Enjoying moments

It's not a big disappointment when the TV does its radio impression during a performance of the Vienna Philharmonic. Even the absence of the beauty of Vienna cannot fade the loveliness  of Sibelius, Greig, and Richard & Johann Straus!

Sometimes what's good for the environment is bad for me!

To all my pals who joined me in the pledge of "if it's under a mile I'll walk for my errands" I have an addendum to propose. This Texas dweller feels those of you in Canada, Korea, Minnesota, North Carolina, Scotland, England, Cornwall and Switzerland would be open to the following: You let me off for summer and I'll let you off for winter!

Happy Independence Day!

My giggle for this holiday? Coworker signs off on radio yesterday; I wish her a Happy Independence Day. Moments later I hear a chuckle behind me and realize I had just wished a Happy Independence Day to my new friend America

Father

I have learned and continue to learn so much from this man. His life modeled lessons include integrity, kindness, generosity, compassion, faithfulness  and through it all how to be an obedient servant to our Amazing God! He's a steadfast example of the admonition in Micah, "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God." I give thanks to my Heavenly Father for the gift He gave me in the man I'm proud to call Daddy!

Tidy matters

Good times: skyping early rising Goddaughter in Cambridge.

Bad times: Dealing with vexatious mosquito while doing same.

Priceless: hearing her unbridled laughter as I chase the darned thing around the apartment and finally drop the phone!

Lesson: it pays to make sure everything is tidy under your bed.  You can't tell just when someone will be seeing under there!

Hypnotherapy

In an effort to leave no stone unturned, I have recently begun using a recorded hypnotherapy session to alleviate some of my daily aches and pains.  Often I'll use my lunch half hour to recharge for the rest of the workday.  I park under a nice shady tree. I open the windows and then recline the seat to get nice and comfy. Today I was just about two thirds of the way through the episode when God reminded me He is the author of laughter and wanted me to have a  moment of happiness.  I was listening to the phrase, "feel the pain washing away, you can feel the water washing away all the discomfort."  I suddenly thought "I'm getting this, I can feel the water on my face!" It was at that point I opened my eyes and realized the sprinklers had come on and I was getting soaked!

Sadly, I may not be the ideal candidate for this therapy but I definitley appreciate when God winks at me and sends me moments of pure joy!

Laughingly,

jené

Dreams

I've always been able to recall my dreams. Over my lifetime they've varied from the mundane to the whimsical. In the time since my mother moved to heaven, some have been bittersweet. I wake up from dreams of her and realize she's no longer here.

When I was young I went through a period where nightmares often visited. I can only recall those happening whenever my dad was stationed away from us. I think anyone who grew up in a military family would understand why that was so.

While truly scary dreams are rare, I've noticed an increase in disturbing, painful & anxious dreams of late. These seem to happen when pain levels are elevated. Do any of you have this happen? I'd welcome any suggestions you might have to see these go away.

My answer so far has been to pray. For those in the dream, for the pain which thankfully causes me to waken, and for all the suffering I see in the world around me. I'm always grateful for anytime I spend in prayer. But I'm wishing more of it were in the daytime rather than the night.

Praying the night away,

Jenè

Blessing of family

Things didn't go as planned this weekend but there are still many reasons to give thanks. I was able to spend a little time with loved ones, was blessed to be able to worship our awesome God together, and can now take a nap that will hopefully make this migraine a thing of history!

The Boy Mark

That night, lamp bright, in the upper room
 I served him with meat and wine,
When he told the Twelve of his coming doom
 Their grief was mine.

Unsleeping, weeping, I lay and listened
 As they talked and the hours moved on;
Till the moon rose and the white roofs glistened
 And the last man had gone.

Then catching, snatching a sheet about me,
 Which doorways, walls concealed,
I tracked their swift shadows until they brought me
 Here to the oil-press field.

Hidden, unbidden, among silvered trees
 I tensed as he strode my way:
But a bough's length distant he dropped on his knees
 And parted his lips to pray.

These words I heard on the moonlit hill:
 'Father, hear thy son!
Remove this cup, and yet thy will
 Not mine be done!'

Now, on his brow, great pearls of sweat
 Glisten like drops of dew.
Silently, under Olivet,
 My tears are falling too.

Three times he climbs from his lonely prayers
 To Peter, James and John,
Sighs, and returns, and leaves as theirs
 The ground they sleep upon.

Then a sound rebounds on the cool night air -
 A cry from the Kedron bridge,
Torches, like hearthless fires, flare,
 Winding towards the ridge.

I see, through my tree, where the leaves hang dumb
 And moveless as the dead,
The dark, torch-blooded soldiers come,
 With Judas at their head.

Proud, uncowed, he keeps his tryst
 In the flarelight and the moon.
I know, too late, that he is the Christ
Too late, or else too soon.

No friend, at the end, to give him hope!
 Then clutching my tangled sheet,
I fling myself wildly down the slope
 And land at his friendless feet. . .

Yes, he smiled at the child, at the boy's whim,
 A smile in which love prevailed,
But I saw the men who surrounded him,
 And my courage failed

At the jeering, sneering, flickering sight,
 And here where this cypress is,
I left my robe in their hands that night,
 And my soul in his.

    ~  Author unknown

Wanted to share this much loved poem with you!

~ jené

 

Living.........truly living!

I don't use my mother's Bible everyday for my quiet time. Somedays it's just too much to come across her fine penmanship. It's a bittersweet experience, my missing her balanced against my joy in knowing she's finally living with her Savior! Joy always wins however the moments to that victory can be  painful.

If she were still counting birthdays, today would have been her 78th. I thought I'd do my reading from her Bible today. It's been a soul stretching experience to come across her observations. What I came across today brought me to a standstill. There's no way to know when she wrote this. All I could think of when I read it was how great she was able to see this come to pass! My mother is alive and living with the one who saved her! Someday I will see her again.

"I'm not in the land of the living, I'm in the land of the dying. But I look forward to being in the land of the living soon when I'm in Heaven."