CHOOSE: TO WAX NOSTALGIC

Does waxing nostalgic occur more as one ages. Certainly more years = more memories. But...it seems that "medicare" folks, in their fascination with the past, tend to "go there" more often,  than others of the younger generations. Gen-Xers and Millennials tend not to waste time "going there" in a contemplative mode, as they are too busy "living."

It isn't regretting and complaining that "life ain't what it used to be." Waxing nostalgic is an emotional journey that remembers experiences and times that gave texture to one's life.
It's like inhaling a mixture of love and sadness---a wistfulness of sorts. Event photos, cards and letters seem to breathe sadness into words as one recalls and shares her past.

Just walking by these fragrant gardenias, given to me yesterday by my dear friend Janice H., had me choosing to wax nostalgic. First my thoughts went back to my childhood days with Mama Davenport, my spiritual mentor. Then, I remembered the big gardenia bush behind our MSU faculty housing on Central where we lived when Buddy was 5 and Josh was born. All those memories shared with hubby.
Not totally painful---but a sort of bittersweet  longing.  Not necessarily a longing to return, but to remember. How special it is when one with whom you share your life has shared some of those memories. Roots and continuity of a shared relationship are such a bond.
As it says in Job 12:12, "wisdom is with aged men and with long life is understanding." When people age together, there's such a strength that results from shared understanding. "Til death do you part" altar promise.

Maybe its okay to "go there," either alone or with with another who has shared that  adventure....but not to stay there. Continuous dwelling in the  past could border on a disorder but the occasional "look back" can refresh one's today.

A refreshing reminder to celebrate moments and keep stocking up memories for future times of choosing to wax nostalgic.

CHOOSE: Perspicasi-TEA

I NEED a BIG cuppa perspicasi-TEA this morning. Some days are like that lately.
Just fill my teapot with a blend of keen mental perception and understanding and serve my cuppa. I will drain it to the dregs.
Decisions need to be made that I don't want to face. Partly due to lack of financial understanding and partly because of fear. I seem to lack confidence in "deciding" best options in many areas. I shun the responsibility that goes with making decisions when the options and possible consequences aren't clear.
"What ifs" rule my thought life.

But God...........in His word reminded me, "if I lacked wisdom, to ask Him" (James 1:5) and because I have believed his commandments, I can ask Him to "teach me good judgment and knowledge." (Psalm 119:66)
So....I can quit stewing and fretting about $$, worrying about a friend's health procedure or family choices and renew my mind with scripture(Romans 12:2) by choosing to apply perspicasity found in His word.

CHOOSE: MAGNOLIA MONDAY

Magnolia Monday aka Quiet Time on the Patio sweetened with the scent of magnolia.

It's overcast. It's breezy. It's delightfully perfect for morning meditation.

Streams In the Desert (5/22) entry also spoke to my heart. Expounding on Psalm 37:5, with the Young's translation, "He worketh it" jumps out. In those words, "when we truly commit, or roll out of our hands into His; the burden of whatever kind it may be; a way of sorrow, of difficulty, of physical need or of anxiety for the conversion os some dear one." 

Once I have put it into His hands, even when I can't see results, I can trust that "He worketh."

Those words are a sweet aroma to my spirit as this magnolia is to my senses. 

So grateful I was able to choose this spot for my Monday morning meditation. 

CHOOSE: Positivi-TEA

Why does my mind tend to embrace negative thoughts these days?

Each morning during my "Tea with Thee" times I seek to serve myself a cuppa positive-tea. 

Lately, my brew has become more of a cuppa negative-TEA.

Maybe my problem is that I'm buying into the world's thinking---"you've got this," Dotsy.

But I don't. Apart from Him I have no good thing. As David said, in Psalm 16:2, "You are  my Lord, I have no good apart from you.

And with Him I have all good things. ".... they that seek the Lord lack no good thing."  (Psalm 34:10)

Now there's a cuppa positivi-TEA worth choosing to sip this morning.*


*By the time I finished my tea and typed this blog entry, I picked up the morning paper, I saw first hand the world's thinking.

