Day 27 The other day I had the privilege of sleeping until 9 o'clock in the morning. After staying up until 2 something in the morning writing a 31 Days post. Ahem. Always upon rising I walk to the great room window to look out on the world. That day, I could not believe my eyes. The light was exquisite! Immediately, I grabbed my camera, stuffed my feet into my red Sloggers, and dashed out the front door. The last thing on my mind was being concerned that my neighbors would wonder about me wandering around the front yard of another, taking photos in my jim jams. The … [Read more...]
Day 24 October is an Extraordinary month. It's the month when my world is aflame with color. Mornings begin with fog and sometimes frost. Many mornings the sun shines bright and warm and the frost melts into gazillions of water droplets. Indian summer comes in the afternoon. The sun sets by seven o'clock and the moon shines clear and bright. As the night temperature drops, the fires burn bright in the hearth....resisting the chill in the air. Lurking around the corner is the season of gray and white. The dreaded frozen flakes may make an early surprise appearance in this … [Read more...]
Day 22 The other day I was scrolling down my Facebook feed with an attitude. If you're a Facebook regular, especially if you have a fan/biz page, you may be experiencing a number of Facebook unpleasantries lately. I confess, I was irritated. And then I scrolled past a post with this quote by Adele Basheer: "What you think, you create. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you become." Who am I becoming? The last thing I want is my curmudgeonly thoughts to produce negativity in my interactions, creativity, and who I become. It's amazing how quickly I can let … [Read more...]
Day 17 I love this quote by Aaron Rose... "In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary." Living an extraordinary life means training our eyes to see beauty in the ordinary. Have you ever spent time with someone who sees things you don't? My husband is intrigued by birds of prey. He'll notice Red-tailed Hawks as we drive down the road. I asked him, "How do you see them?" He reminded me that he had trained his eyes to see them. Isn't that the way it is? Whether seeing beauty in nature or bubbles in the sink … [Read more...]
Day 5 "Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness. Kindness in your face. Kindness in your eyes. Kindness in your smile." ~Mother Teresa~ I came across that quote of Mother Teresa the other day and thought, "Could I impact another life so that following our brief encounter the other person would walk away better and happier?" Could you...or I...really do that? Really? On this adventure of 31 Extraordinary Days we are exploring what it means to live more fully, more intentionally. And … [Read more...]
Day 4 “I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house.” ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne~ When the autumn skies are mostly blue and the sun is shining I want to be outside? How about you? Do you do any fall fluffing in your outdoor spaces? As I attempt to live more fully, more intentionally, I find myself taking time to make inviting outdoor spots. Such as the addition of a pillow to a chair. Rearranging the seating in the fall to take advantage of the sun's warmth. Or even bringing a little decor...which is often … [Read more...]
A Skeleton of Queen Anne's Lace silhouetted strong against the sunset sky There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been! ~Percy Bysshe Shelley Will you join me each day in October for... If you aren’t a subscriber via RSS feed or e-mail… PLEASE take the time now to subscribe in the little green box up to the right… and be ready for the start of our new series… 31 Extraordinary Days beginning October 1st!! Wishing you An Extraordinary … [Read more...]
It's Saturday night. Our time to worship HIM. Worship. It's about Him. It's not about me. The congregation sings a song I know so well. A song I sang with the kids' worship team at my old church. It seems that every other week lately we've been singing a song to which "my" kids and I made up motions and led a multitude of other children in singing worship to our great God. "My" kids because I loved them (still do). "My" kids, because we were a team. A family. We celebrated, cried, prayed, and had fun together. We had the best of times every Wednesday night and Sunday … [Read more...]
Five things. Heart-bending. Mind-grabbing. One of my favorite bloggers, Emily P. Freeman whose blog Chatting at the Sky I always read, wrote a guest post over at A Holy Experience. She addresses one of my big issues. Fear. Maybe sometime I'll chat about that. But right now, I want to draw attention to this. Emily wrote: But if we have forgotten how to live, it’s only because we have also forgotten we’ve already died. The life we hold on to isn’t really ours. And it’s hard to fear a thing if the worst is behind … [Read more...]
