Window.....

My Thought for this Day.......So here we are, looking through a clean sparkling window. This year is a brand new baby, an unwritten poem, a car with no miles. As we sit and take in the view, let's realize that there will be days of raindrops on our windows, but also days of radiant rainbows shining through. There will be days when the winds of change blow the tree of life outside the glass and days of calmness and tranquility. With this knowledge comes preparation. With this awareness comes peace in the certainty that we are people of strength and wisdom. For we also know that life is beautiful, both the mountains and the valleys. I hope that when you are on your mountaintop, you are absorbing the wonder and glory around you. And I hope that when you are walking your valley, your eyes are on the peaks of your mountain and you are secure in the knowledge that you are a creature of our God and have been promised a deep well of comfort and security. And that you draw on the waters of your well. My heartfelt wish for us all is that we become whom we are meant to be, that each and every one of us realizes we are a common race, a circle of humankind, branches, both spindly and mighty, of the Tree of Life. And that my tree is your tree and yours, mine. We all are rooted in the same soil, and are inevitably linked in the experience called Life. Don't live singly, don't be the barren branch that grows solely. Be that branch that is entwined with others, that branch that is leafy and green and when seen through the Window of 2014, clearly is joyfully living the life that nature intended. Seasons will change, windows will fog, and at times cry with the raindrops of life. But listen carefully, the winds of change are always blowing, see clearly that the sun of hope is behind every cloud. You must realize your mountaintop always awaits you and when you climb to it.....one more time.....you will be stronger, more mighty, and how glorious it will be to then reach down to those who walk their valleys. Stretch out a hand of hope and help. Be that wonder you are meant to be. In these first, brand new hours quietly gaze through your window, visualize what awaits, seek out the superior, not the inferior. Make this new year yours. Happy New Year my friends. I hope that somehow, sometimes, my ramblings touch your souls. They are meant to be seeds of joy carefully planted in your garden. Flower with your specialness, for you truly are uniquely wonderful.

Challenge.....

My Thought for this Day.......so we come to the waning hours of 2013. T'is the time to become nostalgic of the past and hopeful for the future. After all, we have a brand new start tomorrow. A brand new line up of 365 days to fill. Each day having 24 hours, each hour having 60 minutes and each minute having 60 seconds. Do the math. People tend to love new beginnings. New jobs, new cars, new opportunities. We love to think of clean slates. We eat our black-eyes and cabbage. We pen resolutions. We are determined to make life style changes that will fill our lives with health , wealth and fulfillment. Whatcha gonna do for someone else? How about instead of a better me, let's make it a better US? Right here, right now, take the time to think of someone in your life who may not look at fresh tomorrows, because they are too mired down in the muddy nows. Visualize that person who is so burdened by life, that taking the next step weighs so heavy that the very thought mires them in a rut of failure. Can you be that guiding hand? Can you possibly help them wipe their slate clean or at least give them the hope of help. What if we all made our new fresh 365 days not solely about me, me, me! This is the Challenge I give to you........work on yourself, have your wonderful anticipation of your clean slate, but in the doing of that, include an US. Make it happen not only for you, but for someone whom you know can't see the cleanliness of 2014 for the ugliness of 2013.

I Dare You......

My Thought for this Day......Are you bogged down by the "Shoulda's, Coulda's, Woulda's"? Hmmmmmmm........we all have regrets, and wishes for do-overs. You may not be able to relive a day or situation, but you DO have the opportunity to right wrongs. So today, tomorrow, this soon to be new year, take time to reach out. Be the better person, humble your heart, turn the other cheek. Opportunity sits squarely in the road of your life. Don't walk around it. Step right on top of it and spread your arms of selflessness. Crossed arms cover hearts. Arms thrown wide give and receive. Just exactly where are your arms? It matters!

Pogo. Sticks.......