"I've got this" must me a buzz phrase, of sorts. What an epitaph!
Seems that these days, positive thinking (about self) and self-confidence can morph into self-grandizement.
But....that kind of thinking can have consequences.

CHOOSE: A HEART OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Choose righteousness and when that seems impossible....
GO right to the heart of the matter----choose the One who is righteous.

...He will be called the LORD, our Righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:6)

Do I hear an AMEN!

CHOOSE: TEXAS FLORA AND FAUNA

Wednesday Walkabout in Texas (5/10)----from fishing pond/lake to trail with great blue herons and wood ducks and woods with milkweed and butterflies.
Right at the edge of the lake, a heron seems to rule the roost.

Recent Sunday School lesson reminded me that the monarch's migration from Mexico takes 4 generations of monarchs. 

Photographer posted this pix for subdivision newsletter. 

This weathered one that must be at the end of his stent. 

The only plant that sustains these beauties is the milkweed plant. Monarch (in pic below) draws sustenance from a Tropical Milkweed.

How does a monarch "know" it cannot survive without this plant? 

How does this new new 4th generation return 2,500 miles to Mexico each fall to the same tree for hibernation?

Grateful to have seen this picture of a monarch taken by a Summerfield neighbor in Allen, TX. 

Now I'm on the lookout to see it myself!

Texas Showy Pink Evening Primrose

Couldn't figure out why some passer-bys called these delicate, pink flowers buttercups---unless that's the Texas name.  Buttercups, in Tennessee, don't look anything like these beauties. These "sweet looking" dainty flowers opened at dusk (as I was taking my walk) but withered the next day. Remnants of yesterday's blooms were still evident.

WOW---showy rows of Indian Paintbrush just past the cow sanctuary.
What a "Walkabout" when I'm choosing to see God's handiwork in Texas.

CHOOSE: UPWARD SPIRAL

Noticing this downward spiral stair case inside the new Church Health Center at the Crosstown Concourse started me thinking.

In my thinking, spiraling usually has a downward connotation.
In one's thought life, is it just as easy for something to spiral upward?

I assume bad choices and stressors in life can have tremendous negative impact---a downward spiral of sorts. But....can there be a positive spiral, one with an upward motion?

Recent marginalia sent me on this pursuit of understanding positive and negative emotions. Are there benefits to both?

Negative emotions can help us survive. Positive emotions help us thrive.

If a downward spiral is a metaphor for deterioration (negative) then upward spiral must be a metaphor for growth. (positive) Yet, both have momentum. 

For sure, too much of any spiral can be dizzying. Upward spiral is directed towards a higher place. But what happens if a downward spiral in one's  thought life has them bottoming out emotionally? Physically? Spiritually?

Can a successful turnaround occur just by choosing the "thought" direction of one's spiral? 

According to Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s book, Confidence, an upward spiral focuses with confidence. Certain resources that accompany this confidence could be trust, accountability, knowledge, or any asset that helps a business, community or individual thrive.

If so, I choose today to think on and "thrive" with an upward spiral focus.

CHOOSE: TO SEE ANEW

WOW---I have walked this same path 3 days now and this is the first time I have seen this beauty!

I don't know the name but what a picture of a "seed-bearing" plant! It looks like it bears the seed in a "cup" and then the seed sprouts in its own cup. AMAZING!!

"God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth..." (Genesis 1:29)

He put this one right here in Texas. I just had to walk by it a couple of times before I noticed it!

God gave it.  I'll just have to search the name for myself unless some reader out there can supply this info. 

CHOOSE: A TEXAS MOTHER'S DAY

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. (Proverbs 31:28)

CHOOSE: TO SEE

Choose to see in nature.....scientific proof following God's truth about creation.

Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so.
The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:11-12)

And it was so. 
And it is still so.
And it is still good.

God created the earth not to be empty but He formed it to be inhabited. (Isaiah 45:18) And what beauty He added to it for the inhabitants to enjoy!

And it is beautiful for me to behold as I choose to see His handiwork bear out His truth in nature.

And behold, it was very good. (Genesis 1:31)