A Topsy-Turvy Week!

Haven't had much sleep the last few days. I think it's because of a new medication. Whatever the reason, it's made me a bit loopy, and the fibro fog is a bit thicker than usual this week!  Did I say a BIT thicker! Actually, the last couple of days, it's been thicker than pea soup!

The blessings continue to flow though, so I'm not really complaining! We had several inches of much-needed rain in our area over the weekend, then Monday started out with a beautiful sky. There were a few small puffy white clouds, but it was mainly a clear blue ceiling above us!

Somehow, this topsy-turvy week has gotten me to thinking about some things, like why things happen the way the do. There have been times in my life when I've wondered why is it that the good always die too soon, and the wicked continue to prosper. Well, the truth is, they aren't really prospering, it just seems that way!

When you take the time to really sit down and think about it, you begin to realize just how sad it is. Some have more wealth than they will ever be able to use in a lifetime, while others struggle to have barely enough food to eat.

The problem with this picture is that while the rich have all their wealth, and all the possessions that it will buy, the one thing they may not have in abundance is happiness. There are some things that money just can't buy. If they don't have the Lord in their life, they don't have true happiness. If they don't have true happiness, then life is empty indeed. Think about it - all they have is their riches! How far will those riches really get them, and how long will they last.

Those riches won't buy them good health, or happiness, or life eternal. What they have here - that's all there is. Now what can be more sad than that?!

On the other hand, many of the poor are able to deal with their lot in life because they have the Lord to get them through whatever comes their way. They know that they are just travelers passing through, and once they reach their destination, they will lack for nothing!

What a awesome feeling. What a destination to look forward to. What a wonderful bundle of hope to sustain us on life's journey. There are many transitions that come and go during our journey through life, but if you have a heavenly Best Friend who will travel step-by-step with you, and you have eternal life to look forward to, what more could you possibly want or need?

Ahhhh . . . Fall

It's that time of year when Fall is trying very hard to peek around the corner, yet Summer is still trying to hang on for dear life! I'm so anxious for the cooler temperatures of Fall to come and stay, and for Summer to go into hibernation for a few months.

I'm one of those who has always had to march to my own music, my own drummer. While others are busily planning winter projects of crafts and baking, and preparing for the upcoming holidays, my mind is slowly transitioning into a season of renovation, followed by a season of rest. It's my slow time of year.

As Spring comes around each year, many are ready to move out of the gray doldrums of Winter and start working on their Spring cleaning at the first signs of greenery. For me, Spring is a lazy time of year, but come late Summer and Fall, I'm ready for new beginnings and ambitious changes before the restful Winter season.

As Fall prepares to show it's face, my thoughts are turning to my own personal Fall transitions. I'm no longer working this year, so have high hopes for a total transition in my home and within myself. Much to my joy, this is the year I have the time to make a lot of the changes I'd like to make. I've spent the Summer months slowly decluttering and downsizing. Nothing major, but just little things that need to be gone. Worn out shirts, books read too many times, old magazines, and all the little bric-a-brac that seems to appear from nowhere, or just kind of builds up when we aren't paying attention.

Since I recently moved, I have pictures that still need to be hung, decorative items to place here and there, and just a changing and settling in of everything in general.

Life is good, and I'm looking forward to a lot of positive changes taking place throughout the coming months. These changes will not only be environmental, but personal also. My spiritual life needs daily attention, and prayer and meditation upon the things that are important in my life - the things that really matter.

The things that really matter are not things that money can buy, or the gifts we share with each other, The important things are the people and experiences that have made us who we are, right down to the very core of our beings. It's about our priorities, our relationships, and most of all, our relationship with God.

Every season has it's special qualities, and for each of us, every season represents something different. For me, I like the peaceful quiet and slowness of the Fall and Winter months. It becomes a time to refresh and re-energize my mind and my body for the busy times ahead. For some, Winter is a time of sadness and doldrums, and they eagerly await the time of rebirth and freshness that is Spring.

