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I just had to take this shot with the skull juxtaposed beside the stack of candy in the basket. What a message to me -- so much candy is just not healthy, but I found my hand dipping into that sinful selection more times than I can count.
Well, that's the worst thing about individually wrapped treats -- everyone actually CAN count how many pieces I have gobbled down! And that's where the "trick" in eating all of the "treats" comes in -- how to hide the evidence of over-indulgence. There is no way to sit ensconced in my recliner and snack because then the wrappers get all stacked into a pile on the lamp table beside me. And I don't want to keep running to the trash can to hide my guilt.
Such a dilemma. Maybe if I get a good night's sleep I'll be able to think of a solution tomorrow. So, to bed.
Well, just one more peanut butter cup . . . and then to bed.
Having once weathered a storm, a person gains confidence to face future storms and comes away equipped to recognize when a storm is approaching and so to begin fortifying themselves sooner and with more accuracy. A person learns where the resources are. So it was with the storm we just endured.
This day saw not the end of a storm but, hopefully, the reining in of a storm so that it will not be able to build itself up to such a tempest again. There will be changes to make because the storm has wrecked some plans, but there is always a plan B. Often when one structure is demolished, a person can salvage the ruins and construct something that turns out to be pretty durable, useful, or even fascinating. It's up to each person to meet the challenge of sifting through the debris and evaluating each item to establish what it can contribute to future good. I am grateful for earlier storms which prepared me for this storm and grateful that this storm exposed new resources and left the ground more fertile so that we can watch and wait for things to sprout up in surprising place
s where there seemed to be nothing growing before.
The picture for today is of the chain guard on a happy little boy's first bicycle, a Huffy "Rock it," complete with training wheels and nubby black tires which have already left a few sets of rubber skid marks on his grammy's kitchen floor. But that's all good! Grammy is just content to have grandkids in the kitchen, skid marks notwithstanding. It is the kids and grandkids that give grandmas the will to weather the storms, and it is the resources of praying family and friends that God puts into our lives that make us able to endure whatever the storms bring. This little boy and his red Huffy "Rock it" will always remind this grandma that God Rocks!
How does the photo of the hot wood stove reflect my thoughts of this day? I decided it is because I am really feeling the heat of a battle between good and evil. I have a million thoughts going through my mind, but nothing wants to jump out onto the paper. (Paper? So who writes on paper anymore?)
I'm going to let everyone enjoy the photo of the hot stove warding off the sub-freezing temperature and screaming winds outside. I'll trust in God to handle the fires, the snow, and the winds. I'm going to bed.
I was going to say, "How easy it is, when a person is sheltered within a warm house with friends, to forget about the coldness going on outside" But then I decided that situation can also flip: The outside can be peaceful and serene while turmoil rules inside the walls. I don't even want to think about having storms both inside and out, yet how great it is when all is at peace. At least no storm lasts forever.
That is the truth I am clinging to right now. That, and the fact that a storm may be destructive to a great extent but still it can result in bringing benefits, too. Violent winds clear away garbage, and moisture, even though it might have come in raging torrents, rejuvenates.
Going through a terrible storm, I think "When will this be over and what will be the good that comes from it?" All I know is that no Believer is ever in a storm alone.
This morning's early weather forecast says a winter storm is coming in for tomorrow and lasting through Thursday. Brrrrrrrrrrrr. I just don't know if I'm ready for a Colorado winter. So I had to decide how best to accomodate my one-and-only student, Annie, whom I am tutoring in Spanish I. Usually she comes to my house and spends the whole day or even stays overnight. But with the chance that she might not be able to make it home for a few days, we decided that I would come out to her house, and we would work there. Her course deadline is just three days away!
Problem is, it's too easy to get cozy out here at Living Springs Ranch livingspringsranch.org where I have know
n my Moyer friends since December of 1990, so Annie and I have not begun to work on Spanish. The closest I have come to anything remotely connected is the delicious taco salad that Becky fixed us for supper --- Yum!! Does that count for anything?
The "coffee caddy" pot which hangs among the collection in the kitchen is a perfect photo to represent being here. Even after having been away from the ranch activities here for the two years I lived in central Kansas, this friendship remained strong and picked up right where it left off -- with hugs and welcomes and visits around the kitchen table, which is just what I need right now. The title of this entry expresses the hospitality of the Moyer family: Su casa es mi casa -- Their house is my house. No hay amigo como un amigo viejo. Y el cafe son gran.
"When the frost is on the punkins . . ." it's time to bring the little darlin's inside!
This started out to be such a GOOD day! I spent an hour at the YMCA having a fantastic workout and feeling really energized afterward. Besides the physical boost I received, I discovered that the "Y" is a great place to pray. No one knows me and no one pays any attention to anyone else so as not to disturb their workouts, so a person can really go into a private "zone" there.
I could just close my eyes and bicycle away, or use the weight stations and feel all to myself. It was so nice to be alone with God in a room which contained probably 40 people all whacking away on metallic machines. The only thing I could not do with my eyes closed was fast walking on the track -- it would have been unfortunate to mow down the little old guy with the cane. He was doing such a good job that I would have hated to ruin his workout. As it was, I just prayed as I paced and lapped him a couple of times, thinking as I did that I hope I can do what he is doing when I reach his age.
Mid-day was okay, too, but then I got to late afternoon and the day went to pot. I got a speeding ticket for moving at the rapid pace of 42 mph in a 30 zone. That's going to cost me $105 which I had not intended to use as a traffic donation. Then I was rejected at my destination at Fort Carson and had to turn around because I didn't have t
he proper insurance information to be allowed on base. And in returning I got lost and toured southern Co.Spgs. for an extra half hour. That would have been okay except that I got hungry and knew I was still a ways from home, so I caved in and bought fast food. Yuk!
So, the pumpkin picture is rather symbolic of this day.
At the urging of my sister-in-law, Mary, I am going to attempt to sustain a blog and to add pictures as often as I can. She has challenged me to follow in the footsteps of a blogger/photographer/educator in Washington state who adds a photo and comment every single day! ttp://thornburghphoto.blogspot.com/ I doubt I can keep up that ambitious pace, but I am going to stretch myself.
It was fun to go out today, a snowy Sunday afternoon at the end of a very busy week, and walk in the quiet of my small yard, looking at little vignettes of beauty and peace and deciding which ones to capture forever in pixel format. Just being outside alone seemed to calm my spirit more than I had anticipated.
Is there any greater natural force than weather? Weather does whatever it wants to do and is totally impartial in the doing of it. How people react to it makes all the difference.
I'm going to post two photos today, just because. I took the first one, and then I was disappointed that I had not noticed that I had cut off one point of the octagonal shape of the bird bath. So I went out forty-five minutes later and took the second shot. Snow does not take long to claim its own territory!
This bird bath is really special to me because I gave it to my parents several years ago to add a focal point in their already beautiful back yard. Mom especially paid a lot of attention to 'her' birds. She kept a small cup of pebbles near her chair on the patio so she could fling them at the neighbor's cats who crept up to pester the feathered bathers!
