Thursday some of my daffodils were showing off their bright yellow bonnets and waving in the breeze. Friday, a heavy, merciless rain drenched them and beat them to the ground. That event was followed by cold temperatures again, after two weeks of spring-like weather.
But this scenario is not new — for me or my daffodils. In fact, almost every year, within a very few days of their blooming, the weather becomes mean and cold again and beats up on those innocent little flowers. But also every year, once the rain is passed, the brave little plants turn their heads back toward the sun and start straightening themselves out. Today, Saturday, almost all of them are standing tall and strong once again.
I wrote about that annual event a few years ago, and then shared the article on YouTube in a video. So today, since I’m celebrating the resurrection of my little daffodils again this year, I decided to give that little devotional video a second airing here on my website. I hope it’s a blessing to you.
Editor’s Note: Coffee & chocolate help keep you young.
I turned 69 on the very first day of this month. There, I’ve said it again without any pain. It’s been amazing to me how truly painless the experience has been.
Now, I’ve never been a person who was particularly concerned about my age. I’ve never tried to hide it or felt the need to lie. I did lose the opportunity to further a relationship with a man who, before finding out my age, was seriously interested in our friendship growing. However, when he discovered — to his shock I might add (what can I say: I look good for my age) — that I was 9 years older than he, his interest just switched off completely.
Personally, I think he is rather shallow — but I won’t say that out loud because it would sound like I was guilty of “sour grapes.” But I really do have a reason to consider him less than mature in that area because I know several very happily married couples with the hubby being the younger of the two. In fact, it’s quite a common thing in my experience, so, naturally, I figure anyone who doesn’t at least want to give the relationship a chance has to be a little shallow.
But I digress. Back to the subject at hand: When I was in my 20’s, I looked forward to being 30. In fact, I was eager to get there because I was just sure that I would be mature and stable and have my life well under control, with a positive future ahead. But, doggone it, when I got to 30, I discovered I was still the same not-very-organized, procrastination-oriented, speak-before-thinking, but fairly happy girl that I’d always been. Not to say that I didn’t have a sensible job or didn’t take responsibilities seriously. I did, but I wasn’t established in the career I had degrees for, nor did I have a husband and family. So much for being “settled.”
As the years rolled by, I realized that “being settled” wasn’t all it was made to look like, and I relaxed and decided to just be who I was and give it my best. That was a great decision, and since then, the Lord has led me into several avenues that have made my life very rich and fulfilling.
When I got to 40, I didn’t sweat it. I was married by then and was pursuing one career that gave me a lot of enjoyment. I was involved in a lot of Christian ministry, and that had always been one of my more important goals. So 50 came along with no sweat as well and rolled right on by. I lost my husband when I was 54, and I will admit that the prospect of facing going into my 60’s alone did seem a little daunting, but I knew the same Lord who had carried me through all the other years of my life was still there.
So, even though I can’t say that I was excited about turning 60, I am happy to say that it didn’t depress me, and I sailed right on through just fine, still basically enjoying life.
But for some reason — and I honestly don’t know why — the idea of turning 69 hit me very hard. When I thought about it, my stomach sort of knotted up, and I felt vaguely depressed. I prayed about it, and the sensible part of me lectured me about being silly. Nevertheless, I continued to feel “down” and found myself hesitant to accept the age transfer. If anyone asked me how old I would be on February 1st, I found myself feeling a little choked at saying the number out loud.
But then the big day came — and went — and I enjoyed every minute of it. And yes — if you think I sound surprised — you’re right. I was surprised. But it was like something broke loose inside of me — or got unlocked somehow. I was able to say the number without the slightest hesitation. I was able to, with a genuine smile, actually take ownership of 69 years of age.
From the moment I took that ownership, I realized that something very positive was going on. Now I suddenly feel as if I have a new beginning — sort of right out of nowhere. It’s as if I’ve got my ‘second wind,’ as athlete’s term the experience. Some kind of shadow has been lifted, the way ahead is clear, hurdles don’t even look as big as they used to, and I’ve decided I’m definitely going for the gold. So — 101, here I come!
Well, it’s only natural that the topic for this week should be “love.” I decided to offer up one serious piece and one not-so-serious (make that totally irreverent) piece. I’m sure you’ll be able to decide which is which. And you might as well hop over to “A Dash of Sunny” and take part in this week’s challenge.
LOVE RUNS THROUGH ME
Like a stream running through the mountains,
Like a cool wind sweeping o’er the plains,
Like a river rushing to the ocean,
Like blood coursing through the veins,
Like a current running through a cable,
Like a song swirling through the mind,
Like inspiration flowing through the poet,
Like compassion coursing through the kind,
So love for you is running through my soul,
Super-charging me; causing me to grow,
Reminding me that loving makes us whole.
VALEDICTION TO A PASSING LOVE
I have not loved you well,
Nor have I loved you long.
So it is with no strong regret
I sing this parting song.
Your passage through my life
Has barely touched my soul,
So mourning will not weigh me down.
In fact, I feel quite whole.
Adieu, my love, adieu.
I bid you fond goodbye.
And at your grave, for memory’s sake,
A few tears I will cry.
Thank You, God! Thank You, God! Thank You, God! It’s about all I can say right now. I’ll have other things to say about yesterday’s election in my nation, but for right now, I am so overwhelmed with gratitude that we finally put a president and scores of congressmen into office who will work AGAINST murdering millions of innocent children every day that I am almost speechless. That stand for the unborn was THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE AT HAND, because nothing else will ever be right in our country until we stop deliberately murdering God’s children. I can add one more thing: God has given us one more chance to turn things around and get back to being the nation that He originally intended us to be, and we’d better all buckle down and work hard at doing just that.
