ACCEPTANCE IS KEY!

O Lord, there’s something magnificent about accepting things we cannot change—no giving up or giving in, but experiencing the deep peace in our brokenness!

Acceptance is key!

Lord, I know it won’t always hurt like this, but it does now.

Today I'm leaning once again toward choosing numbness over feeling. Feeling is too painful, Down right scary!

’God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up…” (1Pet. 5:5-6)

Let the ink of the gospel get into your bloodstream. (my prayer notes, without citation) Gospel wrapped friendship. Friendship on the same side of the struggle. Focus. Refocus. Share. Focus on His great faithfulness! 

The only great in my life is my need. How about yours? 

CHOOSE: PEACE WITH YOUR PAST

Don't come to your present moments encumbered with "if only" regrets from your past!

Sip a cuppa amnes-TEA with your past. Sweeten it with acceptance. 

Otherwise you might squander the "present" and never find lasting peace.

"Only in acceptance lies peace." Elisabeth Elliott, (my NIV marginalia)
I choose Christ in Me---the One who gives me peace in the present but also enables me to come to terms with my past, so that His peace might reign there as well.

DANCE TO THE MUSIC

Working on acceptance while waiting, I've been discovering the importance of "celebrating moments. "There's a world of activity. A life worth celebrating.

The Lord Himself seems to invite me, this Dancing Granny, to get up and move.

Turn off the TV. Turn off the laptop.

Put down the book. Silence the phone.

Dance to the music. The music that's been playing since the beginning of time!

Feel it in the rhythm of the wind. Hear it in the rain on the roof. See it in the sunrise. 

Know it! Move to it. Sing a-long. The Lord puts new songs in our mouths. (Psalm 40:3)

We all dance every day to the "tune of life" but the most important choice is our partner!
Always choose Him!

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)

"ingenui-TEA" : a re-brew

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:14, ESV) 

Sometimes the truth of that verse is hard to believe. Why? Comparison. One of the most destructive things a person can do is to compare himself to others. Each one of us is uniquely made by God, so "to compare" is not reality-based or fair to self.

How easy it is for me to see my creative weaknesses. Inventive, clever, innovative are certainly not descriptors of staid ole me.

In order to fill myself with ingenui-TEA, I would need to sip lots of cuppas. But God....has reminded me that one strength of my personality is ability to appreciate gifts in others, knowing God certainly varies His gifts among His children for His purposes. 

The Lord has filled my life with ingenious folks from family to friends.....and even unknowns. Hubby and children continue to rank as high on my creative folks list and a December 15, 2010 blog entry introduced one such friend and her ingenuous gift. 

Last night at Pyro's Pizza, I appreciated the ingenuousness of an unknown. It was a WOW---so glad someone thought of that. A toe pull! It keeps germy hands at bay when leaving a public bathroom. 

How refreshing to sip a cuppa appreciative, "ingenui-TEA."

FAMILY RESEMBLANCE

(Circa 1964 or '65)

 4/28/12 As children of the Clifton “Brud” Adams family, people often commented that though we (my brothers and I) looked like family, & yet individually, none of us really resembled either of our parents. 

When we got together with our spouses this weekend, it was still pretty obvious that we are indeed related---more because of our idiosyncratic behavior than physical appearance. Just ask our spouses!

How fun to get together with kin---to reminiscence and celebrate family. In particular, for us, the key is acceptance. Warts and all----we are family. That’s why is was so fun to get together this weekend and go see “The Addams Family” (“snap, snap”) at the Orpheum.

As the lyrics of the opening melody rang out

You're obligated to the clan

It's family first and family last

And family by and by

When you're an Addams

The standard answers don't apply

When you're an Addams

You do what Addams do for us (Adams) that would be laugh and EAT!)

In same positions as sibling portrait---my how the "baby" has grown.

As Christians, we bear the name of Christ though certainly all of us “look” very different. It’s our actions, attitudes and even mannerisms that reflect that spiritual parentage. Do we act like our heavenly Father?

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love….(Ephesians 5:1-5)

My brothers and I certainly bear an earthly family resemblance in our actions. So much of what we say and do is a reflection of our “upbringing.” May our lives continue to reflect the parentage of our heavenly Father as well.

Disapointment, in a nutshell

8/11/11 Proverbs 13:12 speaks to unfulfilled expectations. “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,” rang true yesterday until I chose to see “change” as from God’s hand and asked Him to continue to direct our steps.
Nutshell synopsis:

• Difficulty enjoying the scenery-- Atlas needed to navigate as Mapquest didn’t have a clue, road signage was all but non-existent yet made the pursuit kind of fun.

• Nippersink Lodge on Lookout Mountain (long on my bucket list of places to visit) somewhat resembled a quaint but eerie lodge from a bygone era----think, “The Shining”---only a swinging saloon style door to “rustic” bedroom and NO AC

• 

• No lodging available in either of the only 2 options in quaint/artsy/adorable Mentone, AL & not a single picture
  

• Having to scratch next day’s brunch at the Wildflower Café

• No birds on the short birdwalk at DeSoto State Park in Fort Payne
  

• Dusk coming with no “safe” place to stay

The end result was acceptance----“flying by the seat of our pants “as hubby continued to drive “Miss Dotsy” toward Gadsden, AL, where Josh, from a CE classroom in New York secured us a hotel with a great, think “very reasonable price” hotel right on the road to our next day’s original destination. We became joyfully expectant to see where disappointment would lead.

