3 May 2022 Who Is Your Boss?

Hello to you. How are you today? I’m writing to you from my bed. My lower body is still not happy with me. Mornings are the toughest part of the day but through the course of the day things loosen and warm up. Yesterday was a really good day. The gravel install went really well and the men did a wonderful job. I’m so grateful to them. Such hard working people that I could even hear whistling as they worked! Doing that kind of work has to take a toll on the body. I prayed for them and their bodies.

This will make things a lot easier for me!
My neighbors thought the crew did a great job too. My neighbor works 40-60 hrs a week and has a child. She doesn’t have much free time or energy for yard maintenance. She’s thinking about having these guys fix her yard too. With drought conditions also it’s a good move.
These words really resonated thinking specifically about the men working here yesterday and others I see splashed over headlines. Generated a question as I observe much of the world and what it’s going through – who do you work for? Who is your boss? Ultimately who do you answer to with the work and other things you do? For me, God is my boss. God gets the glory not me.

Yesterday my cousin and I got a chance to talk on the phone and she mentioned my other cousins husbands mom had a stroke. My cousin and I are about the same age (50’s) and we are noticing that there is a whole generation of people, for us in their 70’s that are going through a lot of “body stuff” all at once. I felt sad when I heard about Naomi Judd and her battle with and ultimately succumbing to mental health issues. She was in her 70’s. I know from my own journey that mental health can be a potentially fatal condition. Suicide being the big part of it. What happens with our mind affects our entire existence. What I see in the news about all this doesn’t talk about what I see in the dis-eases of the mind and body. For all the proclamations of faith we are a very sick country spiritually. You can’t put tangibles…things of a material world in the soul. That space is just for God. All the pills, self help modalities, treatments and spa days in the world aren’t going to help a broken soul. This is what I have had to learn and relearn for most of my life.

https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/mental-health/3474366-naomi-judds-death-spotlights-a-national-mental-health-crisis-worsened-by-covid-19/amp/

Millions of Americans struggled with their mental health well before COVID-19, but the pandemic hasn’t made shouldering mental illness any easier – an issue brought to light over the weekend after the death of country music star Naomi Judd.

Who is your boss? Do you even really know? When I was in the military I had a boss all the way to the President! A lot of different people telling me, ordering, what to do each day. Through all the voices, expectations and demands I had to understand that ultimately I answer to God. When all is said and done in this life no one here on earth is going to matter to you. Who are you allowing to feed your soul?

Time for a walk, Link and I have been going even if it hurts! We just go really slow!

Another princess….
Purples
I looked this up and I think it’s going to be an Iris!
This place gives me a rest – love the running water
So vibrant! Had to stop and admire this!
One of these walks I’m going to remember to bring money so I can try food from this little food truck!
Hello sun!
Doesn’t the sun look huge lol?! These are shops when we take the longer walk – pizza, tanning and s laundromat
This is a musician I spent time listening to yesterday – mentioned him here before – Astravert aka Justin Carter. I realized yesterday when he smiles he reminds me of my younger dad when he would smile and laugh! He’s back in Omaha Nebraska with his parents for a couple months to save money. Some times trying to live off of A Twitch salary is rough! Watch https://twitch.tv/astravert with me on Twitch! astravert

I was exploring yesterday. I had been hearing an instrument in some music lately and discovered it was the Tanpura! You can really sing with this instrument – so soothing! It’s a very distinctive sound in music from India:

https://youtube.com/shorts/t-Tf-YP5Ttk?feature=share

https://youtu.be/Qh67dka7a5I – Drone Music, Briefly, All you need to know about Drones

https://youtu.be/DGhN2O6Eh6g – Dead Can Dance The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove

I noticed music from The Chosen has the sound of the Tanpura in it also!

2 May 2022 It’s Okay To Cry – The Healing Process

Hello to you. How are you today? I’m feeling better than yesterday or the day before. Today is a new day and I’m grateful for it. Something happened this morning that hasn’t happened for quite awhile – I cried. I was listening to the song I shared with you, Pray for Me by The Weeknd and I just felt the song really deep inside. There is a part of the song that made me think of Black Panther’s Wakanda – tribal. It made me think of sitting with Kyle and our friend Billy who had brought over the Black Panther movie so we could watch it together. I remember getting goosebumps watching it! Finally a new story being told with people of color starring in it! It’s one of my favorite Marvel movies. My thoughts touched on how sad it is Chadwick is not going to be in the next Black Panther movie….I suspect there will be a new king.

