THANK YOU!
Memorial Day – Remembering My Dad and All Those Who Served Us Faithfully
THANK YOU!
Non-fiction
Their Agenda Has Never Changed
America, we must never forget who did this? Why? Because THEIR AGENDA HAS NEVER CHANGED.
There’s only one religion in the world that teaches so much hatred and murder as part of its requirements to be considered faithful to its doctrines. Quit sticking your head in the sand and listening to idiots in the political arena who tell you lies about this religion. Study and learn for yourself before you pay a terrible price for not bothering to do so.
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Since It’s World Bee Day
Today is “Word Bee Day.” Who knew??? Well, I guess the UN General Assembly did, since they declared it a couple years ago. I didn’t know until this morning, but that’s okay. I have nothing against bees. I usually have a hundred or so spending time in my azalea bushes., and we get along fine. But, frankly, I’m totally fed up with all these causes to “save” all kinds of various creatures and plants while carrying on the wholesale slaughter of human beings in their mother’s wombs. Can anyone say “insanity”?????
Anyway, I decided that if I’m going to have to acknowledge “World Bee Day,” I’m going to do it may own way. I made out a list of things that I’m scheduling myself to do today, and I encourage everyone reading this post to do these same things. As a former grammar teacher, I’ve had to turn off my natural spelling instincts for this one, but it’s worth it:
1. Bee on the look-out for anyone I can help with his job or a personal problem — and then actively help him.
2. Bee cheerful and kind to everyone I interact with all day long, whether it’s a business, associate, a family member, a social network friend, a fellow grocery shopper, or a neighbor’s dog choosing my yard for the bathroom — everyone — no exceptions.
3. Bee diligent to do every task that should be done today and to finish it on time and with excellence.
4. Bee sure to smile at everyone and at myself in the mirror.
5. Bee diligent to contemplate and be grateful for all the multitude of blessings in my life.
6. Bee diligent to openly and generously praise the Lord for giving me so much to make my life good.
7. Bee Happy! (It is a choice.)
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God’s Care
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Grateful For The Legacy
My mother was a poet, and a great inspiration to me, both as a writer and as a woman. On this Mother’s Day, I can’t help but think again how grateful I am for her legacy.
Let’s Talk Coffee – Day 7
This whole past week of posting mostly nonsense about coffee has been so relaxing I just may do it for another week. I might even throw in a cup of tea for my British friends. I do enjoy a cup of hot tea frequently too.
Whatever your drink of preference, I hope you enjoy your day.
photo courtesy of Luiz Jorge Artista @ pixabay.com
Let’s Talk Coffee – Day 6
JOE ON THE GO
Carry-out coffee is one of the greatest inventions of the human race. Okay, maybe that’s a little over-the-top where praise is concerned, but for people in the 21st century who have to be on the move for 12 to 15 hours of every 24, it’s a genuine blessing.
Note of interest: I’ve often wondered why coffee is sometimes referred to by the nickname “Joe.” There are several theories out there, but the one that seems to me to be the best substantiated is the one concerning former Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels. Here’s the link to that story: “Why Coffee Is Called ‘Joe.'”
graphic courtesy of Verbera @ pixabay.com
Let’s Talk Coffee – Day 4
I need a bigger cup. In fact, I don’t think there’s enough coffee in this whole world to deal with all the stress of this day!!!
Tomorrow just has to be better.
photo courtesy of StockSnap @ pixabay.com
Let’s Talk Coffee – Day 2
CHECKLIST FOR THE PERFECT HUSBAND
1. Must love coffee
2. Must be able to brew a great pot of coffee
3. Who cares? If he’s nailed the first two, he’s bound to get everything else right.
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photo courtesy of Nathan Dumlao at Unsplash
Let’s Talk Coffee – Day 1
I’m trying to take a week off from all serious work — including serious posting. I might be able to stick with it, and I might not. But I’m at least beginning. And what better way to relax than with a few great cups of coffee????? Join me.
Every day is a new adventure. When you begin with a great cup of coffee, you just know that adventure is going to lead to something good.
photo by Nathan Lemon on Unsplash
Jonah: Lessons From a Deep-Sea Diver
My most recent teaching video. Hope it inspires you.
