• You really have to scrub to get bluebarry stains off your fingers
• You can work out for more than an hour at the gym even if you don’t feel like it initially
• It is possible to fit over 100 pounds of flattened cardboard in my Toyota once some Mary Kay demo supplies are removed from the trunk
• Every little scrape & dent shows after you wash a car
• There was probably enough kitty hair floating around in the garage to stuff a small pillow before I took the leafblower to it
  
• Showers feel good after working outside in 90-degree plus weather
• Temporary interruption of power to your modem can sometimes restore the internet connection
• Sometimes it is hard to stop & eat when you are in the middle of something–even if it isn’t something all that important
• FedEx bills you separately for shipping & materials, but they add it all together on your charge slip at the time of payment
• My white blouse with the silver trim looks really nice with my black & white flowered skirt
• You can use  Mary Kay subtle tanning cream & the Cellushape system together. Yay!
• I miss Xanga when I don’t have internet service, but I get a lot more other stuff done then!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Lucky, one of our daughter & her sweetie’s sugar gliders, died this weekend. Here is a photo of her from a few years ago:

I had no idea such creatures existed until a young lady in a class I took at a nearby Community College a number of years ago brought one with her in her shirt pocket one day. They are nocturnal (perhaps explaining their popularity with the college-aged crowd) in nature, so it was just curled up asleep and I’m not even sure that very many people knew it was there. I am fairly certain that the professor did not know!

I have to look back on that day and smile now. I remember thinking to myself at the time how inconsiderate it was for that young lady to bring any kind of critter into the classroom when there might be someone around like my daughter, who was allergic to just about everything with fur or feathers! Little did I know that before too many more years, she would graduate from high school, go off to college, meet a young man with several of them as pets and fall in love with both the fella & the furry critters….

When you see this on the way to work you might as well turn around and go back home because it is not going to be a good day!

Can one determine what sort of a day they will have by such “signs” or are our days determined more by our outlook and expectations?

My day started off a bit rocky, even more “behinder” than usual due to an email snafu. In my haste to try and catch up. I smacked my knee on my desk so hard it brought tears to my eyes. I decided that I needed to not let such things determine what sort of day I would have and just got myself out the door and to the church where I knew there would be plenty of things needing to be done to keep my mind from going to that pity party place.

One of the things I like about Mondays is that our daughter often pops in after she finishes work to help at the church since she now works so close by. Today, she called me from work to let me know that she was not coming and I could tell by her voice that she was quite upset. Come to find out, one of her sugar gliders had died yesterday. I agreed that she needed to just go home and be nice to herself this evening, but let her know that I would miss her. The good news: I got invited to her house for dinner on my birthday…

Meanwhile, I was working away by myself at the church after the others had left since they arrived a bit earlier than me and off loaded over 700 pounds of food before I even got there. I went to the front office to ask if anyone there knew what happened to all of the missing teacarts that we needed to set up and found one of my favorite people from Bible study there taking care of some business. We had a nice chat and she even offered to buy me lunch, but I politely declined and returned to the pantry area since I still had a lot of stuff to do there…

As I turned around from grabbing some things from one of the boxes, in walks in another familiar face from a number of years before. One of the students who we usually have to help us for a couple of years before they graduate/transfer/whatever (and usually never see again) popped in and started stocking the shelves just like he had been doing in the years before. He was such a huge help and we got everything done with very little effort while we visited. I popped open the window in the kitchen so he could see the actual building going on that was only in the planning stage while he was here before. He was coming back to do summer graduate work and was hoping to be able to help on Mondays, just like he used to. I remember being a bit concerned about him when he graduated, but he seems to be doing quite well now…

So what was it that determined the kind of day I have had?

 

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny inprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

If you can raed tihs psas it on !!

I thought this was funny…read it outloud it will make you laugh…

• That’s not right– Sum Ting Wong
• Are you harboring a fugitive?– Hu Yu Hai Ding
• See me ASAP– Kum Hia Nao
• Small Horse– Tai Ni Po Ni
• Did you go to the beach?– Wai Yu So Tan
• I think you need a face lift– Chin Tu Fat
• It’s very dark in here– Wai So Dim
• I thought you were on a diet– Wai Yu Mun Ching
• This is a tow away zone– No Pah King
• Our meeting is for next week– Wai Yu Kum nao
• Staying out of sight– Lei Ying Lo
• He’s cleaning his automobile– Wa Shing Ka
• Your body odor is offensive– Yu Stin Ki Pu

 

…always liked that music, too!

Thanks to my “wonder-full” email buddy for passing it on to me….
 

….why kids need pets:

Well, it made me giggle a bit anyway….

