It's all about change.

For the past several weeks we have been engaged in a home remodeling project. We have owned our home for nearly 40 years and although we have painted and redecorated numerous rooms, numerous times, we haven't updated the flooring in a really long time.
Our plans are to change the flooring in the kitchen, living room, dining room and two baths. We might tackle the other rooms at a later date, but that's what we're doing right now. Our goal is to have the current project completed by Thanksgiving (3 weeks from now). We are on schedule and we have absolutely no reason to think that we won't get it done on time.
I find that I am able to handle the stress of living in remodeling chaos quite easily. But, then I get up every morning and leave for my job for eight hours. The dust isn't particularly bothering me, nor is the fact that our "stuff" is in boxes, placed where it doesn't normally belong. I just come every night and manage to work around the mess.
My spouse on the other hand, appears to be a bit discombobulated with the remodeling process. He tends, by nature, to be very orderly, and he is living in the clutter 24/7. In his mind, we cannot be finished with the changes soon enough to please him.
As a good friend of mine once said, " This too shall pass." We will get through this chapter in our lives and live on to start more adventures in the future.

Good Lord: Help us to realize that change is a real constant. Nothing ever remains the same. Familiar faces and places are comforting, but fleeting on the path of life. Be with us and we make changes.
Guide us and show us how to make our lives the way you want them to be. Make us your stewards.

Here kitty, kitty.

Most everyone is familiar with the humorously descriptive term "herding cats". Although most of us have never taken part in corralling a rowdy bunch of felines, many of us have had experiences that could be described as rivaling that of a kitty wrangler.
I've never taught preschool, but I can only imagine the task of attempting to get 3 and 4 year-olds to stay in line-up or sit still for any period of time. No doubt, it is crazy difficult. Trying to control preteens, during their 15 minute lunch hour, has been about the extent of my cowgirl experience.
However, yesterday it was my job to transport 6 octogenarians, along with three multi wheeled walkers, home from a scheduled lunch date. And, had my passengers suddenly grown pointy ears and tails, it wouldn't have surprised me in the least!
My first task was to get all 6 ladies into their appropriate seats and get their seat belts fastened. It's sometimes difficult for folks of any age to locate the right belt and place it into the matching receptacle. Arthritic hands and fingers find it particularly hard. So, I took it upon myself to secure the belts in the proper manner. I did this by stretching and tugging my passengers, the belts and myself, in all manner of ways, over the van's three rows of seats.
Then, dealing with the loading of the walkers was another issue. They had to be folded, in order for the vehicle to accommodate them. That meant the baskets had to be removed and stowed separately, from the chariots. Only one of the walkers would fit in the back storage area of the vehicle. Since I am just a smidgen too short to close the hatch of the van without assistance, I had even more logistics issues.
I'm not even going to tell you about the problems we experienced with the 6 handbags and the portable oxygen tanks.
But, once loaded, we made our journey.
Arriving home, we started the process all over again, as we proceeded to unload. Herding cats.

Lord: Give me patience. You have placed me here to do your work. Thank you for all of your creatures and thank you for Michaela (without her help I would have had to drive both ways).

I can't believe that you said that!

I have made a new acquaintance. I write acquaintance because the chances of the two of us becoming, in any way, shape or form, friends will most likely never happen.
We are truly opposites. I can't think of one thing that we agree on. My acquaintance is Anti-Abortion and I am Pro-Choice. We differ on our views about same-gender marriages and on whether or not folks ought to live together without a legal union. Our religious differences are huge. We are on opposite sides when it comes to the definitions of missionary, heaven and doctrine. Our political views define the words "polar opposites". Oh and duh, we don't think the same jokes are funny.
Interestingly enough, I do not dislike this person. We are just not in agreement, on anything.
In spite of our differences, I really believe that meeting my opposite is a positive thing. By listening and discussing different points of view, my faith is going to grow. I will learn to be more tolerant and hopefully become more educated about all manner of subjects.
I hope this positive attitude is reciprocal.


Gracious God: Thank you for creating different kinds of folks. I am thankful for those who make me think and cause me to question. My faith grows daily, because you are my constant. You challenge me. I will strive to become a better Christian.
I am thankful and humbled before you.

Look at ME, NOW!

I am annoyed and slightly troubled by the trend of "selfies". When did we get so absorbed by our own likenesses that we began to take our own pictures, seemingly, incessantly?
I remember thinking, several years ago, that it was kind of cute to see teenage girls taking phone pictures of themselves with their friends. It's not so cute anymore. It's gotten downright Narcissistic., and I think it might actually be harmful to young psyches.
Common folk are taking "selfies". Celebrities are taking them. Politicos are taking them.They are being posted everywhere and I don't want to see them.
Think about the real celebrities of the past. (Now I do realize that the technology didn't exist years ago, but....) Can you imagine Jesus taking a "selfie"? How about Lincoln? For that matter how about Frank Sinatra or Elizabeth Taylor? Would they? Well, I just don't think so.
As a teenager, I think I probably spent more than my share of time in front of a mirror. As I got older, I didn't have much time for that kind of nonsense, and I became more confident in my own skin.
Today, in this, "Look at ME world" folks are obsessed with their own images. We should be loving ourselves a little less and loving others more.
Cut it out!

