A Cuppa Acceptance....

For every season there is a time for every activity under heaven.....a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to grieve and a time to dance....(Ecclesiastes 3:1-4)

Laughter can be the best medicine. It's good for the soul. Often just what the soul needs---a little levity in the midst of life struggles.

A cheerful heart brings good healing---so needed by one who is crushed in spirit. The human spirit can endure in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? (Proverbs 18:14)

The perfect "happy" from Wynellen. A brisk cuppa with an apropos quote. 

The need for a merry heart must be a universal need as it is mentioned twice in Proverbs.
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. (Proverbs 15:13)  A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.(Proverbs 17:22) 

The cup says it all. Sometimes we just need to accept life just as it is, with all its struggles.......and laugh---AND....it's much more fun to laugh with a dear friend! 

JEOPARDY!

Friend Jerrie's gift, a Jeopardy! 2016 Calendar, has become a fun part of "our" (hubby plays too) morning routine. Just like when we know the answers during the TV show, it brings a bit of excitement to the day---not to mention competitive fun! What a thoughtful gift.

In Jeopardy! TV series, there is a risk everytime you "ring" in and there is always "double trouble," a hubby term, when you choose the "daily double" square, and have to decide if your confidence in the category allows you to make it a "true daily double." Risking everything ($$$) you have accumulated so far. Is the risk worth the loss? The final outcome could be on the line!

The answers on the calendar version, as always, are in the form of a question but how easy it is to just turn the page over when you are stumped. And you don't risk loss of anything---unless losing face with your spouse counts.

There written out in large bold print and "all caps" is what you need to know. You can't miss it. 

Answer given. Problem solved.

Don't we all wish our life questions were that easy to figure out! Those that really stump us. The "whys" we don't understand. The "what ifs" when we are trying to make the best decision. 

For me, there are so many parts of life that I don't have an answer for---but God reminds me, to call unto Him. (Jeremiah 33:3) He is the answer. 

I don't risk anything when asking. (James 1:5) 

There is no JEOPARDY!-type consequence when asking, (Romans 8:1) just forgiveness and wisdom.

Wisdom freely given by the ONE who is the answer.

I might not know the answer but I know the One who is the answer. 

GLORY-GIFTS

Glory-gifts---a Sarah Young term for love, peace and joy. (Jesus Calling, April 5)

Along with Sunday's emphasis on God's glorious gifts of grace, love and fellowship from the benediction to the Corinthians, I considered His surrounding glory seen in creation.
I thought of all the glory of His nature around our 901 town---urban parks, Mississippi River sunsets, azaleas, cherry trees, dogwood and even the invasive wisteria!

Enjoy a glory-gift from my camera----look up and gaze on the glory of the wisteria!
Wisteria covered silos----God's glory-gift to me every spring as I drive to church---it fills me with peace and love as I begin the day in fellowship!

ACCEPTANCE--a sereni-TEA sweetener

My Gratitude Journal's "word of the month" is "acceptance."

Key to waiting is acceptance. Acceptance of the present over the perfect.
What one "has" might be different from what one "wants." A statement that one needs to give credence to in order to move away from self-absorption and go forward.

There are NO perfect relationships, NO perfect physical health for the aging, NO perfect night's sleep every single night, NO emotional health without hormones, etc.---at least not ALWAYS.

Life can be full of head "noises" and random aches, and troubles galore. Expect that fact.
Perfection in life is an unrealistic expectation.

But God....know that God can be in the midst of all these struggles and provide the peace that calms one's heart as one's life questions, without answers, whir by and circumstances remain the same.
Answers one so desperately wants. Accepting that answers might not be ours to have at this time. Refocusing. Getting eyes off of self and on to the Lord and others.

Shakespeare said it well, " God's goodness hath been great to thee---Let never day or night unhallowed pass but still remember what the Lord hath done."

So...as I steep my cuppa acceptance each morning this month, I'm going to reach for the sweetness that can accompany it----sereni-TEA---not an artificial sweetener to gloss over or deny. A true sweetness with truth from His word. (Psalm 119:103)
Tasting and seeing His goodness as I approach each day knowing that inner peace is possible even if the outward conditions do NOT change.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests......mental, emotional and physical health....look to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4)

Living Expectantly, even in waiting

Wordsmith Bernie's slug mail enclosure was a timely delivery.

It was an affirmation of yesterday's Blue Skies blog THOTS (Trusting Him On This Subject) 
Joy and suffering can both be a part of the equation of life, existing side by side. 

Taken from INTOUCH 3/26 devotional these "gems" jumped out at me. 