After all these thoughts and tears I found I felt less pain everywhere. I’ve been noticing how the pains in my body keep moving around. I’ll get relief in one part of my body only for a new part to start hurting! When I was doing Quantum Touch energy healing that phenomenon happened a lot. We would have to chase the pain around the body like it was a actual entity – a ghost needing to be sent to the light. Pain is a stubborn energy that like a bad renter can be difficult to evict! One of the ways to expel pain is through tears. Sometimes I think pain is a way for our body to seek attention from us. In our busy lives it’s really easy to take our bodies and the amazing….sometimes extremely complex things we ask of them for granted! I have been guilty of this at many points in my life.

https://youtu.be/8jzrSqgVL_A – Rosie Grier It’s Alright to Cry (it’s gonna make you feel better)

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-crying-good-for-you-2021030122020

Researchers have established that crying releases oxytocin and endogenous opioids, also known as endorphins.These feel-good chemicals help ease both physical and emotional pain.Mar 1, 2021

It doesn’t make you any less or weak when you let yourself feel things and shed tears

The walks yesterday:

I made myself go to church yesterday even though it hurt. There was an elderly woman there in a wheelchair…how then can I complain when I can walk? I was imagining my Aunt and Uncle filling these chairs. They are going through their own body stuff too!
Leaving church….next it was going to get groceries! When you live alone everything is up to you. It won’t get done if you don’t do it. People offer to help but ultimately it ends up being your responsibility. Everybody has “stuff” going on!
I love you
This tree just captivated me every time I see it! Such a vibrant personality!
One of the yard ornaments in a neighbors yard – it’s a spinning one
Hello sun
My eyes turned to the various wild grasses growing in the neighborhood. I had to touch them, so soft! Spring isn’t just about blooms!
Yet another tree in the neighborhood being cut down. It always makes me sad as so many lives depend on just one tree. But I understand sometimes trees die or are causing a homeowner trouble like with the foundation.
Some day….right now there are a lot of little Eden’s

30 April 2022 The Flow

This morning as I’m still having back pain my thoughts turned to that special state you can get into where your body, time and existence are all synchronized….nothing hurts, there is no clock and your just completely absorbed in doing something what pleases every part of you. They call it the flow state:

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-flow-2794768

What Is Flow? 

Flow is a state of mind in which a person becomes fully immersed in an activity. Positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes flow as a state of complete immersion in an activity. Being immersed can be defined as a state of focus in which a person is completely absorbed and engrossed in their work.

While in this mental flow state, people are highly involved and focused on what they are doing.

“The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost,” Csíkszentmihályi said in an interview with Wired magazine.1

————————

I find lately that I’m able to get into this state when I’m out exploring with Link and noticing the world around me. Taking pictures with my phone. What comes to mind again is Kairos time – for a moment operating in God’s time. I’m a car going on the best Sunday drives ever. I’m learning to cherish those moments when it feels like God makes the clock and pain disappear. Last night I found this song playing in my head again and so I decided to listen to it. I got goose bumps all over me. What a perfect song to play walking in the garden:

https://youtu.be/CvFH_6DNRCY – Claude Debussy – Clair De Lune

Each morning when I open my eyes is another day to be more in love with the one who made me.
“I see you seeing me seeing you”
This isn’t the greatest picture as cell phone cameras do have limits but I wanted to take a moment with this young tree as it begins to wake up.
My neighbors up the street have been working so hard and this is some fruits of their labors. I think they did a great job!
Do you remember the picture I took of Smokey all pooped out?! Link is tired but still smiles!
I just love seeing what God is doing with the canvas of sky – ever changing as he stands still
These tulips keep catching my eye. The owner of the yard has been doing some digging but these beauties remain in the seeming chaos around them.
Can’t you almost hear Clair De Lune standing here?
There is such glory in seeing a tree in the sunlight

https://youtu.be/6IL2dAm3ldk – Legend Music Video (Loved by the Sun by Tangerine Dream)

