearted. All of the years of my spiritual journey, my body has followed, taking a lot of abuse along the way of my learning and growing.
Its like there is this place deep within me that is a fountain of Gods love for me, keeping my soul nourished and refreshed. My emotions love this place, and come here often to load up with all the gifts, taking them with excitement to my physical side to share.
Sometimes, though, my spiritual side forgets to equip my emotional side with the tenderness with which to share said nourishment. I become irritated at my physical self for the lack of commitment to grow and get stronger with the rest of me.
I am discovering that while I have been growing stronger in mind and spirit, I have been a bit rough on my physical body. I should really be honest in saying that I am very hard on myself physically. I get up and push myself every day, becoming impatient with myself, and God, at my body not keeping up with my spirit. I realize that I have been allowing God to heal and strengthen my soul and repair emotional issues, but I have been unrelenting in what I expect from myself physically. You know what I think God says to me about this? “Grace, child”.
What does this mean, you might be wondering, well, what about “Cut yourself some slack”. Here is a really good one… “learn to love yourself the way I love you”. I have always laughed at the idea of self-care. It makes me automatically think of spa visits, beer gardens, and all those pics of what someone ate at some gps location on our smart phones.
I do not even own a vacuum cleaner, let alone have a bathtub for the spa experience, lol. For me the self-care has been nutrition for my frenemy IBS, exercise and vitamins for my frenemy Fibro, and trying to exist through all of the spinal and arthritis pain, as I have moved away from modern medicines. In order to manage these things without a doctor’s care requires a lot of self-discipline.
And this is how I arrived at one of the “other days” today. I got going really good with all of my checks and balances in place, and then I got a bit lax, as I sometimes do. Long story short, between the temp change, dehydration from sweating, and not paying attention to what I ate, I have landed myself in what I refer to as a partial shutdown. This is not the first time and probably won’t be the last time I am forced into self-care time. This time, however, I decided to learn how to not be so unforgiving of my body, but instead, try to lovingly bring myself back online without dragging my husband through another hospital adventure. Instead of allowing panic to overtake me, when my numbers are all off like this, I have opted to forgive myself for not paying enough attention, and put on my HR hat, in order to practice some serious conflict resolution with my frenemies.
Funny thing, though, out of all of what I wrote down here, I think maybe God simply wanted to tell me that I try way to hard, a lot, and all He actually asks of me is simply to Believe in Him, and walk forward. If I rest in His shadow, it is not I that needs to move obstacles in our path, but my Father. He is a big God!
Just Sayin…
Though it is not exactly a Job for a day, I can relate to others in history, specifically the bible, and what work they did. No need to panic! I didn’t say that I could be them for a day, I simply mean that I can relate to them in a way. It’s funny…when I think of relating to the prophets and disciples and servants in the bible, I feel akin to an interesting handful…
Jonah, my man, you and I know about running away…
David, we loved really hard and we fell on our faces really hard too…
Peter, oh Peter, how I never thought that I could deny my God, and then I did…
Job, my brother, how even the strong taste of ash in our mouths could not surpass a grateful heart…
John the Baptist…my kindred spirit perhaps, well, I get why you spoke so intensely to any who were before you. I too struggle to house so much emotion, so much love for God, and so much passion to share with any who would listen…
Maybe I simply relate to John the Baptist’s wild side; the getting in trouble when I talk too much part, or perhaps simply his intensity! Again, it may not be a job I want for the day, and I do not say that I am anything like those souls by comparison, I am just saying that I can relate to them, that’s all!
Journey With Me! 