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Old Ladies Get to Sit in Rocking Chairs and Sing Hymns
Old ladies get to sit in rocking chairs and sing hymns. I just figured that out. I can almost hear some readers asking, “Why would you think that?” My answer: Because I’m sitting here right now in the early morning, rocking contentedly and singing one of my favorite hymns:
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
Oh what a foretaste of glory divine.
Heir of salvation, purchase of God.
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.”
It’s one of my favorite ways to start my day — this rocking and singing and reading God’s Word. I have some of my best chats with the Father in this old rocking chair. And a few days ago it suddenly hit me that I was doing exactly what other women of God have done for generations — particularly in their senior years.
I remember vividly staying overnight with my grandparents on my dad’s side of the family and waking every morning to the sound of my grandmother Daisy singing hyms quietly as she sat rocking in the living room. The bed where I slept was positioned so that I could see far enough into the living room to see her sitting there with a cup of coffee and enjoying that quiet time wiht the songs about the Lord on her lips.
But it was my great-grandmother on my mon’s side of the family who made the greatest impression on me. He name was Rosie, and she was a little woman, but strong and sturdy inside and out. She was a strong Spirit-filled Christian. She prayed in tongues, twirled and danced before the Lord in church services and generally lived her life as something of a fanatic for Jesus. She and her husband farmed, but even after she became a widow, she planed her own huge garden every year, tilled it, harvested it, and walked down hot, dusty country roads to take the bounty to other families.
She was also a no-nonsense person with great common sense. Grandma Rosie never sat waiting for her cup of coffee to get cool enough to drink. She simply poured some into her saucer so it cooled instantly, and she slurped it from that saucer.
She really believed what she read in God’s Word. She trusted the Lord for good health all her life and never even saw a doctor until she broke her arm when she was in her nineties.
Grandma Rosie had a rocking chair as well. A place where she rested and prayed and worshiped the Lord in her own heart. And I’ve often thought she must have spent at least a few hours sitting in that chair praying for her children and grandchildren.
The most important thing to me about her rocking chair is that I now sit in it every single day. It isn’t just a family heirloom to me. It means so much more. I know for sure that the generations of believers who have gone before us have prayed for us and opened doors to God’s involvement in our lives in more ways than we will ever know until we meet those people in Heaven. Their faithfulness in times of struggle and their prayers of faith on our behalf have helped forge who we are and what we’ve accomplished.
Every time I sit in this rocker, I think of my Grandma Rosie, and my heart overflows with gratitude for her and her life. But even more, my heart overflows with gratitude and worship to the Lord for all He’s done for me — and all He’s still doing.
This quiet time in my rocking hair with the Word is unique.The Lord draws close to me — or perhaps I should say I draw close to Him, for He’s always as close as I’ll allow Him to be. But I’m very aware of His closeness as I sit here meditating on His Word and the words of faith that flow with the melody of the hymns I sing.
Am I an “old lady”? I don’t feel like one at all. I’m only 71. But I’ve decided that just for this one purpose — having he right to sit rocking and singing to the Lord for a while each day — I think I do want to be an “old lady.” Because it’s true: old ladies get to sit in rocking chairs and sing hymns.
“This is my story; this is my song:
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story; this is my song:
Praising my Savior all the day long.”
Hymn lyrics by Fanny J. Crosby
Weekend Coffee Share 3/3/19
If we were sharing a cup of coffee today, I’d tell, first of all, that the only reason I’m able to share this morning is because it is snowing too hard for me to get to church. I go to a church that is about 30 miles from my house, and right now the visibility is way too low to make a trip like that — especially with the roads rapidly being covered with snow and the temperatures dropping. I did go out and clean off my car (from the earlier morning snow), thinking it would let up, and I could go, but that didn’t work out at all.
Anyway, there’s not a whole lot to tell you about this week. I taught my “Writing Fiction” and my “Biblical Pathways to Health & Wholeness” classes. The students seem to be enjoying both classes, so that’s always a good thing.
Actually, I did have one student who complained a couple weeks ago because the Writing Fiction class didn’t give him “what he wanted.” He had taken that class from me a few terms ago, and complained then as well. He seems to think that since he wrote non–fiction for years that a lot of the writing basics we cover are way too elementary for him. The course description made it clear what we would cover, but that didn’t seem to register with him. Not only that, but a good deal of the things we’re covering are things he is not nearly as proficient in as he seems to think — as evidenced by the work he turned in for the assignments.