Thinking of actor Chadwick AAron Boseman https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chadwick_Boseman today after finding this song last night, I had never heard it before:

https://youtu.be/XR7Ev14vUh8 – The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar Pray For Me

The lyrics to this song speak of generations coming up behind me. Where is God in all this chaos every day? Do all I have is myself? From my own experience I know God is everywhere in my life but I can understand how young people can lose hope – think they have to get through all by themselves. This song also speaks of the fight Chadwick put up with his battle with colon cancer. Such a light extinguished way too soon:

I’m always ready for a war again (a war again)
Go down that road again (that road again)
It’s all the same (it’s all the same)
I’m always ready to take a life again
You know I’ll ride again
It’s all the same (ooh, ooh, ooh)

Tell me who’s gon’ save me from myself
When this life is all I know
Tell me who’s gon’ save me from this hell
Without you, I’m all alone

Who gon’ pray for me? (Who gon’ pray for me?)
Take my pain for me? (Take my pain for me?)
Save my soul for me? (Save my soul for me?)
‘Cause I’m alone, you see (I’m alone, you see)
If I’m gon’ die for you (if I’m gon’ die for you )
If I’m gon’ kill for you (if I’m gon’ kill for you)
Then I’ll spill this blood for you, hey

I fight the world, I fight you, I fight myself
I fight God, just tell me how many burdens left
I fight pain and hurricanes, today I wept
I’m tryna fight back tears, flood on my doorsteps
Life a livin’ hell, puddles of blood in the streets
Shooters on top of the building, government aid ain’t relief 
Earthquake, the body drop, the ground breaks
The poor run with smoke lungs and Scarface
Who need a hero? (Hero)
You need a hero, look in the mirror, there go your hero
Who on the front lines at ground zero? (Hero)
My heart don’t skip a beat, even when hard times bumps the needle
Mass destruction and mass corruption
The souls are sufferin’ men
Clutchin’ on deaf ears again, rapture is comin’
It’s all prophecy and if I gotta be sacrificed for the greater good
Then that’s what it gotta be

Who gon’ pray for me? (Who gon’ pray for me?)
Take my pain for me? (Take my pain for me?)
Save my soul for me? (Save my soul for me?)
‘Cause I’m alone, you see (I’m alone, you see)
If I’m gon’ die for you (if I’m gon’ die for you )
If I’m gon’ kill for you (if I’m gon’ kill for you)
Then I’ll spill this blood for you, hey

Hey, hey
Hey, hey
Hey, hey
Hey, hey

Who gon’ pray for me? (Who gon’ pray for me?)
Take my pain for me? (Take my pain for me?)
Save my soul for me? (Save my soul for me?)
‘Cause I’m alone, you see (I’m alone, you see)
If I’m gon’ die for you (if I’m gon’ die for you )
If I’m gon’ kill for you (if I’m gon’ kill for you)
Then I’ll spill this blood for you, hey

Just in case my faith go
I live by my own law
I live by my own law
I live by my own
Just in case my faith go
I live by my own law
I live by my own law
I live by my own

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Abel Tesfaye / Adam King Feeney / Kendrick Lamar / Martin McKinney

Pray for Me lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

29 April 2022 Understanding

Hello to you. How are you? It’s Friday as I write to you. Almost the end of the month already! I’m still really sore but trying to work with God and my body about it. This morning I thought about my understanding of healing from an energetic perspective. I thought about how pain in the body can be a manifestation of stored unresolved emotional pain. Laying in my bed it was like hearing God remind me of all I’ve been through emotionally the past few years and how I haven’t really grieved fully about it. That pain has to go somewhere if you don’t face it fully. In all the particles that make me a solid being there are many particles of pain. What came to me is to imagine all the places the pain is being stored in my body as doors that have to open so what is living there will be evicted. Hopefully what I’m sharing makes sense to you.