My Thought for This Day.........what if life was a pogo stick? If you're too young to know what a pogo stick is, then Google....:)). Pogo stick life. It bounces around you in varying heights. It is up and down. Here's the thing. It takes work to maintain. You have to keep that energy going. Work on that marriage, friendship, job. Life is freely given, but not so much freely kept. Think about it. Less energy on a Pogo stick means an eventual fall. I think that we sometimes assume there are things in life that should be effortless, and maybe there are those things. But at the end of the day, if it's worth treasuring, then it's worth your time and effort. Just like the kid on that Pogo stick, the person in a relationship has to pay attention to the jumps, crevices and possible stones in the road. In your job, the Pogo stick effort means keeping your eyes trained on problems, potholes and other things that could knock you off balance. Life is all around you, both yours and those of loved ones, and strangers. What a horrible waste to simply watch and not put in the effort to get involved. Pogo sticks.......the harder you work....the higher you go!

Ripples.....

My Thought for the Day.......for me the days between Christmas and New Year's Day are days of reflection. Somehow I seem to be stuck in the space between memories and new footprints I'll make in the sand of the path of my life. I hope as I sit at my Reflection Pool, I learn from the ripples of memories that slowly drift in the waters that were my 2013. I want to savor each memory, both good and bad. I want to build on each one, to learn from each one and to see myself reflected as I truly was. I have room for tremendous growth, I have an entire lake to fill with hope and goodness and kindness and generosity and strength. As I ponder those mirrored images that make me sad or not proud, I hope I can change myself so that next year......the days of 2014, I see less and less of them. I truly, deeply want to be that person who never takes for granted her days, that person who goes out of her way to lend a hand or a heart, that person who diligently seeks out those in need and stretches her arms to lift up and smooth out and simply give. I don't know what you see in your Lake of Reflection. I hope whatever it is, gives you more joy than sorrow, more laughter than tears and more comfort than angst. But my deepest hope is that you too can begin to see your 2014 as days of becoming your new Reflection Pond and if you are fortunate to sit and study it this time next year, that you will see more smiles, more love and understand that you and only you are responsible, not for others, but for yourself. May your Memory Pool be not about you, but about your understanding that life is meant to be lived for others. I'm working on mine; are you?

For Unto Us......

My Thought for this Christmas Eve.....There is nothing more magical than the eyes of a child at Christmas. Reflections of Christmas lights twinkling, rosy mouths form tiny O shapes as small gasps escape wee lips. Enchantment and Anticipation in the air. May you be that child. May you know and feel the Joy of the Season. Not in the gifts under the tree, but in the GIVING of those gifts. Not in the table heavily laden with food, but in the LOVE and care taken in the planning and preparation of that food. The true wonder is that WE are Christmas; for you see the most abundant, eternal gift of all is ours. And with this gift comes the assurance of Peace and undeniable Joy. Dwell in the Promise that is yours, not only this day but everyday. For unto us a Child was born......

Day to Day.....

My Thought for this Day........Going the extra mile. T'is the Season to do just that.......giving more, being more thankful, reaching out to those less fortunate.....being aware that there are those less fortunate. Stop!!! Fast forward to January 1. Is your giving spirit, your thankful spirit, your acknowledgement, stored back in your closet of the forgotten? Have the "I'm just toooooooo busies" once again taken over your very important life. Are your Blinders of 'me me me me me' back on? Have you forgotten how to say, spell and most of all feel compassion? Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year to emulate the most gracious, life changing, soul filling gift ever given. And I love to see the faces and the words of the 'givers' as much as those of the receivers. To give in the true spirit tugs us deep inside. It flowers like a bud and bursts to fill us with pure joy. So the question remains.......what about the rest of the year? Misfortune doesn't strangely disappear. Need doesn't vanish. Hunger and cold and loneliness don't become obsolete. These things remain in your own back yard. So I pray that your garden of compassion and giving and reaching out bursts with color and vines all year long. Let's make it a way of life, not just a way of this Most Wonderful Season. For truly, the most amazing Gift we were given lives forever, never ceasing, never turning away, but instead constant as the turning of the day into night. Our job is to emulate in our gratefulness, to constantly fill needs. O what a wonderful world it would be.