Monday, February 29, 2016

Adverbs to never use----never and always, oops

Seems like I'm always waiting for something. 
Obviously, I'm not the only one. Shauna Niequest in cold tangerines, writes of waiting to become something else----the person she is biding her time to be...." (p. 15)
Biding. A Mama Davenport term. I've always known, because of her, that sometimes one has to "bide her time" BUT not to miss opportunities and adventures along the "wait."
I recommend an icy glass of sweet tea and a Niequest's chapter "on waiting"* as an adventure during my wait for results of hubby's MRI.
*Enlarge the pic & enjoy celebrating "little" moments...
instead of waiting for those big ones!

Now I'm learning that waiting never needs to be static. Waiting is attitudinal and "the wait" does not have to be undesirable or uninteresting.

Hubby said, just last night, "I can't wait for SPRING!" Yet, the calendar shows---this "Leap Year," means he will have to wait an extra day!
But...he can wait with a positively expectant outlook, maybe even celebrating the 365.25 day itself.
It's his choice---- always a choice for each of us in our waiting game!

Today's "Google" pic might indicate a "nap" as a good option as one anticipates springtime.
I never say "no" to a nap!

Friday, February 26, 2016

Waiting---adverbial directions

Coming soon---you'll just need to wait patiently, joyfully and expectantly!

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Spiritual Permission

Do you ever have to give yourself "permission" to do something just for yourself----esp in the middle of a "blustery" day?
I had to do just that---a cuppa tea and a cozy mystery. Yet, somehow it seemed like what I needed. 
Whether waiting in a physical space like ER room #2 with your daughter or in a spiritual waiting room of God's design, sometimes you need to "escape" with a little light reading and a warm cuppa.
Agatha Christie is usually a safe bet and The Harlequin Tea Set which was a story collection seem the perfect fit. 

I was reading, relaxing and resting. It seemed almost spiritual.
Guess what? It was. (Romans 8:1)

Monday, February 22, 2016

KINDRED SPIRITS

Kindred Spirit---a noun. Plain and simple. A person whose interests or attitudes are similar to one's own. The work place often pulls folks together with similarities---but then sometimes it ends there. Work often tends to be the only connection.
Relationships can be guarded.....with communication on the"virtual plane" easier than face to face, even from the next cubicle. Real relationships are rare.

How blessed I have been to have had relationships that have blossomed, even in the early days of my work as a school librarian. ljj is one for whom I thank God for having her as a part of my “life’s journey.”
We were like an old married couple---acceptance, listening (she did it better than I) often finishing each other's sentences, understanding, (my circular thoughts and idiosyncratic lesson prep), together calling our students "friends" (3 John 1:14) and willing standing together year after year and serving 1,000 + cups of hot tea during "National Hot Tea Month" because together we "get it!"
Morning at ljj's new  home---served with tea and devotion.
Now we are separated by miles but the kindred connection remains. Devotional times, tea times with Mary Alice Hadley (Ky pottery) and a Lucado book. My teacup is from the "Delta" where ljj's  grandaughter, Lila, lives. 
ljj will pass on the new Gloria Houston book, Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile, because she knows my real name and we both love the premise of Houston's  My Great Aunt Arizona, who hugged her students when their work was good and she hugged them when it was not. Hugging encourages.

Book and cup are reminders of the importance of keeping up and staying close regardless of miles.

It's what kindreds do. As close as flesh and blood. 
When the spiritual factor is added it deepens and widens the relationship to a "kindred spirit."

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

WAIT---WEIGHT another "spiritual" grammar lesson

Homophones, a type of homonym, sound the same but differ in meaning and spelling.

Jenni W's lessons on "Praying in the Waiting Room" spoke volumes to me as I began to understand the importance of a "shift in thinking."

Waiting rooms mostly have a bad connotation, unless it's an OB floor where loved ones are awaiting a new little "bundle of joy." Yet, there is a sweetness that comes from lessons learned in God's waiting room. I am grateful for the spiritual aspect of these grammar lessons the Lord has for me. 
Wait to weight was an important "homophone" lesson for me. A lesson in shifting. Shifting my weight to His strength. Waiting can be burdensome. Hard to carry alone.
As I wait on the Lord, I need to shift my weight as I lean on Him. Leaning on anything else---my own understanding or planning, draws me away from God. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Shifting---A lesson of rest for my soul and rest for my restless mind. (Matthew 11:28-30) 

Trusting in anything apart from God has me in my own stead.....and I am no substitute for God!
Give Him the weight of your (my) burdens as we (I) wait for answers.