Yesterday I was thinking about a scene in The Chosen where Jesus mentions that not all of his parables will be understood by everyone. I thought about communication and understanding in our world today. There are all kinds of people and devices but even still there is much misunderstanding. The translation of the message from who receives and shares it doesn’t always reach who needs to hear it. Sometimes it’s the wrong language. Sometimes it’s the wrong person or just a message the intended that are not ready to hear – it’s the “wrong” time in their mind even in Kairos time it’s exactly the time….so a seed is planted even without very good soil or water. Seeds can wait for Kairos – God’s time. Ultimately a message will be delivered and received….understanding will follow. The seed will grow if we are only willing to receive it.

Sometimes the best way to reach people and make something hard to understand easier is by telling a story – telling our personal stories in recovery programs is very powerful

Not every person is every persons “messenger.” What I say and write may make sense to some and to others seem like rubbish. Who are the people you listen to about matters in your life and this world? Do you even know why?

Some people have trouble with their own children listening and understanding them and they get frustrated. So then as a responsible parent you must find a way to reach them. Find someone they will listen to and understand. My Uncle John is involved in the Big Brother program for example. He gets to be someone outside of a child’s normal life that spends time with him. Sharing messages by not only his words but by the example he shows the child. A lot of understanding, and I learned this from my dogs, doesn’t come from what we say. It’s how we speak and what we do. A lot of language and understanding as people like the Dog Whisperer Cesar Milan will tell you is founded in our energy. Everything we do to include our thoughts is ultimately about energy:

https://youtu.be/KLD9h548Ofw -what is energy in the dog world by Cesar Milan

Let’s go for a walk:

A wild space in my neighborhood
A different color bloom to enjoy
Sometimes the sun masquerades as the moon
Late afternoon
I had to see if this trees blooms had s scent – very subtle
You gotta get real close. So soft!
Link and I were delighted to see some wonderful chalk art!
Pretty balloons
Seeing this brought me so much joy inside – kids are amazing. Just the smallest thing can become so awesome. Such a pure thing the gratitude of a child’s heart.
They always say hello when we go by! Sometimes I feel bad that I can’t take dogs like this for a walk with me. So many dogs would really benefit from a walk at least once a day.
Last nights walk was just magical! The light just made everything I saw look beautiful.
A place with messages to be heard and hopefully understood.

28 April 2022 Kairos Time

Hello to you. I hope this finds you well. I’m sitting here with you with Link cuddled beside me, a hot cup of coffee and the aroma of icy hot cream I put on my back. I am excited as I get to share something I learned about yesterday in my ponderings with God. You all are probably familiar with “divine timing” but did you know there is actually a Greek word for what is considered God’s time? The word is Kairos:

Kairos is an ancient Greek word meaning ‘the right, critical, or opportune moment’. In modern Greek, kairos also means ‘weather’. It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for ‘time’; the other being chronos.Wikipedia

The world we live in is governed by chronos – a chronological existence. We have clocks, calendars, charts, graphs, simulations, watching people be born and age marking the beginning of the journey with a birthday…a touchstone to come back to each year of being on earth. As modern science is exploring now, time is just a concept…a bookmark in the unfolding of existence. When your God time is pretty meaningless. God operates in Kairos time. There is no beginning and there is no end there just is. Learning about this further helps me understand why answers to questions I ask and prayers I say take so long sometimes to get answered or why sometimes I’m so surprised how quickly an answer comes. It all happens at the appointed time, when and how it’s supposed to happen. One of the best personal examples I have is begging God for three years to bring my dog Sam back to me and feeling like he wasn’t listening. Then there was Dutch, TJ and Link. In Kairos it took all that time and sequence of events for God to show me his love….that he heard me.

As I’ve talked about before, what is what we call a day in our existence to a God not bound by any of our understanding of time. How many moments, decisions….actions have to occur for a single prayer to be answered? I think of variables in an experiment….baking a cake! You have to have all the ingredients and like with baking bread, even the room temperature matters – everything has to go just right or the desired outcome doesn’t happen. When things get forced or rushed to happen that’s when we are not always pleased with the result.

