CHOOSE: TO RELAX

Winnie the Pooh. Who doesn't know that silly old bear, created by A.A.Milne.

For anyone who has ever visited Ashdown Forest (aka "100 aker wood") in East Grinstead, Sussex, UK,  or thrown sticks over Pooh Sticks bridge, it will be a  cinematographic walk down memory lane. 

I still remember 4 grown ladies dropping our sticks in the water and then running to the other side to see whose stick would float by first.

Whether you've been there or not anyone who has ever read Winnie the Pooh to a child needs to see the biopic, "Goodby Christopher Robin." Now showing at the Ridgeway Malco. You know, the one with the big comfy seats and food to order.

The Ridgeway movie theatre appeals to seniors because even the trailers for upcoming movies are tame.
Here's a peek. Wonder,  An all time favorite book of mine that is all about kindness opens November 17. The Man Who Invented Christmas, biopic of Charles Dickens Nov. 22.

What a great way to spend a chilly/drizzly afternoon than at the movie with another book lover.

CHOOSE WONDER

Have you ever been so awed by Him? The wonder of His grace? (Psalm 86:10, Isaiah 25:1)

This morning was such a time for me. A time of affirming.

As I was praying through Psalm 88 (NASB) for a Christian friend who has experienced much darkness and seemingly little resolution, I was struggling for just the right words. 

This is such a sad psalm, seemingly without resolution, much like my friend. A soul full of trouble. If it's not one thing, it's two or more. An anguish of great depth---all exact causes unknown to me. 

But God....in His love and mercy showed me, in my NIV version, a notation made by verses 13-14.

The notation 2/17/07 indicated I had prayed this very verse for myself, at a time when there seemed to be no answer from the Lord. 

Today is 2/7/17. All those 7s in the same month, for the same verse. It was a BIG affirmation. I could continue to pray with hope because I had been where my friend is---in the pit. But God....was there in the midst working even when I "felt" rejection, as if He had hidden His face from me.

Now I could approach His throne of grace with confidence for my friend---as a friend who had been on the "same side of suffering" and had found God had been in the midst of it all along. I understand where she is---though the struggle may be different, the ramifications of being in a dark place are the same. 

May she now see His wonders in the darkness and His hand in the land of forgetfulness. (Psalm 88:12)

There's the wonder of sunset at evening,
The wonder as sunrise I see,
But the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul
is the wonder that God loves me. ("Wonder of it All," Adventist hymn #75) 

Choosing wonder and awe of the Lord for myself and my friend knowing God's love is there in a place of darkness when one cannot "see" it at the moment!
What a wonder!

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: reali-TEA

1/12/14 Reality TV----not for me, unless Sing-Off, a singing competition featuring a cappella groups, falls under that genre. Yet, realistic fiction is a favorable cuppa of reali-TEA for me. Not hokey, not always with those happy endings.....BUT believable and well written.

One of my last year's favorites in that genre was R. J. Palacio's Wonder, a refreshing narrative about a 5th grade boy with a facial deformity. It's real and it's "worth the read!!" 

This year, another realistic fiction fave, also found on the YA shelf, is Vince Vawter's Paperboy, another worthy read.** Possibly the locale and time, especially familiar to baby boomers, of mid-town Memphis, who grew up watching Howdy Doody, humming Elvis tunes and going to the Mid-South Fair, is what added to the appeal.  My era, but not my locale, so my "draw" to the story was Vawter's use of "words;" unspoken, misused, stammered and revealing, as all were woven into the crux of the story.

Here are a few of Paperboy's reali-TEA gems: 

• I'm typing about the stabbing for good reason. I can't talk. (p.1)
• Mr. Spiro moved his mouth....what came out was strange....like if you turned on the kitchen faucet to get a drink of water and sweet lemonade came out instead. (p.63)
• "You can't replace one hurt with another. You just get double hurts. (p. 92) 
• "....felt so small....could be blown away by slightest puff of wind....But you don't have to worry about any kind of breeze showing up on a late July afternoon in Memphis." (p. 166)
• "Words in the air blow away as soon as you say them but words on paper last forever." (p.221)
• "One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter." (James Earl Jones, p. 223)

A great book to savor with a cuppa The reali-TEA of such is that there is no such thing as a good book that's written just for young people---if it's well-written then it will appeal to everyone. Paperboy is just such a book.

**Later in January, Paperboy won a 2014 Newbery Honor and in April was selected by the American Library Association's Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth!