A wonderful day with more rain in the desert. I love how it smells during and after a rain storm, it's one of the best smells in the world.
I was coughing off and on today so opted out of the places I could go on this Thanksgiving Day. It may have been nothing, but I didn't want to give anyone a cold for the holiday season.
It was a day for finishing up a knitting project, making refrigerator bread dough, doing Family Search indexing and loving on the cats.
I need to cook up the turkey breast I bought earlier in the week sometime over this extended week.
Tonight will be a prayer just of thanksgiving. I have a home, and the gospel, a reliable car and financial security. I have friends and cats and scriptures and the blessings of the resurrection and atonement of Jesus Christ. I have skills for blessing others and my own enjoyment. I have health. I had a wonderful childhood with goodly parents and noble ancestors.
It's worthwhile to ponder sometimes and just focus on all that the Lord has given me. The more often I do it the more I recognize blessings and tender mercies every day of my life.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
It's Raining
I love the rain. When the alarm went off, and Shadow took up his post on the headboard, ready to paw the clock if I didn't get up in the requisite 9 minutes I heard the sound of rain, and water running off the roof. Bee-uuu-tii-fulll sound.
Shadow on the Top of the Headboard
Living in a desert we don't see rain very often, and it's even less now than when I first moved here. Some years we get rain in the summer, sometimes it's in the winter. I'm hearing the rain fall as I type this and smelling that wonderful scrubbed clean air. I went to get my umbrella, and of course its not where I knew it was, so time for a bit of a hunt I guess, but right now I get to go scritch Sachi - she's wanting attention and doesn't come to me for it. I have to go to her.
Sachi Being Beautiful
It's a short day at work for me too, by 11:00am I'll have put in my 24 hours of work this week. I like those sorts of days.
Shadow on the Top of the Headboard
Living in a desert we don't see rain very often, and it's even less now than when I first moved here. Some years we get rain in the summer, sometimes it's in the winter. I'm hearing the rain fall as I type this and smelling that wonderful scrubbed clean air. I went to get my umbrella, and of course its not where I knew it was, so time for a bit of a hunt I guess, but right now I get to go scritch Sachi - she's wanting attention and doesn't come to me for it. I have to go to her.
Sachi Being Beautiful
It's a short day at work for me too, by 11:00am I'll have put in my 24 hours of work this week. I like those sorts of days.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Good Friends
My friends and neighbors, the Burdens came over yesterday and did some yardwork for me. Greg had asked me at church on Sunday if they could come by and I agreed. It was dark when I arrived home so I couldn't see all that they had done, but the front lawn was mowed and there were several bags of trash as well as a couple of trash cans out at the curb.
A before shot of the front yard
I could have done all this myself, but I'd had months to get to it and didn't so I'm grateful for the love and service they gave me. They are good and wonderful people.
An Aftershot
A before shot of the front yard
I could have done all this myself, but I'd had months to get to it and didn't so I'm grateful for the love and service they gave me. They are good and wonderful people.
An Aftershot
Monday, November 24, 2008
Dewey the Cat and Shadow the Cat
I was reading a book today about a library cat named Dewey Readmore Books, rescued from a book drop as a starved frostbitten kitten. He changed the lives of many in good ways by his life and affection. The author of the book and the 'owner' of Dewey realized that all through his life she had held him and he had held her. He died in his 19th year in her arms as the vet sent him to the next life.
Shadow is for me as Dewey was for her. He came into my life in 2005 just months after the end of my 30 year marriage. He has been a loving companion and unconditional support through all the dark days. He waits for me to come home, he prefers to eat only when I'm with him, he sleeps on my shoulder when I'm sitting and by my side when I sleep. If he's not next to me he's where he can see me.
God blessed me with Him. He is a tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father, a little gray abandoned kitten that has become a strength and a joy in every day of my life. Even now he is stretched on my shoulder, purring.
Shadow is for me as Dewey was for her. He came into my life in 2005 just months after the end of my 30 year marriage. He has been a loving companion and unconditional support through all the dark days. He waits for me to come home, he prefers to eat only when I'm with him, he sleeps on my shoulder when I'm sitting and by my side when I sleep. If he's not next to me he's where he can see me.
God blessed me with Him. He is a tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father, a little gray abandoned kitten that has become a strength and a joy in every day of my life. Even now he is stretched on my shoulder, purring.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The First Commandment first
... which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (JKV Matthew 22:36-37)
We live in a world where good people are filled with confusion about what is right and what is not. We are appropriately encouraged to treat each other kindly, to be tolerant of differences, to be respectful of every human being.
Toleration does not mean we must agree. Toleration does not mean we must accept behavior or teachings that are contrary to our beliefs. Toleration means we allow others to be different from us, not that we roll over, give in, and surrender when beliefs and institutions are threatened.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (JKV Matthew 22:39)
Noble as this second commandment is - it is the second commandment, not the first. If in an effort to love our neighbors we abandon the first commandment, then we've got things backwards. Our loyalty and obedience belongs first to God and His teachings. We cannot keep faith with God if we abandon the laws He has given us in an attempt to "love" our neighbor. That is why we must always love one another, but never accept sin against God's laws as ok.
The Great War
And Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (JKV Revelation 12:7-9)
The battles we fight today against the will of God are part of that same war begun before we ever came to earth. Wherever there is hatred, or contention, wherever there is evil calling itself good and good being called evil there is a battle in this war. Wherever good people do nothing while other good people are under siege, there is another front in the conflict. Wherever we try to sit on the fence and not be involved, there the dragon grins, for apathy is as good a tool in his arsenal as is activism.
The final outcome of this war is certain. What is right and good will prevail, the devil and his angels will be cast out where they no longer tempt and confuse and lead away the Children of God. The only question we really need to ask is this: What side am I fighting on?
The battles we fight today against the will of God are part of that same war begun before we ever came to earth. Wherever there is hatred, or contention, wherever there is evil calling itself good and good being called evil there is a battle in this war. Wherever good people do nothing while other good people are under siege, there is another front in the conflict. Wherever we try to sit on the fence and not be involved, there the dragon grins, for apathy is as good a tool in his arsenal as is activism.
The final outcome of this war is certain. What is right and good will prevail, the devil and his angels will be cast out where they no longer tempt and confuse and lead away the Children of God. The only question we really need to ask is this: What side am I fighting on?
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Happiness and Stuff
How much is too much? How much is more than we need? How much does it take to be happy?
Its been a long time since I posted anything here, but lately my mind has been going around and around on various topics, Stock Market thrill ride, Bailouts, Buying and Spending, Charity, Service, Happiness. Today some of all this jelled for me. Americans are often villified by the rest of the world for our rampant consumerism and consumption and certainly we do a lot of that. The last time I located statistics we were also the most generous and giving people in the world as well, a fact rarely seen in the media here or elsewhere in the world. So we have more and we give more, perhaps there is a connection there. Do we give because we have or do we have because we give and are thereby blessed as a result? I favor the latter.
Father Jonathan, a Catholic Priest and contributor to Fox News made mention on how the Wall Street crisis has caused some who work there to rethink their priorities. They are realizing that it's not stuff that is important or makes one happy, its people, and service. It's a lesson we all can take to heart.
One way I see for this country to re-awaken to the blessings that are ours and find where real happiness lies is to realize that stuff means very little. How many clothes are sufficient, how many pairs of shoes are really necessary, do we really need that new car, will that bigger house make us happy? I submit - they will not.
Currently I can't think of a way to accomplish what has been going on in my head, but I feel it is a way to make the pie bigger so we all have a piece of it. Our economy, or much of it is driven by our consumerism. If we all stopped buying things we don't need and that won't make us happy, we'd have some additional economic challenges to face. However, those 5 pairs of shoes I didn't buy could be shoes that went to others who did need them.
-OR-
Maybe what we need to do is continue to buy and spend because we have, but instead of buying for us we buy for others. I could send those five pairs of shoes to someplace that could use them. I could buy extra clothes, extra coats, extra school materials and see that they go where they are needed.
To a degree we do this when we donate our used, but useable goods to charity and that is still wise. Giving of our abundance with new goods could be an even greater blessing.
We give from the abundance we have because of our charity to our fellowmen. Our economy can thrive, and the world is enriched as well - the pie has become bigger. Eventually those places that our goods go to in charity will become strong economically as well, when we strive to enable self-reliance, both in us and in all the world. Crushing poverty can lead to despair, but simple lives with sufficient for our needs is a much more joyful way to live.
We do not need forced redistribution of wealth, we do not need new social programs or agencies, or more taxes; we just need the love of man in our hearts and a means of distributing that which is freely given.
Its been a long time since I posted anything here, but lately my mind has been going around and around on various topics, Stock Market thrill ride, Bailouts, Buying and Spending, Charity, Service, Happiness. Today some of all this jelled for me. Americans are often villified by the rest of the world for our rampant consumerism and consumption and certainly we do a lot of that. The last time I located statistics we were also the most generous and giving people in the world as well, a fact rarely seen in the media here or elsewhere in the world. So we have more and we give more, perhaps there is a connection there. Do we give because we have or do we have because we give and are thereby blessed as a result? I favor the latter.
Father Jonathan, a Catholic Priest and contributor to Fox News made mention on how the Wall Street crisis has caused some who work there to rethink their priorities. They are realizing that it's not stuff that is important or makes one happy, its people, and service. It's a lesson we all can take to heart.
One way I see for this country to re-awaken to the blessings that are ours and find where real happiness lies is to realize that stuff means very little. How many clothes are sufficient, how many pairs of shoes are really necessary, do we really need that new car, will that bigger house make us happy? I submit - they will not.
Currently I can't think of a way to accomplish what has been going on in my head, but I feel it is a way to make the pie bigger so we all have a piece of it. Our economy, or much of it is driven by our consumerism. If we all stopped buying things we don't need and that won't make us happy, we'd have some additional economic challenges to face. However, those 5 pairs of shoes I didn't buy could be shoes that went to others who did need them.
-OR-
Maybe what we need to do is continue to buy and spend because we have, but instead of buying for us we buy for others. I could send those five pairs of shoes to someplace that could use them. I could buy extra clothes, extra coats, extra school materials and see that they go where they are needed.
To a degree we do this when we donate our used, but useable goods to charity and that is still wise. Giving of our abundance with new goods could be an even greater blessing.
We give from the abundance we have because of our charity to our fellowmen. Our economy can thrive, and the world is enriched as well - the pie has become bigger. Eventually those places that our goods go to in charity will become strong economically as well, when we strive to enable self-reliance, both in us and in all the world. Crushing poverty can lead to despair, but simple lives with sufficient for our needs is a much more joyful way to live.
We do not need forced redistribution of wealth, we do not need new social programs or agencies, or more taxes; we just need the love of man in our hearts and a means of distributing that which is freely given.
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