There is lots of information about Kairos. Here are a couple things I found if your curious:

https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/what-does-the-greek-word-kairos-mean-in-the-bible.html
https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/blog/living-kairos-life-chronos-world
A passage from the Bible that is great for thinking of Kairos, what time is like for God in relation to us.

A couple videos I found yesterday that might interest you:

https://youtu.be/HGPeL0tNz8Y – Kairos Living in a Chronos World -Donna Marie Duffy TedxWilmington

https://youtu.be/OWlv7SQY12s – About Time (the difference between chronos time and Kairos time in Christianity)

The messages for today in A Woman’s Spirit really kind of connect well with Kairos. One aspect of our time on earth is the concept of change. No matter how much we want some things to stay the same….they don’t. For us time is always passing and things are always changing. We are not powerless in all of the unceasing movement of people, places and things and that is important to remember! What you think – how you think about changes is your choice:

God is the only constant. – Ruth Casey

Change is happening to us every minute. Scientists tell us that all our body’s cells are replaced every few months. We are losing old hair and growing new hair every day. The plant world participated in a cycle of death and renewal every minute. We are surrounded by change. And when it’s change that doesn’t affect our egos, we accept it without comment, or in many cases, without notice.

Change in our personal lives is not so easily accepted. Losing a job can be devastating. Ending a relationship might feel unsurvivable. Moving to a new community, away from friends, can be profoundly lonely and disorientating. We haven’t been promised unchanging lives. But we have been promised an unchanging, always -loving Higher Power. The most fruitful lessons we can learn that God is with us throughout every experience and that change is introduced in our lives only when it helps us fulfill our greater purpose.

I will trust the experiences in store for me today and have faith they are part of God’s plan. (In pencil I had written cyst—2004? In August of 2005 I had a hysterectomy as I kept getting cysts in my ovaries and uterus)

Let’s go for a walk:

Baby cones!
The dog wasn’t out in this yard so I finally got a picture of these opened up in the sun
A moment
“Are we going back out?”
I think this tree is amazing. It’s the one I showed you had red buds all over which have become white blooms!
This open spot on the walk always gets me to stop and think of what this space could be. A park? A open air interfaith place to pray together? I’m sure the owner of this space has ideas. I hope it won’t just be another house.
Aaaaah…..peace for the eyes
When I saw this tree I just felt happy! A tree with a cheerful energy about it.
“I’m tired! Think I’ll sit with my belly in the cool grass a moment!” Doggy grounding technique!
I had to stop and take a picture of these. Part of the amazing life cycle of dandelions. Their lives are never really over. It’s like Kairos time for them if you think about it.
Last blooms of the journey yesterday – the trees around here have such a beautiful process of waking up

Scientific DefinitionPhysicists define time as the progression of events from the past to the present into the future. Basically, if a system is unchanging, it is timeless. Time can be considered to be the fourth dimension of reality, used to describe events in three-dimensional space.Nov 26, 2019

https://www.thoughtco.com › what-i…

What Is Time? A Simple Explanation – ThoughtCo

26 April 2022 Earth Angels and Finding Lasting Happiness

Hello to you. How are you today? Well Link and my day began with a knock on the door!

My Aunt and Uncle being at my door this morning made me think of Hebrew’s 13:2 – about angels
You can’t see his wings but they are there. I love and am so grateful for this man.
My beautiful Auntie making sure I got something to eat. She was worried about me this morning and she’s having surgery on her knee tomorrow!! She is such a blessing in my life! I have always felt like she is one of God’s earth angels! I love her so much!

I have been asking God to heal me and there has been relief from the pain but I think there hasn’t been complete healing because he’s trying to get me to slow down – to accept help!

This small message resonated with me yesterday. With healing there is more than just our physical bodies to be mended!

The message from A Woman’s Spirit seems to speak to what I’ve been reading about with young people of today and the concept of joining the work force. A lot of places that employ entry level people or places that pay low wages are really having trouble getting young people to work for them. I think there is a growing awareness that being happy and fulfilled in life is important! Working in some dead end job with toxic people and employment practices just isn’t worth it:

Many of us think that attaining status and financial success will make us happy. – Helene Lerner-Robbins

May be we have to attain status and material wealth before we realize that it doesn’t fulfill us. If we grew up in unhappy homes, we may have thought that material objects would change our lives. To discover otherwise takes wisdom, and we are only now seeking that.