• .....letter from a friend struggling between the already but not yet. (Hm-m-m, "not yet" sounds like waiting to me. Dotsy) 
• “All I can do,” he wrote, “is live each moment as it comes and be aware of God in it.” His conclusion: “I want to let struggle, grief, and hurt exist side by side with joy, peace, and hope.” 
• It may not be easy to live expectantly between present and future realities, but I believe it’s the best approach. A mom grieving the death of her son explained, “I’m discovering how grief and hope dance together, often exchanging the lead. Yet without Christ’s sacrifice, there would be no hope—and what a cruel dance that would be.” (emphasis mine)

Now, that’s living expectantly and a great adverb for waiting----my toes are tapping expectantly as I type!

BLUE SKIES/GRAY SKIES OF LIFE

Blue skies, nothing but blue skies----isn't that what most of us want---everyday. 

Just listen to your favorite nighttime TV meteorologist bemoaning the rain ahead and celebrating the next chance for sunshine and blues skies.

Ella Fitgerald could certainly "belt out" the beauty of love in one's heart making everything go so right, metaphorically equating it with blue skies.





Blue skies smilin' at me

Nothin' but blue skies do I see
Bluebirds singin' a song
Nothin' but bluebirds all day long
Never saw the sun shinin' so bright
Never saw things goin' so right

Then, Tony Bennet would teach us to "put on"  a happy face. Is "putting on" a metaphor for masking the heart's condition.

Gray skies are gonna clear up
Put on a happy face
Brush off the clouds and cheer up
Put on a happy face

As much as I appreciate the voices of both, the lyrics of neither are quite correct. 

Circumstances in life are not necessarily "either-or" conditions. There is more to life than the exclusive division between only the two alternatives, just as grief and joy are not mutually exclusive. Even in the hard places of life, those gray skies, joy can be found because of Him who loved us. We don't have to put on a mask.

But God in His word teaches, that regardless of the circumstances---blue skies or gray skies, He, by His love, has mades us more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37)

Enjoy today's blue skies because tomorrow the rain is coming----but it can be enjoyed as well, because we know Him who sent it.

Thought Provoking EASTER GREETINGS

Philippians 4:8 is always thought provoking. This Easter card was a shared reminder from high school/college chum, Joyce Ann.

A verse memorized years ago. In the past. 

A verse shared this week on a "Mindful" blog entry. In the present.

A verse to continue with me in the future as I strive to fill my mind with positive pondering.

Attributes, from Scripture,  worthy of provoking in one's thought life. In the future.

Waiting---adverbial directions

Waiting is not static. In the spiritual realm waiting is a time of expectancy. Waiting expectantly is the psalmist's adverbial rendering.
In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. NIV (Psalm 5:3) 

As Andrew Murray puts it, "Christians do not know.....the unspeakable blessedness of continually waiting on God." (Waiting on God, p. 13) 
Continually. Uninterrupted. A constant in my life. Not just this specific time of waiting for emotional, physical and possible medical directions. 

Patiently. An adverb that is not in my adverbial repertoire when it comes to waiting. 
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. (Psalm 40:1)

I want a new song --Now---actually yesterday.  (Psalm 40:3)

So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. ESV Always is an appropriate waiting adverb too. God's Word translation says, "always wait with hope for your God." Love the propositional phrase that emphasizes how to wait---with hope. (Hosea 12:6)

Waiting, with adverbial directions-----and prepositional hope!
Waiting on God----but without GRAMMATICAL GAFFES, I hope! After all, it's Wordsmith Wednesday!

Passing Time While Waiting

Can't waiting be more than just "whiling away the hours?"

Spending time at West Clinic today as I waited for a friend's radiation treatment to "finish up," I picked up a book, to "finish up" my morning read.  Roger Rosenblatt's, making toast, "a painfully beautiful memoir....how people die out of order." (E.L. Doctorow)

It became more than "passing time" as I came across a few jewels. 

When the author's grandaughter responded to her "Boppo's" comment that children have no power... 

"That's not true, Boppo," she said. "We have the power of thought and kindness." (p. 159)

Rosenblatt's summation of a book review he had written (Deaf Sentence) concerning Desmond  Bates visit to Auschwitz, " '...I see how one was unable to value the passing time.' "

"As far as I can tell, this is how to live---to value the passing time." (p. 157)

 A needed reminder ---when in a season of waiting, value the passing time. 

MINDFUL

Mindful. A full mind. 

What should the contents of one's mind be? 

Not regrets. Not fears. Not financial worries. Not distress.

So.....I've been meditating on filling my mind---
(happy thoughts, pure thoughts, worthy thoughts, Phil. 4:8)
Acrostic reminder (Draft form)---

M - ini moment celebrations as I
I - ntentionally & thankfully
N - otice God's hand and
D - elight in Him & discover more of His truth--
F - inally... fully forgiving myself and others so that I
U - nderstand my
L - Lord's lasting love!

Then, I found this----

Others must need a handle on their thought life as well!