Hello to you – how are you doing? It’s a sunny, blue sky day here. I went and got groceries a little while ago. Found some new chews by Blue dog food for Link. He gobbled it down!
Today my thoughts turn toward how we are connected in this world. Being my age, I have gone through so many phases of what it means to be connected to family, friends and the world. I know what it was like to not have computers and the internet! We used the telephone and letters. We used to actually go and visit friends and loved ones. Now days it’s so easy to just rely on the internet – texts messages. I am guilty of this. I am blessed to have my mom who still writes to me on occasion! It’s nice to now live near family – we will be getting together for Mothers Day on Sunday which will be really nice. To me being together is one of the best ways to be connected. What does it mean to you to be connected in this modern world?
Link makes doggy connections with other dogs via the yards in the neighborhood
1 Thessalonians 5:11New International Version
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Hello to you. How are you this day- it’s Saturday here. I’m here with Link. We got out for a walk together. I cherish these moments as he is getting older and just doesn’t always feel up to walking. I’m only 55 and feel that way! Walking is something so many of us take for granted until we are unable to for whatever reason. I have family that have had knee and hip surgeries because those parts of their bodies have just worn out. Even after the surgeries there is still pain. The longer we live, the longer our bodies have to be able to carry us. Stuff like joints just wear out! Our bodies are like cars – depreciate in condition the moment we leave the show room floor!
Link out for his morning walk
Mark 6:49-50 NIV
But when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
Hello to you. Today begins on a somber note. The first thing I’m thinking of is Henry. I just found out Henry, another one of my ex families dogs has cancer and probably will only be with us a couple of months. He has rectal cancer – a big tumor. Henry is one of those dogs that you just love at first sight. He is a Yorky.
This is the last time I saw Henry – 25 May 2020 what a sweet boy!
Henry came into our lives as a stray. My mother-in-law Beth saw him by the side of the road. She opened her car door and when he came to her she called him Henry. He responded to the name and got in the car with her and that was that! Henry and my dog Spot love each other. I can remember dog sitting Henry and he and Spot played on our bed for like an hour straight. Spot got a bump on her lip for it lol! They were making out!
I remember what it was like losing my Sam, Blondie, Amber and May. This poem really speaks to this:
This applies to cats too for me! I had wonderful cats.
If you pray, please keep little Henry in mind and Beth and Tim his owners. Henry is the third of my exes family dogs to get sick. We lost Smokie, Jack and most recently Titan. When we had family gatherings we had lots of dogs! They would line up at Beth’s pantry for treats. I just hope Henry is comfortable and doesn’t suffer. I feel sure Tim and Beth will make sure of that. They love their dogs like I do – they are family.
I’m grateful Link is in good health. We went to the vet yesterday and other than his teeth and being a bit chubby all is well.
What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?
Hello to you. How are you? I hope your doing ok. The world is kind of crazy! Todays prompt is a good one. When the world around you is seeming kind of chaotic a good way to get grounded is to focus thoughts on what’s good in your life – gratitude. Something I’ve done ever since I was in rehab many years ago was a mental gratitude list. Rather than sit and complain pull out your gratitude list. What’s fun about doing it is how quickly you go from just one thing your grateful for to a whole bunch of things.
I have many things that make me happy and that I’m grateful for. At the top of my list is family and friends. My family and friends have gotten me to this day! True examples of unconditional love. Next is of course Link. I love waking up to his sweet smile and wagging tail. Number three is good food – I enjoy food too much lol! Number four is my connection to God – having a church home has really been helpful to keeping that connection strong. Number five is nature – seeing nature wake up this spring just really makes me happy! The best florist in theworld is momma nature!
My Uncle Bill shared a couple pictures this morning of a beautiful California poppy bloom. The rains made it happen! Something good out of something that has caused a lot of people trouble:
Poppy bloom picture from my Uncle Bill- what a beautiful sight. I can remember last year asking God about orange flowers and the first ones he showed me were these types of flowers growing here!
It’s important to attain balance in all things. Too much of anything can offset balance. I think it’s possible to be over religious and as in my case that can create imbalance. I think you need a healthy spiritual life to have a healthy mental life. I believe there is a void in each of us that only things of the spirit – of God- can fill. I believe there is definitely a connection – at least for me, can’t speak for everyone.
This past hospitalization to a mental hospital occurred because I was tired of waiting for Jesus’s second coming. I got too much into religion. I took it upon myself to initiate it and ended up getting tased by the police and sent to a hospital! The spirit world was talking through me and I enjoyed it but it messed up my mental health. It took over again like what happened in Texas a couple of times. The anxiety attacks were the worst part.