The attainment of wisdom gives us the happiness we have sought everywhere else in our past. All that we longed for comes to us when we stop the rush to attain things and focus instead on the miracle of our spiritual being. Life is full of wonderful paradoxes; utilizing the tools of this program helps us discover them.

Let’s not mislead ourselves. Having status and financial success doesn’t preclude happiness; it just won’t guarantee it. Finding God and settling for wisdom does.

I don’t need anything special to be happy. My reliance on my Higher Power will give me lasting happiness.

——————-

I wasn’t able to get on a walk yesterday so I focused on other things that make me feel close to God:

Hallelujah view of the sky
I love his sweet smile
I knew I couldn’t go for a walk but I COULD go and sit on the porch and admire the setting sun
“Not all who wander are lost….”

The phrase is referenced with a reversal of the usual meaning in J.R.R. Tolkien‘s poem, “The Riddle of Strider”, originally written for The Fellowship of the Ring:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Riddle of Strider, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

It’s hard to believe it’s been about 3 years since I broke my wrist. My wrist is crooked but it is healed and a physical reminder of what happens when our spirit moves faster than our feet!
Have you ever really stopped and looked at your hands? Thought about all we use them for? What an amazing tool!
I was trying to get a picture of his paws and instead he did this – showing me how valuable paws are! My little healer….

24 April 2022 Why Do You Help Others?

Hello to you. It’s Sunday morning as I write to you. I’m sitting here with some coffee, two sweet boy doggies and my thoughts….a question for myself and you. Why do you help others? After reading Matthew 6 yesterday I am reminded to not blow my own horn when it comes to service and helping others which is hard to do in a modern world. So much of social media is “see what I did?” I guess it just comes down to making sure our motives are pure when we do things. It’s not about what’s in it for me or what am I going to get by doing things. No strings must be attached and that can be hard with how valuable time is to most people. Like my deciding to help set up church is my way of showing I care about the church I’m going to. It’s a small way I share with God and other people who care too. I’m not looking for praise or thanks:

Matthew 6 as you can see I have been to these messages a few times!

Matthew 6New International Version

Giving to the Needy

6 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.(A) If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.(B)

Yesterday I kind of scaled back the walks a bit as I was real sore and grumpy lol. The boys and I did manage to find a few things to share with you. Something beautiful I saw was a woman in a scooter out with her daughter. She couldn’t walk but at least she made an effort to go with her daughter and enjoy the beautiful day! I love seeing parents sharing time with their children like that. I thought of the phrase I say to myself when I saw the woman in the scooter, “it’s not what I can’t do, it’s what I can do.”

Let’s go for a short walk together:

Lots of poofy and healthy clouds yesterday!
Our post office just down the street
Everywhere flowers are peeking out to be noticed
I love seeing all the bees doing bee stuff!
I saw this and had to share it! What a beautiful gift to share with passerby’s like me.
Seeing this made me smile
A furry arborist up on high. This little guy jumped like a flying squirrel from a tree next to it. The woman in the scooter, her daughter and I took notice!
Stay positive even if you are hurting – message for me and may be you too?

23 April 2022 Connecting Now With Then

Hello sun
Hello!
Hi there! It’s the weekend so make sure you don’t work too hard! Did you look outside yet today?

Hello to you. How are you doing today? It’s Saturday as I write to you and looking like it’s going to be a really nice day here. Sometimes I almost feel guilty to be so blessed with the life I have! Even with some of the things I’ve got going on, I’m so grateful for my life.

Yesterday I was curious what scripture there would be about clouds. Lately I’ve been asking questions like that so I will explore the Bible more. So that I can connect my current life and experiences to what is the past. It’s really kind of amazing how such ancient messages can still be relatable to life today. So yes, there are messages about clouds! Clouds have been around a loooong time! One place that I thought was really interesting to read about them was in Job 37:11-13 in particular:

11 He loads the clouds with moisture;(U)
he scatters his lightning(V) through them.(W)
12 At his direction they swirl around
over the face of the whole earth
to do whatever he commands them.(X)
13 He brings the clouds to punish people,(Y)
or to water his earth and show his love.(Z)

Being able to access the Bible online has made finding answers to my inquiries really easy but it’s still nice to hold the words in my own hands.