The first time he took the class he decided to drop it after about 4 weeks. Then when we offered it again this term, he suddenly e-mailed me to see if this class would offer something he could use. I told him clearly that I would be covering the same things I covered in the class he had dropped, which includes all the basic skills needed to write good fiction: developing good strong plots, developing believable characters and learning how to introduce them into the story in interesting ways, learning to use dialogue and body language well, learning how to develop and present setting, learning how to edit, and learning how to choose the best publishing options (along with several other helpful tips). Now, I ask you: what more could a student want from a Writing Fiction class???
But I suggested to him that since I would be covering all those same things, and he didn’t find them helpful a few terms earlier, I didn’t think he’d be interested in this class. But he enrolled anyway. He came to class long enough to be an aggravation and then dropped the class again. It turns out that what he’s looking for is some kind of writing theory and philosophy — whatever that is — and for what purpose, I can’t begin to figure out.
I told him that, in my opinion, teaching theory and philosophy did absolutely no good for the students who want to learn to write good stories that will entertain people and sell books. Theory and philosophy don’t help you plot a good story or create engaging, true-to-life characters, or help you jump through all the right hoops to get those stories published. I can honestly say I’m relieved he dropped the class. I hope he finds what he’s looking for.
Well, it looks as though I’ve taken our coffee time to vent. Hope you don’t mind. And, guess what: it has almost stopped snowing! Yay! I think I’m going to get a fresh cup of coffee and a cookie to celebrate.
Hope you have a great week. And if you’ve never taken part in the “Weekend Coffee Share,” visit Eclectic Ali , check out the easy instructions, and share about your week.
Weekend Coffee Share 2/10/19
If we were having coffee together this evening, I’d tell you that this has been a very, very busy week, but I did get a lot of positive things accomplished, so I feel good about it. I’d also tell you that our roads and walkways were so slick today (like snot) that I didn’t go to church this morning. In fact, the pastor cancelled services because he felt it was way too dangerous for people to be out on the roads trying to get to church.
Not only that, we’ve had horribly heavy rains for most of the past two weeks and have been under flash flood warnings almost all of that time. We got a reprieve for two days, but the flash flood warnings kicked back in at noon today, because our temperatures warmed up enough to melt the ice and give us regular rain again. And it’s supposed to rain heavy again tomorrow. This is just too much. I think we’ve seen the sunshine only two days in the last couple weeks.
I’ve been so fed up with this miserably gray world we’ve been living in — also with a good deal of fog — that I finally just sat down to my watercolors today and, in my art journal, I painted myself a bright yellow umbrella. I’ve posted it below so you can see how hard I’m trying to think positively. I titled it “Sunshine In The Rain.” I’ll be soooooo glad when the real sun comes out to stay and play for several days in row.
Well, I didn’t mean to complain almost the whole time we shared coffee, but I guess it turned out that way. Next time I’ll try to do better. Hope you all have a good week — with no heavy rain or flooding.
Thanks to Eclectic Ali for hosting our coffee share every week. If you’d like to take part, just hop over to her site and get the simple rules.
New York is Our Name: Killing Babies is Our Game
Let me get this straight: All of you folks out there who support New York’s newest abortion law — You’re saying you believe that it is perfectly okay for medical personnel to kill a healthy baby just one day prior to its being born by normal delivery on its normal due date. And as you see it, no one should be considered guilty of murder.
Where is your brain??????
Due to a comment by an individual who was troubled by this post, I’ve added the following information by way of showing a bigger picture of the situation:
I realize the terminology in the bill refers to a mother’s life or health being at risk. I also know that the same terminology was used when abortions were first legalized, but we didn’t stick with that criteria. We slipped very easily and quickly into allowing the abortions for any reason at all, and the same human frailty that caused us to do so then is still at work now.
Moreover, for generations, we have had a relatively safe and life-saving way of taking care of late-term pregnancies when they threatened a mother’s health or life. It’s called a Cesarean section surgical procedure. In almost every case, it has been successfully used to save both the mother and the baby. We didn’t deliberately kill the baby. We at least tried to save it. So this bill isn’t about saving a woman’s life; it’s about getting rid of unwanted children.
The Happy Wordcrafter 