love, purpose, gratitude

We have no choice but to wait for the Lord. But, we have options to stay prepared. We can feed our faith through prayer and study. We can feed others through our heartfelt works of charity and example. Or, we can put our faith on the shelf and just wait for the right day to dust it off. If we choose the later, however, beware! We may find there is no faith left.

I went to church today with my son-in-law and two grandsons.  Perhaps on my insistance they went with me.  It had been a few weeks since they had attended especially since their lives have been turned upside down.  With Gina in the hospital, work, school and playing super dad......I know Greg probably thought there were other things he could be doing.  By the end of Mass, I do believe that God touched his heart and he reflected on the goodness of the Lord.  Thank you Jesus.  

There have been times such as these that I, too, feel like I'm in the desert and the sandstorms of life are just taking over.  Putting my faith on the shelf and waiting is not a good thing to do and I must remember this.  Being here with Greg and kids, even though I don't consider it a work of charity but extreme love, I have felt purpose and gratitude.  My prayer is that I continue to have the stamina and good health to do this for all of my children. 

God is good and I must remember that He is always with us.....until the end of time.   

An Adventure

The problem with being 63 and 62 is that you don't feel 63 or 62 you feel 43 and 42....at least until after you've done something that then your body says......."hey, remember you're 62/63!".....We went on a great adventure yesterday, seeking the driftwood we saw on the beach after church. We came back loaded with tools, a shade, water, a couple of beers and chairs! The thought of doing something this crazy was good for us, we were on the same page, we laughed and we asked ourselves.....What the hell are we doing this for?????? It was crazy!! BUT, we did it. We cut through 30" circumference driftwood...beautiful with short roots exposed.....only about a third of it exposed when we approached it. We had no idea what we were in for. We dug around it until we found where we felt we could cut.

Working together we cut, dug, cut, dug, cleared all around it until we thought we could break it lose by jumping on it. Then when it finally broke.....we thought now how do we load it up....it was a heavy piece of wood. I said "God surely will send some angels to help!"......sure enough up drives a young man, with wife and a baby in the back. He asked if he could help....I said, "See....an angel!" He gets down and his t-shirt reads "Hell Raiser"....ok I'll take him ...he was young and strong! The driftwood went into the truck and we loaded everything else up and left....Now the real test is getting it down and placed where we wanted. WE did it!!! Love the art work in our small garden area of the condo "Little Joy"

when the time comes

When the time comes, I pray that all my children will be able to connect lovingly and compassionately to decide what is best for one or both of us.

Knowledge is key to successful communication, if we don't have all the information needed we can't communicate with each other. God gave us two ears and one mouth.....we should be able to use the two ears before the mouth gets in the way. Bringing up past history only makes one hysterical......so all history should be put aside. Listening with the heart first, allows all to speak without feeling intimidated, belittled, inadequate or incapable. Listening with the heart first, allows all to listen to the tiny voice that wants to tell the truth the way it is seen by the one speaking or to view a different perspective. Listening with the heart allows some softening......perhaps ........allows all to come to a realization of what is going on with the other.......it may make us unselfish at that. Puts some ground beneath the attacks.....makes way for sharing concern, love, compassion.........OR.........maybe not!!! If there is no room to connect with your siblings.
Communication is more than a transfer of information; it is the forming of a connection that includes heart and soul, thought and feeling.

My mother has Alzhemir's!! Alzhemir's is a terrible disease, an unknown cure. " a painful, wasting disease" According to Claudia J. Strauss "Alzheimer's was dismissed as an untreatable disorder, and the strategy of care consisted of custodial services in environments that were essentially warehouses....it is now evident that, although the biology of neurodegeneration gradually plunders the cognitive abilities of the person with the disease, the strategies of care and the communications skills of the care provider could help to maintain independent functioning and life with dignity, and slow the rate of losses in the activities of daily living. " What do we do now? How do we help when no help is wanted, really wanted? "Control" has a name and it's not easy or pleasant to talk to him/her. They have all the ins and outs of caring for mom and are unwilling to risk giving some of it up for fear of losing control. Their loss and ours as well.


When the time comes I pray that our children will listen to each other ..... be kind and tenderhearted as Ephesians 4:32 tells us to be. To encourage one another....1 Thessaloians 5:11 but most of all, love one another deeply from the heart.....Peter 1:22

questions

how does one teach another that procrastination is detrimental to one's overall health? how does one teach another to learn from one's mistakes? how does one put off writing when all one has ever wanted to do is write? how does one love another more than they will ever know?