Historically, Fall is a time of nostalgia and change for me. Nostalgia for me is a peaceful frame of mind - a time of memories, thoughts of changes to come, and hope for new beginnings in my future. I don't see Fall as a time of death and loss. For me, it is a time of preparation for a season of rest and quiet - a hibernation of sorts - before Spring pops up again, needing all the energy required for rebirth and new growth!

As the leaves change color and fall to the forest floor, I too, will peel off the layers of a busy Spring and Summer. Now is the time to prepare for a quiet settling in for the Winter months. 

Life can be grand in every season, simply because each season has its own rewards. Every season can be what we make of it. Whatever your favorite and most peaceful season is, I hope that Fall will be good to you and bring you much joy!

Life is good, and every day is a blessing!! Enjoy it to the fullest!

Long time gone . . .

 

It's been a long time since I've been here. It seems after my mom died last year, the blog seem to die for a while too. Maybe for a while I just didn't have the heart, but now it feels like the time is right to start again and share the stories and notes about the transitions of my life.

As I sit here enjoying a cup of chamomile tea, I think about all that has happened in my life since I last blogged here. Some things haven't changed. The Lord continues to bless me richly with His constant care and guidance. My health has gone downhill a bit, but life is still good, and every day is a blessing from the Lord! 

He has challenged me, comforted me, corrected me, and led me in the ways that I should go. He's been my Rock - from helping me pick up the pieces after mom died, to meeting new challenges in my life. He is definitely my Rock!

I am no longer working as the manager of the senior apartment complex where I live. I had to step down because of health issues, but I am now the assistant manager with  new "subtitles" of Activities Director and Newsletter Editor. I enjoy both jobs and hope to be successful at both. 

We are trying hard to get some new activities going and liven this place up a bit, but over the last couple of years, it's been hard to get enough people interested in any one activity - other than bingo - to make anything work. Even half of our bingo players are non-residents who come to enjoy an afternoon with us. Everyone enjoys the weekly bingo games though and that's what counts.

Over the last year or so, we have been going through a transition here, where a lot of our older tenants have had to leave because they aren't able to live alone anymore, or they have passed away. We are slowly but surely getting in a younger, or at least healthier, group of residents here, so I'm hoping we can get some things going.

Our new manager is a real asset to our complex and I'm so glad he is here. I couldn't keep up with the job anymore, but when he came on, he hit the floor running and is doing a great job! So many of the changes that I wanted to get done, but couldn't - he has been able to accomplish. That has made me feel very good, because these were things that we as residents needed, or that needed to be done within the complex. I'm so happy to see these things getting done at long last. Our new manager is so full of energy and great ideas. He and I think a lot alike on many things, so our working together is a good match! His wife is a real sweetheart and I enjoy talking with her also.

For tonight, I will stop and enjoy my cup of tea. But I'll be back and share with you more of the "happenings" in my life! May God be with you and bless your life as richly as He has blessed mine!

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalm 34:1

Strangers On a Common Path

By chance, I met a lady from Sicily today, who is going through the same transition that I have been going through. She lost her mother just a couple of weeks before my mother died, and we shared a lot of what we had been going through. She also works full time at the grocery store where I shop, and like me, she had to rearrange her life to care for her mother. Now that we are no longer under the burden of constantly juggling our time between work and caring for an ailing parent, there is a sense of relief, appreciation of more free time, and . . . guilt . . . because we feel the relief.

Neither of us begrudged our mothers the time they needed from us. We would still be gladly giving to each of them if they were still with us. At the same time, there's no denying that it was a difficult and exhausting time! We were both sandwiched in between two generations who needed us, and the responsibility felt very heavy at times.

We shared stories and emotions and understanding. Just a chance meeting of two hearts and minds full of the same emotions and thoughts regarding the transitions that we were experiencing since the passing of our beloved mothers.
It's interesting how a bit of unexpected conversation with another traveller on your path can truly be medicine for the soul. God has His own ways of bringing us relief from the stresses of our journey, and providing the encouragement that we greatly need to face the transitions that are ahead.

God is good!

Transitioning to a Simpler Life!