Dear God. We are really a bunch of silly beings. We worry too much about our own appearance and how we look to others. You have told us to Love God and Love each other. That is so hard to do, when we spend so much of our time worrying about who we are and how we look.
Lead us toward the right goals and create within us a thankful and worthy servant of God.

One Megabyte, Two Jules, Three Amperes, Go!

One of my favorite TV Commercials (I enjoy Commercials more than most current programming) is the one which promotes some type of insurance that takes 15 minutes to save 15% on your bill. This particular commercial features an older woman speaking to her two friends about her vacation photos that are "posted on her wall". She shows them that they are, in fact, taped to her living room wall. During her 60 seconds of air time, she also verbally "un-friends" her one listener, for questioning her computer skills. The former friend then says, " This isn't how any of this works!"
I'm not doing it justice here, so believe me when I say it's pretty funny.
My thought is, we are often confused about how "things work".
I am computer literate. I can type, send and receive email, play games, create a decent spread sheet and make a darn good greeting card. However, if you start talking to me about Cookies and bytes and bits, forget it. I am probably at a fourth grade commuter literacy level.
The same goes for electricity and gasoline engines. I know just enough about a great many subjects to be slightly dangerous to others.
All folks may be created equal, but we were sure separated at birth when it comes to knowledge and life experiences.

All Good and All Knowing God: We would accomplish nothing without your Divine Intervention.
Lead and guide us as we go through life. Show us how to do your will. Allow us to recognize our limitations.

Make like a tree and leaf!

Remember the Joyce Kilmer poem, "Trees"? As young children, most of us read it and perhaps we were even asked to memorize it. "I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree."
As I write this post, I am looking out our front window at the two huge ash trees, which are the total landscape features of our double-width front yard. Tomorrow, they will be gone.  They have become the first victims, in our neighborhood, of the dreaded ash bore. Tree experts predict that 90% of the ash trees in the Midwest will succumb to the disease and most of the older neighborhoods, in our area, will be "ash-trees-less", in 5-8 years. Our trees are infected and because we can't afford to risk having them fall on our home or cars, or us, they have to be removed.
The tree-man and his crew are coming tomorrow. They have promised to remove all traces of the two, nearly 60 year old trees. They are even going to grind the stumps.
We will miss their shade and protection. We'll be sad about losing the sight of their brilliant yellow beauty in the autumn. However, we will be able to quit losing sleep over the possibility of a smashed car and/or house roof, by their absence.
Yes, we will certainly miss them.
The trees teach a lesson and it is a lesson that we all learn as we grow older. Nothing lasts forever. Nothing remains the same. Diapers are a phase. Cranky and moody teenagers grow up. Jobs come and go. We live, we die. Change is a fact of life.

Gracious and all knowing Lord. Your steadfast love endures forever. You are the constant, in our ever changing existence. Our lives are never going to stay the same. However, our faith in You sustains us, as we experience our ups and downs. Life is a cycle. Watch over us and keep us strong.

Now what did I do with my car keys?

Each and every time I meet with a group of my contemporary boomers, the conversation seems to drift toward the subject of forgetfulness. We all seem to spend a great deal of time talking about how we are always forgetting our car keys or how we are continually misplacing everyday items.
When we talk about such things, so often, it really means that we are genuinely afraid of the onset of  Alzheimer's and or dementia.
Let me be truthful with you. Forgetting where you put your car keys is normal for just about everyone. We all forget day to day things. Our lives are so busy with the trivia of life that our minds are full and our brains are on overload. Forgetting happens..
It's the next step that should have you concerned.
If you forget where you placed your eyeglasses, don't worry, they are right where you last put them down. You'll discover them, sooner or later. Now, if when you find them, you cannot remember how to put them on your head, or if you can't remember what you use them for.......then you should start worrying.
The same thing goes for your car keys. You will find them, eventually. However, if upon finding them, you do not know that they are used for starting your car, or if you can't remember how to drive......you may have a problem.
So, chances are, if you are forgetting to remember things, it's probably okay. Just forget about it.

Great and Powerful God. We are not perfect. We can never be perfect. Help us to accept our own short comings and the faults of others. We get frustrated when we don't do everything just right. Teach us how to love and honor you with our own humble abilities.
You are perfect in every way.