Life........

My Thought for this Day.......None of us live life unscathed. The truth is that at some point everyone's days are hard. Don't let another hold the key to your door of Joy. Seek your gratefulness, even with a heavy heart. Seek grace. Seek faith. The rest will follow, possibly covered in a mist of sorrow, or confusion, nevertheless, here. Do not be diminished; be empowered. Battle scars are your history. Wearing them is your strength.

Compare.....Don't!

My Thought for this Day.....Don't let someone else's life minimize yours. I think we live in a world of big, better, best. And each and every day, we tend to compare our lives to the ones who always seem to be in the fast lane, the passing lane, leaving us behind in the dust spewed from their shinier, newer, faster vehicles that they seem to drive with happy abandon and not a care in the world. We fantasize about more money; we diminish our blessings by continually standing in the shadows of the good fortune of those around us. We miss out on the sparkles of our lives because we are mesmerized by the huge firework displays of the lives of those around us. We continually dwell in the bubble of the ' if only'. So here is my hope for you. I hope that you don't let envy steal your joy. I promise you that every life has an outside and an inside and the outside isn't what counts. At the end of every day all cars are parked. And every soul must dwell in the inside, and sometimes the brighter the outside, the darker and more sad is the internal. So forget about who is in the passing lane; life is not a race, but a journey......your journey. Please don't minimize your sparkles. They too shine brightly and lighten the trail that belongs to you.

Space......

My Thought for this Day........How often do you leave your head and try to live in someone else's? No matter how hard you try, you will never succeed. You will never have their thoughts in your possession. You will never have their emotions to hold. You will never be them. So how about this.......make your own space so comfortable that you don't want to leave.

Rosebuds......

My Thought for this Day.......Among the sadness, and difficulty, and stress of life.....there are always rosebuds waiting to open. Wait upon the Lord for He is good.

Ease......

My Thought for this Day....... It doesn't have to be complicated. It just has to be genuine. Sometimes it's the easy that strums in your soul, that makes you sigh with contentment. And when you have that, you feel a warmth, and it is perfect.

You......

My Thought for this Day......We sometimes devalue ourselves by spending our time making others happy, and us just tired. Calendars stay overloaded, we push and shove to get past one task only to take on the next one. We commit to this, and promise that, and come undone trying to get things done. We run on empty filling up someone else's tank and and in truth, it's an impossible task. So, I leave you with this. Being kind to yourself is the first step to loving others.

Mallet.......

My Thought for this Day........Dark days are never welcomed, yearned for, sought. But they come. And with them comes might and strength and a fierceness that can mold like a mallet on red hot iron. Be a mallet.

Beside.....

My Thought for this Day.......I believe we all have been guilty of gossip and criticism behind someone's back. I believe we all have been discussed behind our backs. I work to realize it's not those behind me that care. It's those wonderful people beside me, holding my hand, touching my heart, giving me ease....these, these, are the people who matter. May your life be filled with not a single straight line before and aft, but a line that spreads from east to west, north to south, beside you.

Before.....After

My Thought for this Day.....We all have a before and after in our lives. Before and after a tragedy. Before and after a miracle. Our befores and afters carry a tremendous weight in our lives. They change us. They mold us. They make or break us. We gain strength or weakness. We take charge or lose control. We exist in a different reality. But with work and prayer and faith, we emerge from tragedy stronger. And with generosity, heart and soul, we pass our miracles along in thought and deed. Be strong. Live well. Have faith. Pay forward.

9/11......

My Thought for this Day.........And on this day in 2001 our innocence was forever wiped away. And we saw buildings crumble, and bodies fall from the sky and we were horrified. The United States of America had been attacked and in this we saw unity. And we were One. For a short while, we were One. And then once again we became me and there was no more us. Our selfishness rose strong and our vista became narrow and we attacked one another with viciousness and self centered entitlement. And we marched and we protested and we threw bilious verbiage around as if it were everyday conversation. How short our memory. Our seams are being ripped, our coherence is gone and in this we blindly grope for fault, and it is never ours. Own it America; you can not fix what you don't acknowledge.

Things.......

My Thought for this Day.....We all have things we need to say, things we need to do, things we need to forgive, things we need to forget. When the time comes and you are strong enough to do even one of these things, you begin to ever so gently turn the lock that sets your soul free.

Rebirth.....

My Thought for this Day........Sometimes you have to sit and watch the world go by, and realize it's not leaving you behind, it's merely allowing you the ease of rest and when you are strong, once again, you can pick up your pace and rejoin your fellow runners. It's not failure; it's rebirth.

Today.....

My Thought for this Day.......Don't define yourself by wounds, nor wins. Live wonder, and wisdom. Throw away the scorecard, and simply play the game with grace, faith and kindness. Then no matter the outcome, you will know you wore your mantel with dignity, not dishonor.

Life.....

My Thought for this Day......Good Morning Life. I hope to take you and turn you upside down. I'll shake out both the good and the evil; use the good, walk away from the evil. I'll spread the light; ignore the darkness that threatens to overshadow my joy. I'll pass on my strength to those who will accept it and absorb power from others to overcome my weaknesses. I will see MY life for what it is. Then much as a puzzle maker I will fit the pieces together in a way that makes it uniquely mine. Above all, I will give thanks for another chance to live!

Reasons and Results...

So apparently the debate is on over why God sent Harvey to Texas. We don't know if it's because we are racists, carry guns, or voted for Trump. But clearly it must be one of these reasons. We are over proud, over arrogant and over pious. Well, I am OVER IT. Good grief! In the first place if you in your own arrogance pretend to know God's plans then, well, you clearly are ( I want to say an idiot, but that sounds too arrogant, and proud), so I will merely say foolish. The debate has gone on for centuries over why bad things happen to good people, but that doesn't apply here because Texans don't seem to be good people. So did God plan Harvey and send its might to the Texas coast. I don't know. But here is what I DO know. We arrogant, gun carrying people have stepped up to the plate like no other. We have loaded our big rigs, our duallys, our 4 wheel drives, our boats and our guns( Yep, gonna shoot us some gators) and we have headed to the Texas coast and we have given our all to people we don't know and most probably will never see again. We have donated millions of dollars and shown more heart than, well, any 'foolish' person has ever even considered doing. We are Texas Proud in our slow talking, slow walking, two-stepping, ways. I have no doubt in my mind that God could have squashed Harvey with a crook of his little finger, but let's get serious...try hard now.....God sent his son to Torture and a Cross of Horror. He could have crooked his little finger and that dark Friday would have vanished from history, but thank you God, you did not. You allowed your son to take on our sins....yep, even Texans' sins.....and we of faith are forgiven and have life eternal. So I'm going out on a limb here and say that just like David slew Goliath, we will slay Harvey. And it is with our backward ways, and our twang and our love for our fellow man. Couldn't be more proud to be a Texan at this moment, or give more thanks to those wonderful folks from other state who have shown up, given and prayed. #texasstrong #thankstoallwhocame #neighborhelpingneigbor