I was enjoying a friend's blog earlier this evening and one thing led to another - literally. She had a lot of links to other blogs, so I checked out a few of those also. Most of them concerned homemaking skills, recipes, hobbies, and other varied interests along those lines.

The ones that seemd to grab my attention the most though, were the ones that spoke of simplifying one's life, and the many different ways to go about accomplishing that. These are the ones that seemed to touch a new need within myself, to declutter and simplify my own life.

I no longer have the desire to have my life governed by my job or my possessions. When I leave the office, I want to truly leave the office - both in body and in spirit. When I arrive at home, I want to relax in a clutter-free zone, and yet live in an environment that speaks of who I am. While my decor tends to be a bit eclectic, there is still the need for order and simplicity.

How is it that we pick up so many different possessions and collections of "things" over the years? How does it start? Does it start with the childish collections that began small, and grow with us, as we grow into adulthood? Can one enjoy a hobby or special interest without it taking over your shelves or your life?

I guess it all comes down to deciding what's important to you. Do you really cherish all those little knickknacks, or has the collection just become a habit that you don't know how to break? Do you really read, or intend to read, all those books, or listen to all that music that you've collected? What is really important to you - deep down within yourself? What gives you peace of mind and the ability to relax?

As always, it's a decision that must be left to the individual, and that individual's ability to prioritize all the "clutter" of life that surrounds us day in and day out. After all, one man's clutter may very well be another man's joy!

These are just the late night ramblings of a tired and cluttered mind . . . and yet, I sense the coming of another transition - just around the corner . . .

Sunshine Beautiful

Outside it was a gray, wet, and very windy day yesterday. Yet, in my heart, it was sunshine beautiful, because I am getting daily reminders of God's love and comfort. He reminds in so many ways, not only of His constant presence, but also of the lessons that my mother taught me during the last year of her life.

Growing up, I remember that my mother was both stubborn and impatient, but in her later years, she really mellowed a lot. By doing that, she taught me that there is hope for her stubborn, impatient daughter!

In the last year of her life, it seemed at times, as if the Lord and my mother were teaming up to show me a better way of life. She had mellowed to the point that very little ruffled her, and when something did upset her, she would say, "I can't allow things to upset me, I just have to pray about it and leave it to the Lord."

It was the little, every day things, that showed me how much my mother had allowed the Lord to make changes in her life. We mended some serious rifts during her last year, and grew closer than we had ever been. Maybe it was the "mending of the fences" that made me more attentive to what she had to say. Yet, it wasn't so much what she said, as what she did. She constantly looked to the Lord for her strength, and by her actions, she helped to strengthen my spiritual walk. I told her that one time, and her response was that she couldn't have made the changes without the Lord's help.

After having a massive stroke a year before her death, she felt very blessed to still be alive. Every day she gave credit to the Lord for another day of life. She almost died again four months later, but the Lord blessed once again. My mother often told me that she didn't know why she was still here on this earth. She figured it was either because the Lord had something He wanted her to do, or that she still had lessons to learn. Whichever it was, she was grateful for each and every day.

I'm thinking maybe He had lessons for ME to learn . . .

Hear my instruction and be wise, and do not disdain it. Proverbs 8:33

He's Always There . . . He's Everywhere!

Every day is a different day now. Each day is another day without our beloved matriarch, and the loss for our family has been great! When the phone rings, I wonder if it's her. When I hear something amusing, or something interesting, my first thought is to share it with her.

Now especially, I am so thankful for my heavenly Best Friend! He has been my Comforter and my Rock through all of this. Sometimes when I lie in bed at night, I can almost physically feel His arms around me, comforting me with His love and understanding. After all, He's already been down that path. He knows all about the emotional pain of loss.

No matter how great the loss, or how deep the pain, He can and will, ease the hurt. I've seen His love in the faces of friends and family who shared our grief. I've felt His comfort in the touch of those who have sympathized with our loss.

He is everywhere! No matter where I turn, day or night, He is there! His Words of scripture comfort me in the early morning hours, and my evening prayers thank Him for the strength He has given me to get through another day.

God is good. He is everywhere. He is my Rock.

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14.