Connecting my now to the understanding Biblical people of the past had about how God works in nature

Todays messages from A Woman’s Spirit are so good I want to share the whole thing with you:

To show great love for God and our neighbor, we need not do great things. – Mother Teresa

We don’t have to invent a cure for cancer or lift the burdens of a friend to prove our worth to other people. Being considerate of someone’s feelings is quite enough, and it is something any of us can do. It takes only a moment’s thought and the willingness to treat others as we’d like them to treat us. The real blessing is that we feel much better each time our heart guides our actions.

Loving others is perhaps the simplest of all actions we can take in this life. It requires no planning, no money, no muscle power, no problem solving. It’s a simple decision we can make daily or hourly. Every person we encounter, every situation we face, is an opportunity for us to hone the skill. And every loving act or thought makes the world a better place.

It’s human nature to treat others as we are treated. If each of us becomes willing to offer the hand of love to someone else today, we will indeed have done a great thing!

I can make a worthwhile contribution today. I can be kind to a stranger.

—————-

Now let’s go for a walk together……

This is that tree I was talking about that has leaves but as made these tiny red buds all over! It must take so much energy to do this!
Doesn’t the sun look amazing? I guess I got the angle just right so we can see the rays of light spoking out around it.
A street with my Grandma Becker’s name! I think of her whenever I see it!
A beautiful view of Carol street. Grandma would love this tree!
As you can see the street names are all ladies lol
Something interesting here. I was lucky to get this little one out and about and then later something weird – in my news feed were all kinds of articles about lady bugs! Coincidence or an algorithm picking up on the image on my phone?!
I loved seeing those two big trees by the waters edge….my eyes go aaaah when I see scenes like this one!
There have been lots of poofy healthy clouds lately. It’s interesting to see the layers of clouds. Sometimes I imagine angels traveling in a cloud ship sight seeing when I see hallelujah clouds like these.

https://nypost.com/2022/04/18/i-lost-92k-in-an-internet-dating-scam/amp/ – another cautionary tale about the hazards of online dating! I’ve pretty much given up on it. So many scammers online! I’m trying to let God be my dating coordinator!!

22 April 2022 Earth Day

Hello! How are you today? It’s Friday here and Earth Day. I kind of think about holidays of this sort like this: “Why just a day?” For me every day belongs to the earth….without the earth there are no days. This morning I am thinking about the first garden and the first trees:

In Genesis 2:9 we learn about the tree of life and it’s purpose

Genesis 2:9New International Version

9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees(A) that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life(B) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.(C)

When I’m out walking around, as I’ve mentioned, I feel like I’m in a garden. Each tree is doing unique things to make it’s leaves. There is a tree that captured my attention and I shared with you that is now making tiny little red buds all over it even after making leaves. Some trees are still in the process of waking up of have no leaf buds at all yet. The purple flowers I’ve shared with you have spread to several yards….the two little wild pansies have become a whole cluster of them! In ever nook of earth “things are doing things!”

Last night before bed I was talking with God and as I spoke I realized I sound a lot like my Grandma Schmidt! I began to remember and think of her with so much love. She and my Grandpa taught me early on about nature and the connection of nature to knowing and loving God. She loved her garden and grew such amazing flowers! Big white Kennedy roses. I loved going camping with them. My Grandma Becker and I shared a love of trees. When we walked together she would show me her favorite trees who she thought of as friends. Each one expressing itself in a unique special way. I’m so grateful that the early people in my life taught me what a precious gift this earth is.

