I Know You Will Relate

Sometimes, I crack myself up. I laugh so hard that I sometimes snort. That is just how I roll.

In honor of the holidays quickly approaching, and  Black Friday and Christmas shopping underway, I’ve decided to repost one of my more funny blog entries about Wal-Mart’s parking lot.

We’ve all been there. I know you will relate.

Most people keep their less than flattering moments to themselves. Not me. I’ll share my moments….

Just to make you smile.

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Another Incident At Walmart

I’m telling you what! Every time I go to Walmart something happens to me. I must have a big bulls eye painted on my forehead. I got what I needed at the store. I walked carefully towards my car. I managed to avoid all crazy holiday drivers. I got to my Camry and an SUV the size of Texas is parked next to me. He left me about 1 1/2 inches to open my drivers side door and exhale any bit of air I had in my lungs in order to squeeze in. You know the type…the guy that parks NOT in the middle of the parking spot, but right on the yellow line that divides the space. I guess when you have an SUV that size you take up A LOT of space. UGH!! Now, you might be saying why didn’t you go around to the other side of the car and climb in? People. People. People. I don’t relish the thought of squeezing in on that side either. Then I’d have to open the passenger door and climb over the seat–making sure not to get mud all over it, since it had rained all night and all day, straddling the gear shift and pitching forward, cracking my head on the rear view mirror and landing on the car horn on the steering wheel……
Not that I’ve ever done that, you understand, it’s totally hypothetical. Don’t laugh. I know you are.

 

So, on with my story…. After I finally got in my car and readjusted my ribcage I started to pull out very slowly. VERY slowly because I couldn’t see around the huge honkin’ SUV to my left. I creep out. I finally get half way into the aisle before I can see and there are no cars coming so I finish pulling out. As I come up the aisle I STOP. There in front of me wanting to make a turn in MY direction is a HUGE red fire truck. In the Walmart parking lot. So, I can’t go forward and the driver of that big red truck for sure can’t turn around so I start backing up….and backing up…..and backing up. The pickup truck that was directly behind me in the aisle wasn’t going to back up at first. HELLO. Do you see the big red truck???? Move it Buster or he’s running us over. Well, we both did get backed up and the friendly, young fireman driving the truck waved at me. He probably hates the Walmart parking lot as much as I do.

Thankful Today

Deep sapphire blue sky, tinged with the beginning of morning.

Vivid pinks and indigo leak onto icy blue.

The shiver of a new day.

Honking… I hear them before I see them. The dots on the horizon take shape.

A “V” flying towards the winter lake across the road, a noisy family reunion.

Frosted grass, crunchy under my feet, looks like a million diamonds in the early morning sun.

A feast for the eyes before melting into a new day.

Thank you, Lord.

This is another Monday morning. Yet, not like any other.

Each day brings with it something new to be grateful for…

It is beautiful and I am thankful that I can experience it.

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Today I am thankful for:

* warm bed

* quilts

* brilliant sky

* frosted ground

* furry pets

* my husband’s help–I so appreciate it!

* laughing with him–sharing inside jokes.

* kiss from my son

* good kids

* Thanksgiving week

* blessed with a full table

* Hallmark Christmas movies

* music

 

Nothing Is Impossible

This afternoon the gray sky is moist. I feel the drops on my face as I rush to unload the groceries.

The wind is biting, and my thick sweater is not enough to protect against the late Fall temperatures.

I hurry to get inside to the warmth. The kitchen lights leave puddles on the counter top, as I quickly put groceries away.

Life is a blur, but I want to slow it down.

It’s Friday. November 22nd. 2013. This day will soon be gone, and there will never be another just like it……

Oh, how I wish I could live each day remembering this fact.

When the merry-go-round goes wild and the moments make me dizzy….

Slow down.

Yesterday, while making dinner I watched Ann Voskamp and Liz Curtis Higgs, “Christmas at the Farm”. (If you too,would like to see the Webcast, go here. ) These two ladies are inspiring. They gave me a gift. They took my hand, frazzled and worn, and led me to the Savior. Towards the end of the visit, Liz spoke of Luke 1:37. “Nothing is impossible with God.” That happens to be my very favorite Bible verse and I just knew she was talking to me personally.

Nothing. Not anything. Nothing big. Nothing small. N-O-T-H-I-N-G is impossible with God.

How many of us need to hear that today? At this very moment? Every day, a reminder?

The darkness is creeping around the edges of the late afternoon sky. 4:30 seems much later….almost time to start dinner.

But, even as the darkness descends, and the temperature plummets, I know this…

My moments are here and now, and God sees them and feels them all.

