Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Happy Birthday Mom!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

George W. Bush Presidential Library

Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Best Lesson

Jan 24, 2009

Current mood:blessed

I recently had lunch with a very dear friend in Utah. It was fabulous!! We met at Red Robin at 1:00 and left the restaurant sometime after 5:00. I don't remember what I ordered but I know it was delicious. But nothing was as rich & filling as our conversation. Rose is amazing!!

We talked about so much, catching up on the last six months. But eventually, somehow, I got into whining about an injustice done to me a couple of years ago. Rose's face went blank & I knew she had tuned out. But somehow I just had to keep trying to explain how badly I was wronged.

"Did you really want to be there?" she asked me.

"No, but that's not the point. My feelings should have been considered!"

"But you got off so easy, what's the problem?"

She was so right and so wise and yet I kept wanting to hang onto the injustice I felt. I was getting annoyed with her for not understanding, and yet she really understood much more than I did. I might have been much simpler had she just slapped me!

She told me she didn't want to spend our short visit together re-hashing the negative things we may have felt in our pasts. Our visit was about celebrating each other and our lives.

There was so much wisdom wrapped up in those 4 hours. I understood myself so much better as I went on my way. Then an email came that also reinforced that particular lesson from Rose.

The gist was to really give my problems over to God to handle. Write them on a piece of paper and then put it in the God box, a box my issues which I have turned over to God. Once I have truly given it over to God I have to let go. If God is to handle it, I have to get out of His way and forget it. There is no opening the God box and pulling my problems out to revisit. They are now totally in His hands. My mission is to be forward looking and leave the rest behind.

God really wants us to live happy. Why do we work so hard to resist His wish?

Rose is so smart!
1:24 PM
Post a comment...


    Jeannie Corby Becker

    I too love the God Box. I put things in there on a daily basis. I have yet to figure out why it is not packed to the top but some how there is always room for one more issue I would like God to handle.

    Your Rose is one very smart lady. As you are to me!

    Hugs!

    2 years ago


    Connie

    Lovely thought to start the morning with! I've tried the "let go and let God" route with things in my life, and have frequently found the solutions that manifest to be better than what I've come up with on my own. Regardless, I still have trouble with the "let go" part...the obsessive side of my personality wants to keep going back over and over things ad nauseum!

    2 years ago

    Betsy Gully

    So tempting, isn't it? I wish I had recorded parts of my conversation with Rose, but I do remember that I really don't want to hang onto my garbage any more when there are tulips to hold instead.

    2 years ago


    Kari Fisher Williams

    I love "God Boxes". I just wish I would remember not to rip the top off and grab out all the stuff I have put in there. Hugs!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Finding God

Originally posted on MySpace, Jan 8, 2009

Current mood:curious

This is something I wrote as a comment on someone's blog. It may sound vain, but I wanted to keep this thought and therefore I am making it into its own blog.

Many years ago my cousin and I were racing toward a beach to watch the sun go down. It was an amazing sunset. My cousin, who is (or was-I don't know her current status) an atheist said, "If anything could make me believe in a God, it is this sunset, right now." I have never forgotten her comment over 30 years ago.

There is a large tree which grows very close to my bedroom window. In these winter months it is naked of leaves and this morning its branches drip with rain. Every day I wake up and watch the tree in amazement, as even as it slumbers, it is filled with the wonder of life. Some days squirrels are racing through it, chasing each other and tumbling over themselves. They are amazing acrobats, virtually flying from branch to branch at times. This morning tiny little birds were playing leap frog in the rain, flitting over and around each other from branch to twig. How can I watch these shows and not believe in a higher power?

In Christianity we believe that 'the only path to God is through Jesus.' I am I Christian, but I think this statement is not true. God may have sent his son to lead people to him, but I think if this is the case, he also sent Buddah and Muhammed and many other ways to find him/her.... if God can be regarded as a 'being.' No single way is "the" right way, and probably no one way is wrong if it leads you to God. I believe it's a matter of discovering how God is trying to reach us individually and allowing all others to find God in their own way, without judgement.

Who is God and in what form does God reach out to us? It's a subject that I find fascinating. I have two people very close to me who are very near the end of their lives. I think it's important to know what you believe in a time like this.

9:18 AM
Post a comment...


    2 years ago


    Connie

    I have long felt that the concept of "God" is best found in nature, whether it's the ocean, sun, stars, earth, rocks, rivers, trees, flowers, birds, furry little creatures or what have you. I often feel that my cats are the most eloquent argument there is for proving the existence of God. How can such precious little beings have been created by anything less than a higher power? :o)

    2 years ago

      Betsy Gully

      God in Nature or as Nature is exactly what the blog I commented on was about. I think it's very true. We can't possibly understand who or what God is with our feeble little brains, but I think while human-kind is seeking God out, God is coming at us in millions of forms. It's up to each individual to 'see' and become aware of it. Therefore, no religion is wrong as each is God's way of seeking us, albiet man has screwed around with it too much and incremented far too many 'rules.'

Monday, January 5, 2009

Pet Peeve 017

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Wishing you the best in 2009

Originally posted on MySpace, Jan 1, 2009

Current mood:cheerful

I've had bits and pieces of a "new year's" blog floating through my head for several days now. But now that I find time to sit at the keyboard my mind goes blank. I have lost all the profound thoughts I that were inspiring me just a little while ago.

Tomorrow is new years day, the first day of 2009. In reality it is the day after Wednesday, the day before Friday. There is no magic that happens tomorrow that will make the next 12 months any better or any worse than the past 12 months. If there is any change for better or worse, that is up to me. It's my attitude and mindset that will determine what the next 12 months hold for me.

A couple of days ago my daughter and I were shopping at a book store and I looked at a book by Masaru Emoto called "The Miracle of Water." I'm not sure if Mr. Emoto is a quack or not, but his research did offer some interesting things to ponder. He photographs water crystals that have been exposed to words and he believes the meanings of the words cause a resonance that is evident in the water crystals. Positive words create beautiful crystals and negative words create crystals that are misshaped, irregular and deformed.

I have no idea if his research is valid, but I do believe that what we think has a bigger influence on our lives than anything outside of ourselves. We can blame others for our troubles or others can blame us, but I believe that each and every one of us can only be responsible for our own self. I may have done something that 'hurt' someone else, or I may have done something that made someone else very happy. Either way, I am taking way too much responsibility or credit for the other person, as it is entirely up to that person to choose to be hurt or happy. And like Mr. Emoto's water, when I expose myself to happy thoughts and actions, I actually feel happy. It is a choice I try to make every day, despite the circumstances I wake up to each day. I believe the sun is out whenever I say it is, whether it's overcast or nighttime, I make the choice to let the sun shine in my life. Likewise, I am sure there are those who have only cloudy days no matter how hard the sun shines.

Tomorrow I'll turn the page on my calendar to 2009. It'll be another day watching my friend slowly die. It'll be a day I answer my mother's questions over and over again and regret that I can't take her home. It'll be another day I don't have a job and one day closer to my daughter returning to school. My body will be one day older and less forgiving of my negligence. I will decide it's a good day. I am in control of nothing except my attitude.

Don't misunderstand me. I have bad days. I cry. I scream. I have tantrums. But they don't do me any good. Nothing changes except I feel worse. So I try to make every day the best day I can. It's my choice and the only thing I truly have control over.

Have a wonderful new year. Make it a happy one!