Flow........

My Thought for this Day.........We flow. Our words flow. Our thoughts flow. Our blood flows. We flow. Yet there are times when the flow is jagged and sharp and interrupted. ........and it is then, we realize that the everyday ebb and flow is miraculous.

Storm........

My Thought for this Day.........When you're in the Eye of the Storm and your nerves are raw, yet you know another round is nearly upon you, what do you do? This moment tells the story of you.

Choose........

My Thought for this Day.....I choose to not worry about tomorrow. I choose to live in the present that is today. I choose to release the woes and tears and fears that come with the anticipation of unsolvable problems and stress of an unknown future. I choose to know that life can be the unanticipated, the unexpected and the uninvited. Yet it is life and is to be lived in the arena of gratefulness and glory.

Mom........

My Thought for this Day........Today is my mom's birthday. She would have been well over 100 years old. She was a strong woman with such love for my brother and me. I learned much as she raised us alone after our dad died when we were young. She was committed to us. She was engulfed with us. She never once turned her back on us. She empowered us. She was our mother 100% of her day, every day. She handed us to the world well loved and well prepared. I hope we have done that for our kids, and that you do that for yours. There is nothing else in your world that matters more. Happy Birthday Mama.

Vine.........

My Thought for this a Day.......We all are fruit of a Vine that is Holy and Virtuous and Pure and Wise. We each have an inner core that can draw on this Vine daily. How tragic when we turn our heads and hearts away and become rotten rather than righteous.

Sing..........

My Thought for this Day.......There is a bird outside my window singing his morning song. He is greeting this new day in the only way he knows how......with a cheerful noise. It is his habit, his tradition, his life. I wonder at him. And I must say, I envy him. For there are days when I don't have a joyful noise to make. I don't want to greet the day....especially not trilling with an expectation of the sun rising on a beautiful spring land. Once again, I am humbled by the Nature around me. He sings because he has a song and it is his job to greet the sun with enthusiasm. So on the days when you might rather just pull those covers over your head, think of my bird. Sing and be joyful. Make it your nature......I truly believe that thankfulness will follow and instead of a covered up lump, you will be standing on your branch, welcoming your brand new day. And your song will be Joyful.

Prayer.......

I wrote this 3 years ago. Devan had just gotten out of an 8 day hospital stay after the massive DVT she had that caused a blood clot to travel from her ankle through her heart and to break into several clots that settled into both lungs. I am as humbled today from her recovery as I was then. This was and still is my challenge. My Challenge for this Day.......I am just beginning to gather my scattered thoughts after they have been jumbled around much like letters in Word Find puzzles. I think it's partly old age and partly 'scared to death' syndrome. But nonetheless I've wanted to tell you about something I have done for a long time and challenge you to do the same. Pray. Ok, you say, I've been on that band wagon for years.....or at least I hope you're saying that , and I've even blogged about the sincerity of your words, "I'll pray for you" before. This is totally different. For years and years, I have prayed for a specific someone I didn't know. I picked a room number in Hendrick Hospital in Abilene and each morning added that unknown occupant to my prayers. Random, yes, bizarre, I know, but in my heart I knew that at least one person, me, was praying for whoever was in that particular hospital bed. Last week, when our Dev was in Harris Hospital, I was aware of no fewer than five churches scattered throughout Texas that were praying for her, and countless other individuals. I wonder who was praying for the man next door who had a feeding tube, or the woman across the way who never had visitors. So, today, I challenge you to pick a hospital, and a room and pray for that unknown person. You just may be the only one who is lifting them up to our God. I'm staying with my room in Hendrick, but I'm also adding room 301 in the Harris Methodist Heart Center to my prayers. Will you accept this Challenge? Will you intercede on a stranger's behalf? This is my Challenge to you.

Beautiful..........

My Thought for this Day....We are most beautiful when we allow others to see our flaws.

Why..........

My Thought for this Day.....Do you eat because you're hungry? Do you spend because you're rich? Do you sleep because you're tired? I think the why is as important as the action.

