BETWEEN HERE AND THERE

Boy is my home neat! That's what happens when I spend too much time here. Even my "clutter" is organized and neatly piled. This place looks really settled now. I love it. I tried to picture where I am at in my life and saw a picture of a train on a turn table. OK. That's a pretty good picture. I'm not actually going anywhere right now, but I am willing to go whatever way God wants. This is one of those times I am simply living by rote...which is what good habits allow room for. I just put one foot in front of the other and do little things each day to keep life manageable. I prefer the time when I am creative, but I don't put maintenance in last place. Without it there would be no order in my life. It's just dull; that's all...so right now I imagine I am rather dull.
"How are you today?"
"Dull, thank you. And you?"
Have you ever noticed that bored people are boring to relate to? So it follows that I will be dull for a bit until I get into something creative once again.
What's nice about all of this is that for me to be bored is a luxury. I used to have knots to untie and tons to sort through. Now that's done. I'm in a "Huh?" place. There is no instruction manual with this life we give ourselves. I have spent many years sorting out what I didn't want and saying no to that. I found things I liked to do and have done them. Now my life appears to be in a wash, rinse, repeat mode. I'll practice that for a while, but I KNOW I will have to find something to learn or create. It's in my genes. (Thank you, Dad!) Waiting, though, is also a strong point of mine. (Thank you, Mom!)
It's a special joy to report that I am in a place that allows me to look at my past and pick out all of the pretty things to cherish. The other stuff? That's what forgiveness is for.

I ENJOY BEING A SQUIRREL

Squirrel gathers for the future

And lets go easily of excess

http://scottfoglesong.printandwebdesign.com/26-squirrel.pdf

I began using a squirrel icon several years ago. I joined a photography site and found a picture online of a squirrel holding a camera. 

 I love to do several things at once, flitting from one to the next and back...completing all around the same time (I love circles!). I remind myself of a squirrel running around a tree. I may appear erratic, but I get a lot done. I have a well-stocked pantry. I stock up on supplies for all of my artistic endeavors when I see things on sale. For example: I used rubber cement for my collages. Cans that usually sell for $8.00 went on a close out sale for $1.00. I bought a dozen cans. 

Since I saved $84 off the regular price of the rubber cement, I can afford to be generous with others and give away some of what I bought to those who might need it. I shop that way for anything that I consider a staple, the same way a squirrel gathers nuts while the weather is mild. When we make good use of what we have and think ahead to needs in the future, we are better able to provide for others from our excess.

'Get the picture?   

Freely you received, freely give.   Matthew 10:8

So---when I was it I ceased writing a blog post daily? I have a number of blogs online, but rarely add to them now. Returning to this, the original blog, seem appropriate, since life tends to come full cycle.


I still keep a hand written journal daily, but as a way of sorting myself and freeing myself of negativity. It's not necessarily a record of my day or anything I think another would find valuable to read.
I still write poetry very regularly, but again, with a pen in a notebook, and not while seated at a keyboard. 


A lot has changed in the last two years! I used to write lengthy email daily to a man friend and a woman friend.  Now I write 140 character statements on Twitter. 


I read today in The Writer's Almanac that Astronomer Edwin Hubble announced that there were other galaxies beside the Milky Way in 1924.  I mention that because less than 90 years ago mankind thought our galaxy was the only one. When I was a girl in school I was taught that Columbus thought the world was flat until 1492.  According to this site http://www.strangequestions.com/question/250/Who-first-discovered-that-the-world-is-round.html  that is not true at all, yet there were some in the 15th century who did think the world was flat. I just realized this week that nativity scenes are not accurate, since the three wise men did not find Christ when he was in the manger, but rather later when he was a toddler.


Change.  Correction of errors. An ever opening mind. Different perspectives. My sense of Reality is much different now than it was when I first starting keeping a blog. 


I remember life before television. Now I carry a netbook in my purse. I remember how excited I was when I was in junior high school and my mother purchased a portable typewriter. Now little children are raised to learn to use a keyboard before they attend public school. 


I speak often of God. Reality is one of the names I use for God. 34 years ago I asked God to reveal Himself to me. My sense of Reality continues to expand as I age. God doesn't change.  Hopefully, I do!

Amazing Grace

EVERYTHING'S COMING UP ROSES

I don't think it matters so much if the cup is half empty or half full. It matters more what's in the cup.

I've had a year of roses and they are still blooming in December.

WHERE ANGELS PLAY

The room so neat
It's almost bare
Bookcase, a shelf
A desk and chair
An office where
The sick will meet
With therapist
A woman sweet
To tell their tales
Of pain and woe
Misunderstood
By friend and foe
She smiles and nods
Sometimes she sighs
At moments tears
Are in her eyes
She feels the pain
And eases stress
So patients can
Receive some rest
An interlude
Of peace occurs
A question asked
A memory stirs
An insight comes
The pain departs
And then with joy
Within their hearts
Both laugh
As angels come to play

(c) Beth NoLastName

AFTER THE STORM

I want to run to the nearest clock and stop the minutes from passing. Slow down! Slow down! That's my life you are ticking away! 


Then I laugh, assured if the time passes swiftly, I will simply be given extra years so I can still do all I want to do. I remind myself there is no hurry for anything. Everything is right on time.

Just a few weeks ago I was experiencing pain. The situation didn't change, but I did, so there is no pain any longer. There is peace and joy in it's place.  The same people who would tell me to stop hitting my hand with a hammer if I cried out that it hurt, expect me to stand still as they create pain for me. I apply the same logic as I would with the hammer. I cease doing as I was doing.  I allow that hammers are useful when applied rightly, and the people who are hurtful to me may do just fine relating to others. I set myself free and continuing on my pain free way. It works just fine each time I apply the lesson learned. 


Was I sad? Of course I was sad! People are humans, not hammers. I care and I grieve deeply. But grieving does not last forever, or in my case, for long. My conscience is clear, so I don't need to go through the "What if I had done this?" or "I shouldn't have done that." I just feel the sorrow that someone and I can no longer be close. 


Life is full of someones. Spending a great deal of time mourning the loss of relating to just one, makes no sense to me.  While life doesn't always make sense to me, I do like to make sense to myself. There are no vacuums. When something is removed, something else takes up the space it leaves behind. I don't rush to fill spaces. There are times I enjoy having more moments to myself, unfettered by the need to relate to another. 


I always liked the song WHEN YOU CAN'T BE WITH THE ONE YOU LOVE, LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH. Spending time alone is a most rewarding experience.