“He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. … Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. … Because you have made the Lord … even the Most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall you; neither shall any plague or calamity come nigh your dwelling. … Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” (Excerpts from Psalm 91)
Last week I had an auto accident. It was entirely my fault. I drove through a stop sign without stopping. Now, I take that particular route several times a week, and until last Friday, I had always stopped at that stop sign without fail. I suppose I had just enough on my mind Friday that it interfered with my normal attention to my driving, and the next thing I knew another driver was slamming into the driver’s side of my car and spinning it around wildly.
I can’t really describe everything that went through my mind in those seconds — or exactly how I felt. And, frankly, I don’t want to relive the event enough to be able to explain. But when both vehicles came to a stop, and I could think clearly enough to do something sensible, I tried opening my door. It was totally jammed shut, so, realizing that I was evidently not seriously injured and that all my parts worked correctly, I crawled over the gear shift and console and climbed awkwardly out of the passenger side. I went over the the other vehicle, and the lady in that car said that she was badly shaken, but didn’t seem to have any serious injuries either.
My friends, the fact that she and I both literally walked away from our vehicles under our own steam, had not received any blows to our heads or other body parts, and could think and communicate and function at least almost normally was nothing but a miracle.
If the woman who hit me had been just about 8 inches farther to her left, I could have been dead. But the major impact of her car with mine came against the rear door rather than my own door. To be sure, my driver’s door will never work again, and the frame is so damaged that the car is pretty well totaled. But those mere inches at the exact point of impact made all the difference.
Why am I sharing this event on my blog? Because what I’ve told you so far is only part of the story. The best part is yet to come, and I want all of you to be able to share in it.
As most of my readers know by now, I am a firm believer that God means exactly what He says about His care of us and His healing and protection. One of His greatest promises of protection is Psalm 91. I pray that Psalm aloud over myself and my family every morning, and the Lord has honored it in numerous ways during my lifetime. As I drive, I often listen to scripture on tapes or CD’s in my car, and that particular morning, I was listening to a CD of my own father (a minister who is now with the Lord) reading healing and protection scriptures.
At the exact time of the accident, he was reading the words of the last four sentences of Psalm 91. Those words were going out into the air in my car at the moment of impact, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that those Words from the Lord that I trust in — and His angels who are assigned to carry out His Word — saved my life and that of the woman driving the other car.
We sometimes get in God’s way, and in His Word He tells us numerous times that He doesn’t always get things His way because we won’t cooperate completely. So in this case, although He would have preferred my not having the accident and the resulting damage to my car and the other driver’s as well, the fact remains that I was negligent and did something stupid. Nevertheless, He was able to intervene and, through the power of His Word and His angels obeying His Word, He was able to spare both the other driver and me from death or even serious physical injury.
We have a wonderful, loving, caring Father. And His protection is REAL if we will learn what His Word says, believe it, and apply it by faith to our lives.
I’m enormously glad that I’m still alive to tell you about how wonderful He is!
When your smile is sincere, it will always show in your eyes.
Would you like to try a happiness experiment? I first suggested this experiment a few years back, and some of you may have tried it then. But it never hurts to repeat something that has positive results. You can carry out this experiment on any day you choose, but you’ll want to start in the morning so that you have plenty of time to accumulate results.
Here are the steps:
Make it a point to smile all day long – at every person, at every animal, and at yourself every time you look in the mirror.
Every time you talk to someone (no matter what the topic) make it a point to say something positive to that individual.
Deliberately stop 7 separate times and thank God out loud for some blessing in your life.
At the end of the day, take stock of how you feel and record the results of the experiment.
I have posted this poem a couple times over the years, but today I found myself reading it again and being inspired by it. It is one of my own personal favorites of the countless poems I’ve written during my life, and I just decided I WANTED to post it again.
ALONG THE RIVER
The sun is playing hide and seek with clouds
Along the river.
The clouds are gray, but friendly, soft, and free
Along the river.
I move unhampered by the flirting breeze
Along the river
Breathing deeply of the moistened earth
Along the river.
Quiet now invades my mind and soul
Along the river.
I’m letting go of tumbling, troubled thoughts
Along the river.
My past recedes; my future quiet rests
Along the river,
And water speaks to waters deep within
Along the river.
I sit and contemplate historic past
Along the river
The generations served by this same stream
Along the river.
And sense that I belong to something great
Along the river
A part of something bigger than myself
Along the river.
And far beyond my power to understand,
Along the river,
An elemental knowing I am known —
And I am loved —
By the Creator of the river.
The poem below has a title borrowed from the English poet John Donne. It was not the title of a separate poem by Donne, but instead was a line included in his “Meditation XVII,” which was from a longer work entitled “Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions.” My poem, I hope, gives a modern view of the basic truth of the “oneness” of our human race to which he referred in his own immortal words.
A siren wails,
And in our modest town,
From one end to the next,
We hear its cry.
And though we try
To keep our focus sharp
Upon the tasks at hand,
We feel the pain.
We know the strain
Of facing hurt and fear,
Of crisis, loss, and tears,
And wonder – who?
Naught we can do,
Except to pray for God,
Who knows the victim’s name,
To give His aid.
And prayer being made,
We focus once again
On our own lives, until
A siren wails.
It’s Valentine’s week, so I thought it was time to make another visit to my archives. This time I sifted through all the ordinary stuff and dug around until I found the posts that had something to say about LOVE. I found bunches of them, but I chose 14 of my favorites to share one more time. (The number 14, of course, is in honor of Valentine’s Day being the 14th of the month.) I’ve posted the links to them below. Hope you find some of them to your taste and get a little shot of love to help you celebrate Valentine’s Day:
When your smile is sincere, it will always show in your eyes.
A siren wails,
The Happy Wordcrafter 