Monday, February 15, 2016

FRET NOT, DOTS!

Today's Streams in the Desert entry was "spot on" for me!
Dear restless heart, be still; don't fret and worry so;
God has a thousand ways His love and help to show;
Just trust, and trust, and trust, until His will you know.
Dear restless heart, be still, for peace is God's own smile,
His love can every wrong and sorrow reconcile;
Just love, and love, and love, and calmly wait awhile. 
(Edith Willis Linn)

More adverbs for my waiting.  Calmly added to patiently. Maybe I should start an adverbial "Fret Not While Waiting List" for dear ole Dots!

Sunday, February 14, 2016

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY with Love

A valentine's message sent with love by John Parker. (gray shirt in middle) 

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22: 37-39)

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Ruffled MInd

Authors have the best quotes---of course they do. They are wordsmiths!! Like a poet who says it best with the fewest words.
Besides a "ruffled mind" sounds more feminine than a "muddled mind."
When "sleepless in Memphis," I need to ruffle my pillow and unruffle my mind prior to bedtime. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Listen Up: a grammar lesson

3x----for me is a "Listen up, Dotsy" from the Lord.

This past week "wait" has crossed my waiting path several times. Three times in three days.
"I will wait upon the Lord" lyrics kept blaring in my head. (Think continuous action verb.)
"Colorful Day" workshop, where a team of women prayed for every attendant by name and God's best placement for each, placed me in a  session on "Praying in the Waiting Room." (Now there's an adjective I can understand)
Affirmation#3---I picked up USA Today's crossword puzzle on Monday and the clue's, "Like a good wait-er," answer---"patient" really gave me a "head's up---listen up."
But, it was the adverb that came as I read God's word, that reinforced the need to take it to the next level---an adverbial descriptor---patiently. That level leads to the "heart of the matter."
Waiting is one way. It's what a good "wait-er" does---even USA Today knows that.
Patiently waiting is God's way. 
I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. (Psalm 40:1)
Listen up----take into your mind and then move it to your heart!

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Mentali-TEA: Is there a cuppa brewing here??

Gingerbread mentality---a cuppa mushy escapism that runneth.
What about disclari-TEA? More confusion than clari-TEA. Inconsistent thinking. Muddled. In "my" words, "thinking in circles" ----rarely finding endings in a complete thought---just beginnings of new ones---seemingly never-ending.
Addled. A descriptor from Mama Davenport's generation. 
Addled. More confusion than clarity. Unable to think clearly.
Eugene O'Neil's retort was, "My brain is a bit addled by whiskey." (Wonder if he kept Fireball in his freezer?)
What does addle ones brain? 
What's the RX---prescript from doc or RX from the Great Physician.

Mind renewal is needed---Pour me a tas-TEA cuppa that! (Romans 12:2)

Monday, February 8, 2016

Waiting Room Prayers

Still praying. Still waiting.
Wishing God would skywrite my "answers" in the clouds------
allowing clarity to replace confusion.

Will document later.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Gingerbread Man Mentality

Somedays I feel like the storybook character, "The Gingerbread Man."
"Run! Run.....as fast as you can." I'm running. I'm running.......but I can't seem to get away from all that is pursuing me.
I have the frayed/fractured thinking that if I "run" fast enough----my enemies of physical maladies and anxieties can't catch me.
Do you ever keep running to try and get away from all the difficult conditions of  life or bothersome thoughts that stymie truth. Do you think that maybe, you can escape reality by running away?.
Whoa.....am I (or you) trying to escape the reality of aging? Or, is all this "bother" just an "awareness without acceptance" of all that aging or a "muddled mind" can bring.

I am as as deceived as that old gingerbread man if I think the sly foxes of the world can help me. 
My body and mind may fail, but God is my strength and my portion forever. (Psalm 7:26, ISV)
I need to "run" in the path of the Lord...(Psalm 119:32)

God's truth is needed NOT mushy gingerbread mentality. (Philippians 2:5)