I can rest in the knowledge that there is no such thing as impossible with Him.

For with God nothing shall be impossible. Luke 1:37  KJV

 

 

Saying Grace

The world is soft gray, as the daylight winds down at only 3:30 in the afternoon.

Soft light filtering through the panes of glass.

Autumn clings, not yet ready to give up… winter only a short month away.

I gaze out my kitchen window. The fields surrounding my house are brown.

Dead or dying. Brittle.

Leafless trees…but, not lifeless.

I see their barren limbs silhouetted against the late November sky.

The air is crisp, and I breathe it in.

The faint smell of someone’s wood stove, working hard to shake the chill.

This time of the year is a favorite.

The world seems quieter at this time.

Thanksgiving, next week.  All the blessings acknowledged. Heads and hearts bowed.

Saying grace.

Needing grace.

Living grace.

Amazing grace.

 

Thanksgiving Is Always Giving Thanks

Am I the only one that is surprised that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!!?? Where does the time go? I try to be prepared, but alas I AM NOT. Sigh

Thanksgiving

 

T-Today is a new chapter

 

H-Happiness is right in front of me.

 

A-Attitude is what makes it or breaks it

 

N-Near and Dear are my family

 

K-Kellogg’s Cornflakes because I need them to make my yummy, hash brown casserole

 

S-Savior that makes all else possible

 

G-Growing and Learning new things every day

 

I-Independence in the country I live in and as an individual

 

V-Visiting Family and Friends

 

I- Influence on the next generation

 

N-Night time sky filled with breath taking stars

 

G- Gobs of food and a full stomach

 

Plenty to be thankful for. Some stuff that even seems weird. All of us have things to be thankful for, it’s all a matter of perspective. Gratitude is all in how you look at it….or look for it.

 

Wishing you and those you love a very Happy Thanksgiving.

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Remember there really is so much to be thankful for. Big things. Small things…and all those things in between.

Life Is More

Trying to live with eyes wide open…

Learning not to be afraid to slow down the moments and actually see them.

I want to remember the details.

I stop to listen to the geese honking. I hear them before I see them coming over the horizon. I notice the gray blue of a winter-like sky. If colors could actually be cold, then this would be the one. I can’t see the sun behind the clouds, but I know it is there because of the pink tinge around the clouds. No blazing sunset this evening, only the soft pale glow around the cold.

I hear the crunch of the snow as I trudge over to the barn, the air is crisp…and so still. Although, sounds carry so well in the cold I stop and I listen to the stillness.

I notice the barn across the road, perfectly silhouetted between the barren limbs of the trees. Although it is still November, the golden yellows and oranges are long replaced with empty gray branches.  Currier and Ives has nothing on the picture set before me.

I take note of the warm puddle of light, splashed through the kitchen window as I walk back to the house, inviting me back inside. Inside where I see my daughter stirring the pot of vegetable soup for me, steam rising. Dinner almost ready.

The stresses of the day melt away.

I still have things to do. I have a lot on my schedule….but, slowing down allows me to appreciate more.

The seemingly little things become the big things…and life is more.

Thank you God, for the gift of slowing down.

 

Thankful In The Midst Of It All

This past week has been extremely busy.

I’ve hardly had time to sit down, much less put some coherent thoughts together into a blog post.

Things started to get hectic.

I could feel my stress level begin to rise.

I began to put unnecessary pressure on myself to “get it done”.

Household chores. Grad work to complete. An assignment due.

Lesson plans. Finishing summaries. A family to care for.

Exhausted. So tired.

Even so…life is good. So much to be thankful for.

Important to remember the thanks.

As I lay my head on the pillow at night, I sigh contentedly.

Happiness is mine.

Truly.

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Today I am thankful for:

* My dear husband who is my technology guru.

* He helps me in so many ways

* My son getting awards at school, being recognized for his achievements

* I am so proud of him

* A hot dinner, straight out of the crock pot

* I love crock pot meals

* Assignment turned in

* What a relief

* The first real snow of the season

* Quiet and white, softly falling

* Cold crisp morning with brilliantly colored sky

* Hot mug of coffee

* Mocha coffee…yum

* Thank you Lord for both the big and small things of life

 

 

 

Cold Fear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are things in this life that scare me.

Terrify me.

The kind of fear that grips the heart and won’t let go.

I’m not talking about being scared of the dark, closed in places, or spiders.

Real fear. Things that are out of my control and that I can’t do anything to change.

Understanding God’s sovereignty, but….

spending time begging God for His mercy.