Aunt Ada

11/21/09 Not biblical but it does start with “A” and my great Aunt Ada was a positive influence in my life---a real part of my spiritual heritage. She accepted me as I was and I loved her dearly.

This “assigned” piece was one that I wrote when attending the Governor’s Writing Academy in 1992. I sat under the tutelage of Harvard’s, Dr. Richard Marius. What an experience! We were to write about something unique to us and naturally I started with A. Subsequent pieces were titles with “B” and “C”----but then you already guessed that, I’m sure.

I’m including this on the blog partly for my children and grandchildren. This true story was eventually published and I just came across a tattered copy. Not big time publishing but its appearance in the “Kentucky New Era” gave Mother bragging rights at “The Tuesday Club” (bridge) for an entire summer.

Avocado Summer

Richard Marius said it well, “thoughts come from associations.” Since I spend a great deal of time eating, many of my thoughts are naturally food-related. Take for example, an avocado, that pear-shaped fruit from California. In the 90’s, Angie Dickinson promoted them and promoted them well, but no one personally promoted them for me as effectively as my great Aunt Ada did the summer of 1954.

The days were long and the afternoons were especially hot that summer. My only respite would come on Tuesday afternoons when at the age of 7, almost 8, I would walk, unaccompanied, down the sidewalk past the Southalls, and across Alumni Avenue until I came to 2113 South Virginia Street.

As I reached the front porch, Aunt Ada would open wide the big, wooden screen door and in a gentle embrace remind me to be quiet so that I wouldn’t awaken Mr. Mabry who was napping in his chair. (He was Uncle Mabry to me but she always called him Mr. Mabry.) Following her through the house I would make my way to the kitchen.

There the two of us would begin the ritual of slicing a large, perfectly ripened avocado, removing the large wooden looking seed and exposing the soft, yellow pulp with the green edges. Each half would be placed on a fine bone china plate ringed with delicate pink flowers. These plates were then placed on the carrying tray that had been laid with a linen cloth. (Aunt Ada always “laid” linen and tea.) I would then be given the honor of drizzling our delicacies, ever so lightly, with oil.

When I finished my part of the ritual, Aunt Ada would remove her organdy apron and place a spoon---her Louisiana sterling ones---on each of our plates. We would then carry them to the back porch where both our iced water with a twist of lemon and a linen napkin with the drawn hemstitched border would be waiting on the small, round metal table. She would add our plates to that arrangement, straighten our stemmed crystal glasses and then we would both sit down on the big white painted glider.

After we were seated, she would pull the table up between us and most of the time would commence our little teatime extolling the virtues of the avocado---for the way it looked and tasted, for its vitamin content and for all the things it was going to do for my skin. Other than that, very little was said but much was felt. That summer I acquired a life long love of avocados.

Sweet story, nice ending. Right? Wrong! The FDA, the National Health Council, author of the T-factor diet as well as my own doctor have told me that “at my age” I have to cut back on my fat intake. Thirty grams of fat a day is the “max” they say. Well, that stinks! One avocado has thirty-two grams of fat.

Here it is summer and the only good thing that this Memphis heat does for me is conjure up those fond memories of Aunt Ada and her avocados---the ones drizzled with oil, no less. So, what is one to do? How does one resolve the dilemma without tarnishing a memory or getting fat? Do I allow visions of fat grams to negate the treasured recollections of those summer afternoons in Kentucky? Do I give up the memory of that time when eating an avocado on a back porch with a much loved great aunt had been such a pleasant thing to do?

Aunt Ada is probably “up there” smiling down on me saying, “Let her eat fat; it will make her skin glow.” So, as an act of rebellion against the “powers that be” and as a tribute to on little old lady’s love of avocados, I made Ellen's avocado dip using twelve avocados. I ate the whole thing! After all, Aunt Ada lived a slim and trim life for 89 years---feasting all the while on avocados. Even as they closed the coffin everyone still marveled at the glow of her skin.

Today as I recall that event, I’m grateful for a childless aunt who took me under her wing and always treated me like a young lady---what acceptance. Serving water to a 7 year-old in a crystal goblet. Imagine that! Her silver flatware was a gift from her Aunt Anna Barr, aka "Stockade Annie" & Uncle Mabry’s sister. The silver was a gift to Mrs. Barr as a welcoming gift from the congregation of the parish in Louisiana her young husband, John Barr, was called to pastor. That silver is now mine and I think I’ll get it out this week and treat my grand boys to a tea party---but we’ll use sippy cups instead of crystal---for a few more years, at least. I might even add some avocado because my skin is so dry and drawn from 4 surgeries that I could use a little oil. I could certainly use the "glow." Maybe I'll just rub it on my face!

Do you feel accepted in the beloved? Accepted by the brethren? Do you accept all of those God ordains to cross your path?

Accept one another, then just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7)

A is for ACCEPTANCE. He is our “Acceptor.” (bill of exchange)