Everywhere I look I see intelligence….the wisdom of the master gardener of all creation. For me, each day I get to draw breath is earths day:

Tulips
Isn’t this one a pretty color?
Every time I see these I think of the blue bonnets in Texas….I think of Sam. He was my little bumblebee. One time after he walked through a yard of blue bonnets, I later found one in our backyard!
I counted the rings, this one was about 8 years old before it was cut down….a baby in tree years
I mentioned to God that we hadn’t seen any blue flowers yet and the next day….blue!
This is howGod works with me lol – I thought there were just two wild pansies and God will say how about a whole bunch of them?!
Lots of tulips right now in various yards growing in many different spots
We got a little bit of rain again – I love seeing the sun peeking through the clouds
Smokey getting some time out on a walk – he goes a lot faster than Link does so not much time for pictures lol!
A Eden in our times – all the elements to life here
This part of our walk makes me think of where I used to go play as a child
Link is so patient with me and I with him. He likes to stroll which is great for when I want to get pictures
Link is so excited Smokey is visiting

A couple messages from todays A Woman’s Spirit book:

In celebrating the good in me that was always there, I will continue to flourish. – Jill Clark

Improving a small part of me at a time isn’t too much work. Cultivating my assets in this way promises that today will be good.

Did you know:

The oldest LIVING tree is called “Methuselah” and is 4,765 years old. This tree is nearly 1,000 years older than any other bristlecone alive today. It lives in a secret location in the White Mountain range of eastern California. The oldest known tree named “Prometheus” was cut down in 1964 by a doctoral student.Feb 24, 2015

https://www.nps.gov › learn › nature

Great Basin Bristlecone Pine – Bryce Canyon – National Park Service

21 April 2022 When Is The Last Time You Fed Your Soul?

Hello to you. How are you? Another late start for me. Last night I actually fell asleep but then Link and Smokey needed to go out…at 2 in the morning! Ugh!! I was able to get back to sleep off and on and actually have interesting dreams. I was with a lot of different people!

Yesterday morning I had the blessing of meeting a new friend for breakfast at the Sunrise. We got the chance to hear more of each other’s stories and talk about the goodness of God in our lives. She and I are both relatively new to Grace Bible Church in Middleton. We talked about a lot. She reminded me that if I truly believe who God is, I am not the labels this world has given me….my sin…my mistakes. I am his child and I am forgiven. With a loving God we don’t have to be defined by the world. She mentioned a very convicting question she was asked recently, “When is the last time you fed your soul? Or have you just been feeding the flesh?” Life in our modern world can seem overwhelming and chaotic. Especially with my friend trying to be a wife, mother to three rambunctious boys and so much more….. and still in all that “noise” of life take care of yourself…. feed your soul. I walked there and walked home and I was so sore lol but I made sure to write down that question so I could share it with you today. The other thing I wrote down feeling the pain of my body was, “my body is not a prison. My body is a temple.” The pain will pass…it always does.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20New International Version

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples(A) of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;(B) 20 you were bought at a price.(C)Therefore honor God with your bodies.(D)

Yesterdays time really meant a lot to me. Meeting in person! Seeing her eyes change depending on what she was talking about – watching a little bit of the tired she carry’s in those eyes lift. Seeing her smile as she talked about what was on her heart. There is something about actual tangible moments like we had that no digital medium can ever replace. We fed our souls and our belly’s were contented by yet another wonderful Sunrise breakfast.

Here are some pictures. May be they will give you a moment of rest today. May be they will help you feed your soul. I encourage you to take that camera phone of yours on a walk…what miracle of creation will God show you?

The sun looking like a moon!
These giants reaching to the heavens
One of a whole group of these. I think it’s a succulent.
Eye in the sky
I found these two little beauties hiding under a bush
When I got up from photographing the blooms I almost stepped on this little being. Jumping spiders are amazing to me. I’ve had some actually interact with me.
Where the lost puzzle pieces go….I had to smile when I found this. Thinking of people I love who enjoy puzzles. Putting together puzzles with my Mom on snow days when I was a kid.
Couldn’t zoom in closer but wanted you to see the ducks enjoying the canals.
Hello sun
I was looking for scripture about light and darkness and found this in John
“Hold on…take another one”
“Ok much better! I’m tired from our walk but so happy! If you have to choose between being happy and sad I hope you will choose happy! Teeth aren’t just for chewing! Even we dogs know teeth are for smiling! “
“Hi I’m Smokey —-what Link said! “