…this one is just too good not to share with everyone. I also wonder if I am the only one that is reminded of Luke Skywalker & Yoda when I read this passage:

Taking Time to Listen

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of theLORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread. At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said,”I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. The LORD called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

-1 Samuel 3:1-10 (NRSV)

Today’s Scripture Samuel said [to the Lord], “Speak, for your servant is listening.” -1 Samuel 3:10 (NRSV)

FOR many years my prayers were mostly one-way conversations of me talking to God. I thanked, confessed, blessed, and petitioned. But I didn’t listen. However, after I was introduced to an ancient way of praying with scripture, my prayer life changed. In this approach, I read a short passage of scripture, reflect on its link to my life, and respond to it by praying. Sometimes I ask God questions about something I’ve read. Sometimes my response to what I’ve read is expressing gratitude for God’s work in my life and the world. Concerns and requests to God are filtered through the knowledge I’ve gained from reading my”guidebook,” the Bible.

Something is missing from my prayer time until I stop speaking and sit quietly, often with closed eyes. Just as I clean my house for a special friend’s visit, I sweep away distracting thoughts from my mind to prepare to welcome God. This is the Lord’s time. Like Samuel, I wait in expectation. Sometimes I become aware of a sin in my life; sometimes affirmation fills my mind; sometimes I’m moved to take action on something God brings to mind. Peace and stillness prevail as I bask in God’s presence.

God indeed speaks to us when we take time to listen. Each of us can have a two-way conversation that will strengthen our relationship with God forever.

Leona Myer (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)

Prayer

Thought for the Day What does today’s scripture reading say to me about my life?

Prayer Focus

People too busy to pray

The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of theBible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of theNational Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used bypermission. All rights reserved.

PLEASE SHARE THIS MINISTRY with a friend. Invite them to sign up for the free E-Mail Devotional by visiting: http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/email/

Copyright© 2008 by The Upper Room. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce orredistribute without written permission from the publisher. http://www.upperroom.org

One of my favorite email buddies that has been sharing all kinds of messages with me over the years, many with a bit of a right-leaning political point of view, sent me this clip. Entitled, “In just 8 years” containing nothing else but the words SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT in the message, it really has me perplexed:

It seems to me that someone with left-leaning tendencies would be sending this around, not my friend. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to politics and I am so very tired of hearing about them now that there is little hope of educating me, but I really would like to know if anyone else would be wondering about this, too…

Life is all about balance, isn’t it? In our book group, we have been taking our time on this chapter entitled, “Solitude is Luminous” since there seems to be so much in it that speaks to the needs we all have in the world today. Here is the blessing at the end of the chapter:

May you recognize in your life the presence, power and light of your soul.
May you realize that you are never alone,
that your soul in its brightness and belonging connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.
May you have respect for your own individuality and difference.
May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique, that you have a special destiny here,
that behind the facade of your life there is something beautiful, good and eternal happening.
May you learn to see yourself with the same delight, pride and expectation with which God sees you in every moment.

My e-devotional this morning provided some additional insights from the other side of the spectrum:

Leadership

For
by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of
yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober
judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have
the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ
according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;
ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in
exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the
compassionate, in cheerfulness.

-Romans 12:3-8 (NRSV)

Today’s Scripture We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. -Romans 12:6 (NRSV)

WHAT
comes to mind when you think of leadership? Do you think of great
leaders from the past? Or do you think of certain characteristics that
you feel a good leader should possess – qualities like vision,
self-confidence, communication skills, decisiveness? In the Christian
setting, many of us hesitate to lead when asked. Perhaps we don’t feel
we possess the skills needed to be a good leader.

Jesus’
leadership was not about leading in the business sense but rather about
doing what God had called him to do. Likewise, we have unique talents
and gifts from God, and we are called to use those gifts for serving,
for building up the Body of Christ. (See Eph. 4:12.) At times we may
pretend we don’t hear God calling us to serve, or we may rationalize
that we are too busy. We may even try to convince ourselves that we are
not capable because someone else is more qualified. However, God
doesn’t call the qualified; God qualifies those called.

The
heroes of the Bible were ordinary people with typical human flaws and
weaknesses. They show us that when it comes to serving in God’s
kingdom, we don’t have to be spectacular – just available. Spiritual
leaders are ordinary people, called and enabled by God.

John D. Bown (Minnesota, U.S.A.)

Prayer

Thought for the Day Life is about letting God use each of us for a purpose.

Prayer Focus

Ordinary heroes

The
scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the
Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the
National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by
permission. All rights reserved.

PLEASE SHARE THIS MINISTRY with a friend. Invite them to sign up for the free E-Mail Devotional by visiting:
http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/email/