Tears. On my knees. Broken by what may be…

I struggle with keeping the fear pushed back, pushed down. Maybe if I ignore it…it will not happen.

It might go away.

Or not. It really might not. My emotion chokes me with the realization.

What if one day I am forced to come face to face with my worst fear?

I stand helpless and petrified with even the thought of it.

My heart beats faster, tears well up…. Oh, God!

God is here now. If it happens, God will be there then. God knows, oh how He knows.

When I buckle under, He will lift me up.

It is He that understands, when I can’t even put my thoughts and fears into words.

When I cry out, He hears.

He wipes my tears and stands before me.

I do not face this fear alone. He is with me.

 

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? …..Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?……Romans 8:31. 35 ESV

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 8:37-39 ESV

 

What I Learned From Kennis

Today is the day.

Thirteen years have come and gone.

Seems like a lifetime ago, and yet not.

I am more aware.

Aware of what truly matters….

and for that I am thankful.

Even in our darkest moments, our worst times, God is there.

He is there.

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I wrote this post last year…..and I thought I’d share it again.

Because it matters…..

Live Like You Were Dying

Image by liljhawkgirl via Flickr

Without appearing to be overly morbid, I’d like to state the obvious.

 

I’m dying.

 

Yep, you read that correctly.

 

And, so are you.

 

Let that sink in a minute.

 

None of us are going to make it out of this life, alive. Well, unless Jesus comes back before then…but, other than that…yep, we’re all going to die.

 

It could be this evening, or maybe next week. It might be before Christmas…or it could be 75 years from now, in your sleep. None of us knows when, but we know it will happen.

 

That really is one of the few sure things we can know, in this otherwise chaotic adventure we call life.

 

Now, with all that said, and you my readers, probably scratching your head and wondering if I’ve totally flipped out talking this way….

 

A few days ago, a friend of mine on Facebook, wrote a status using Tim McGraw‘s lyrics of Live Like You Were Dying.  If you’ve never heard the song you should take a listen. For being a secular song, it is still very good, and has a lesson in it that we could and should learn. A lesson in living. You can check out the lyrics here.  Anyway, as one thing usually leads to another, it got me thinking about life and death and all the in between stuff. I realize that most people do not want to hear this kind of talk. It makes them uncomfortable, nervous, or down right angry. That’s okay. One doesn’t have to read my blog entries if one wishes not to do so. My goal is not to make people  uncomfortable, but to make them think.

I remember when my first husband died. The day we got the diagnosis was a beautiful, June day. When we got out of bed that morning we didn’t know that it would be the beginning of the end.  Isn’t that true about a lot of things in life? He was 32 when he was diagnosed with a terminal heart condition. He lived for just 1 year and 4 months after his diagnosis. Now, if you’d have known my husband, he was not what I would have called a philosopher, or a theologian. He was a good ol’ boy, born and raised in the south, loved NASCAR, and Tennessee football. He should have gone to culinary school, he loved to cook, and he was excellent at picking out just the right gifts for birthdays and Christmas. All that aside, some of the most profound things that he ever said to me in our nearly 10 years together, were during those months between his diagnosis and his death.

As the months went on, and he became weaker, his words took on new meaning. Words that still echo back to me 11 years later.

I remember…. “Dawn, come sit with me. Cleaning can wait….I won’t be here forever.”  He knew he was dying. His perspective had changed. He realized relationships were what was important in this life. (Lesson #1)

Or, the scripture he wrote in his own hand, a verse that was close to his heart….found in 1 Corinthians 2:9. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”  I still pull that verse out on occasion and read it. I look at his handwriting and think to myself, he’s there now.  He sees what God prepared for him. He had a personal relationship with the Lord. (Lesson #2)

And the final words that he said to me, as he lay in his hospital bed…”I love you.”  These words were followed by a hug. That was the last time I ever felt my husband’s arms around me. Isn’t that what most of us want to hear? That we are loved? (Lesson #3) God was so good to me that hard day. He gave me the gift of Kennis’ words.

As much as I tell this story about my late husband, and the emotion of it all floods back to me, it is not he that showed me the greatest love. It was not my husband’s love that saved me. Nor, is it he that has gone to prepare a place for me. You see, the One that wrote me a love letter….it is He that I long to meet after I take my last breath in this world. It is Jesus that will make Heaven, home.

 

Jesus said, ” I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies…”  John 11:25  NIV

 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me (Jesus)……I am going to prepare a place for you….I will come back and take you to be with me.”  John 14: 1-3

 

And so….

 

live like you are dying…

 

Because you are.

 

Saturday In The Country

More Autumn pictures for your viewing pleasure…..