Days......

My Thought for this Day.......No day is ordinary. They each are stitches in your quilt of life. They each represent your gift. They each should be not only respected, but also revered. Don't turn miraculous into ordinary.

Life.........

My Thought for this Day.......Life never goes as planned. It just doesn't. There are sunny days, thunderstorms, and beautiful rainbows. There are sharp turns to the left, the right, and falling off cliffs. We may try to write our Lesson Plans of Life. We fail. But there can be success in failing. It's called resilience and faith. Most of all faith.

Cost......

My Thought for this Day.......It is said,"Nothing in life is free.' I couldn't agree more. Not everything costs money, but nothing is truly, no strings attached, free. To become grateful, we must give up envy, and greed. To become bold, we must give up meekness and fear. To become weak before our Creator, we must give up earthly strength. To become wise, we must give up arrogance and self pride. To become internally valuable, we must give up external value. To become purposeful, we must give up idleness and laziness. To become genuinely whole, we must give up our patchwork parts that pull us in all directions. It's not only life's work; it is a lifetime of work. It is the Greater Good.

Gutter...

My Thought for this Day.......Some days you're the bowling pin and some days the ball. Either way, the trick is to stay out of the gutter.

Motes......

My Thought for this Day........Don't be afraid to be joyful. Be joyful when you are afraid. I truly believe we are given emotions to strengthen us. And denied, they become dust motes on our shelf of life.

Walk........

My Thought for this Day.....Those who live by the old adage, "Do what I say, not what I do." are red circles in the target practice of life. How easy it is to verbally spew advice and condemnation while turning a blind eye to self matters. Don't live your life in the dark clouds of your words; live it in the sunshine of the path of doing the right thing. The only person who is listening to you is you, yet everyone is watching. Walk it!

Fire.......

My Thought for this Day.......Today, most will fight a battle, pick a rose, wish on a star, dream big or small. Today, most will in some fashion, redo yesterday with routine matter, and habitual actions. Yet also today, there are those who will, with superhuman effort, perform tasks and endure events that bring insurmountable pain. To these souls we send light and love and though, we are not there in body, we are there in spirit and prayer. We cannot carry their burden, but in some small way, we can perhaps lighten it. Our love to the family of Sloan Everett, who died in the riotous fires of the Panhandle as he lived, with great heart.

Lights.......

My Thought for this Day........We each are a beacon of light. Sometimes we are dimmed with pain and sorrow. Sometimes we shine with a glorious light. All the time we have the opportunity to be a light that can absorb comfort, darkened in our tenderness, yet healing in our shadow. And all the time we have the opportunity to shine brightly to show our care and love for others. Either circumstance is life, either is natural, either is the human experience. So today, no matter the brightness of your light, no matter the beam you cast, I hope you know that dimmed lights will brighten another day. And bright lights guide loved friends and family when their paths are dark. It's okay to be dim, others are waiting along your sidelines lighting your shadows. And when the time comes, and it will, you will have the opportunity to shine for others.

Best..........

My Thought for this Day.........I wonder what your personal best is? I don't think you know. There is no limit to what you can do. There may be commas in your life, but there are no periods. Think about it. We all must stop, rest, regroup from time to time. We all must take that deep breath, that backing away, that respite. But here's the thing......we all have it in us to gather our strength, our will, our want to and continue to be that person we strive to be....physically, emotionally, and wholly. I wonder if you even realize that you are a deep well of all that is human and the wonderful realization of life is to take those well waters and fill jars of talents and generosity and goodness and everyday be all that is in you to be. Don't spend your time looking to the left or right, judging yourself by what others have or do. Spend your seconds and minutes and hours being you and all of you and then, in the true sense of appreciation, spread your personal best around to those who just for today or tomorrow need to see what life can be.

There......

My Thought for the Day.......Life is a road map and some days you just have to say....."You can't get there from here."

Shine........

My Thought for this Day.......Some days your sky is full of diamonds, some days lumps of coal. The trick is to never forget the glitter.