Thankfully I have loving family that have a balanced spiritual and mental life that are there for me. I don’t know if I would have made it in Texas if my Idaho family hadn’t been there for me. My cousins wife confided in me recently that before she and my cousin came and got Link and I, the prepared themselves spiritually as it seemed like other spiritual forces were at work with me. They put on their holy armor!
I think a lot of people try to get through life without a healthy balance of belief in God and self. There are things that nothing of this tangible world can fix. My ex and I learned this especially when we had to let our dog Sam go to the rainbow bridge. There was nothing that could fill the void his passing left inside of us. It was like losing a child! Even as much as Link’s arrival helped, only Gods unconditional love has really filled the void. Sam’s love and behavior towards us was like I imagine Gods love to be – unconditional. Our pets teach us so much that can’t be taught, and learned, any other way.
Today is Links birthday. Hard to believe he’s 8 already! We got snow over night pretty thick too.
Talked to my psychologist yesterday and we decided to put things on hold until we get the physical stuff worked out. I have a appt scheduled with neurology in March.
Today has started out good. I was able to get some of my ID replaced that I lost and the biggest news was we got Link back! His back leg is bothering him so we are taking him to the vet this afternoon to have it looked at. Hopefully nothing serious! It was scary being at the humane society shelter- so many barking dogs! I’m so glad to have my little boo bear back! I feel so much gratitude towards my family both current and past that helped us! This was another case of powerlessness and having to let God about it. Even though we are far apart, we are still connected and there for each other.
For a long time , most of my life, I have loved God. As I have matured and learned so much about matters of organic energy and matters of the spirit I have learned through personal experience how important it is to have s personal relationship. A relationship no one outside of myself can define. No book or written word. Sometimes just the sound of aspen leaves blowing in the wind. Always present. Recently I made a choice I had been straddling the fence about for many years. I decided to surrender my soul to Jesus Christ….not in the book but the one I have come to know through a personal relationship. In the sky, God and the Earth my mother…our shared mother and once they made a son. I don’t believe he left such is not the way of this system as I understand it. Too many words. Human beings trying to make sense of things as they had understanding at the time. Words of the time that have changed in ours. So many translations. So many individual perceptions. We are in the one circle. Sometimes mythology is our only comfort in times of great loss and confusion.
A flower blooming once I put it outside and Link saying helloA neighbor expressing himself with beautiful flowers All different kinds of pots! How plants can grow in so many places always amazes me. This is a church for me. It’s only until winter comes but I enjoy it now everyday.
Hello to you. How are you today? I hope wherever you are that you are doing well today or on a road to wellness and recovery in mind, body and soul. I hope you have all the resources you need for all the ways you are trying to make yourself the best person you can be and this world a better place for your being in it.
Ever since the first time I saw The Chosen episode with the Samaritan woman at the well, there was a part that made me curious. It was at the end of Jesus’s exchange with the woman and the disciples offer Jesus food and he refuses saying he has a food they don’t know about. I wondered what was this food?!
When you stop to think about it, the last time you were in the flow….truly happy doing something were you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? Or did you feel “full?” All the empty spaces within you filled up. Happiness is an energy….like a food. For me a energy food that goes beyond just happiness is hearing and singing beautiful songs and going on walks to interact with the other beings I share this life with. There is an energy exchange when you stop to appreciate a rose and smile! Not all food is food you chew and swallow. I am wondering if this is what Jesus meant. Matters of the Spirit create energies that feed a soul…fill us up and quench our thirst when we are in the midst of the experience. That spiritual experience doesn’t have to be in a temple…it can be anywhere….the Spirit, to me, is the very air that gives us life:
John 4:27-32 New International Version The Disciples Rejoin Jesus 27 Just then his disciples returned(A) and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. B) Could this be the Messiah?”(C) 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, 0) eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat(E) that you know nothing about.” Read full chapter Cross references A. John 4:27 : ver 8 B. John 4:29 : ver 17, 18 C. John 4:29 : M+ 12•22- In 7-26 31
Yesterday I was thinking about something called a path to success. It is a path I imagine for the children. There is a time when we know why we are here and have great enthusiasm to do it but then comes the world, for many, with obstacles. So many dreams crushed by negative money, greed and power structures we’ve built for ourselves. I was imagining a generation of children being encouraged, doors opened and opportunities presented for them to have a path to success from their very beginning. Imagine a world of people doing what they have been sent here to do? Imagine all the “ happy” energy….food for the entire body these children would have to eat? I truly believe God didn’t send us here to spend all of our days in misery.
I encourage you to learn to see yourself, others and the beings we share life with using the eyes of our hearts.
To be 