Priorities!

My smallish Southeast Kansas hometown was featured in a two column article in this morning's copy of the Kansas City Star newspaper. The Crawford County Museum was reported as closing. It seems that the 75 year-old County Historical Society only has one member and he has been running the museum by himself for the past three years. He's tired and has decided to quit. I don't blame him.
All of the artifacts, he was quoted as saying, will be given to the county.
Put that fact up against another fact that I learned last weekend. While visiting this same smallish town, I discovered, much to my dismay, that in a town of less than 30,000, there are four Drive-Thru Liquor Stores. That's right, Drive-Thru Liquor Stores. I didn't even know such a thing existed.......especially in a state where the liquor laws have been historically strict. You cannot even buy alcohol, in a grocery store in Kansas.
I don't know where I'm going with these disparate facts or exactly how they are connected, but let me tell you, I am dumbfounded. What types of things are important these days? Where are our priorities, America?
Sometimes life is just darned amazing.

Great and all powerful Lord. Human beings are awe fully strange. Show us how to get it right. Help us to arrange our priorities, so that we can make life better for us and our fellow life travelers.
We praise you Holy Name.

Road Trip

I made a solo trip to St. Louis, and back, this weekend. All of those cross-country hours, in the car, gave me some intense and extensive alone time with me, myself and I. All three of us enjoyed the trip.
But, before you think that those 10 plus hours were quiet and contemplative, let me set you straight.
My plain old car radio and I are the best of traveling companions. From KC to Columbia ( a little over halfway on the journey) I sang along to contemporary country music. I actually enjoy country music, although I tend to get a little wound up in the story lines. After all, what isn't there to like about drinkin', lovin' and dirt roads?
From Columbia to St. Louis, my country music station petered out, so I switched genres and sang along to the songs from a station that claimed to be "St. Louis' only oldies station". Just imagine being able to groove to pop hits from the 50's and 60's, for hours! The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino! It was terrific.
Listening to old-fashioned, regular AM and FM radio stations gives you a variety that you can never get listening to personally mixed CDs or commercial CDs. I enjoyed every musical surprise that came up on both stations.
On the way home, I reversed my listening and ended up "crushing beer cans" (a current hit) right up until I drove into my driveway.

Thank you for being with me on my journey this weekend, Lord. Your presence was greatly appreciated. I am blessed to be your child. Allow me to find the courage and wisdom to do what you want and need for me to do. I am your vessel.

Bloom where you are planted.

Grandma Wintle always said that flowers should not be planted until after Mother's Day. Here in Mid-Missouri, we have experienced snow showers and frosty mornings well into April, so May planting is a good thing.
I am planting flowers today, on the Saturday before Mother's Day. There are two new planters on my front porch, into which I intend to snuggle a nice mixture of colorful blooms. Planting will give me some time to reflect on the holiday and to remember some good times with the mothers and mother figures I have known in my life.
Master Gardening does not come naturally to the women in my family. My grandmother tended iris and peonies, which amounted to watching them grow. My mother, to my recollection, never planted anything. Just today, my sister just told me a story about the beautiful purple flowers that popped up in her backyard........but, after a couple of weeks went by, she realized they were artificial!
I will be doing my planting today, and I'm going to enjoy the experience, with a smile.

Great and glorious God: Each and every day is a wonderful gift from you. Help us to focus on our blessings instead of our misfortunes. Just like pretty flowers, we all unique and colorful creatures.
Allow us all to be nurtured and to nurture one another.

She's got a ticket to ride.

One of my responsibilities, as the Concierge at a Retirement Community, is to arrange for transportation for the residents. Every day, I work on scheduling rides to and from doctor appointments, hair dressers, podiatrists and therapists. It's a challenge, but in truth, I am honored that I get to help so many folks get to where they need to go and in a timely manner.
However, I am beginning to wonder what the effects of such a responsibility is doing to my Psyche.
My work is beginning to manifest itself in my dreams.
I had a very unusual dream last night. I was riding a unicycle, in the midst of a snowstorm.  I was trying to transport passengers to appointments on that unicycle. It was fruitless, and I was trying so hard to get my work done. I tried and tried, but to no avail. I just couldn't make it work.
My co-worker, upon hearing about my dream,this morning, told me that when she worked in food service it wasn't unusual for her to have dreams about not being able to reach a table to take people's orders.
And, I remembered that during my days of teaching school, I sometimes had dreams about not being able to get to a classroom to teach. I would be unable to climb stairs to get to the classroom, there would be a door that I could not open, or I was without the proper schedule of classes.
I guess, all of these dreams constitute a certain type of work stress. Everyday life is not easy.

Good and all knowing God. Help me to let things go. Allow me to leave my stress in the workplace. Lead me and let me do my best at work and then give me enough sense to leave the rest to You. You are my most learned teacher and advisor. Remind me to listen to your wisdom.

Enough is way too much.

I want a dumpster. Yes, I really want a dumpster. I believe after nearly 50 years of marriage (to the same man), keeping track of 4 children (who made it to adulthood), and living in the same house for nearly 40 years, I want a dumpster. I need a dumpster. I could fill a dumpster.
It's time to lighten my load. Over the same amount of years, mentioned above, I have been accumulating stuff. I have way, way too much stuff. And, not only have I been keeping and packing and stacking stuff, my husband has been doing the same, and of course those adult children still have stuff here that they haven't collected.
So, I want to take a de-cluttering pledge, right here and now. I am going to start unloading right after I get up, away from this computer.
Tonight it will be one bag of stuff. Tomorrow I will fill up another bag. I'm going to keep at it until I have lightened my load. My goal will be no more piles in the corner, and no more stacks in the closets. It's time to get it done. I've attempted to do this before, but there were always excuses. Well, no more excuses.
Truthfully, I probably won't be getting a dumpster, but I am going to make a real, honest to God effort to de-clutter my life.
Wish me luck.

What can I say, Lord. I am blessed. I have more than what I need. It's time to simplify. You have said, " Love God and love one another." That's as simple and as easy as it gets.
Keep beating that into my cluttered mind.
With your help, Lord, I can make this happen.

Patty's Potatoes

On occasion, I prepare a dish I call Patty's Potatoes. It's a family favorite and I always get compliments whenever I serve it. My friend Patty gave me the recipe years ago, and that's why I always call the tasty dish, Patty's Potatoes.
However, in spite of the invariably rave reviews the dish gets from family and friends, it always reminds me of a horrible mistake I made in giving someone the recipe.
Patty and I had a mutual friend. I told the friend about the wonderful new potato recipe I had. (In truthful retrospect, I probably failed to tell her it came from our mutual friend, Patty.) It was a simple recipe, one that required only the word-of- mouth details...not a long, drawn out recipe. Do this and do that and it's great, an easy type of thing.
The mutual friend prepared the recipe and of course, to her, the recipe became "Nancy's Potatoes".
All was well, until Patty heard about it. OMG. What a horrendous mistake, I had made.
I tried to correct the error with one and all.....especially Patty, but the deed was done.
Our mutual friend continued to make "Nancy's Potatoes."
Patty and I never had the same relationship, we had once had.
I CONFESS. I messed up.

Dear Lord: Often we make mistakes. We regret them. Life goes on and we still remember what a mess we made and we continue to regret having made that bad decision.
We are truly sorry. You have forgiven us. Help us to move on.
It is possible that others have forgiven us, and it is only ourselves that we can't forgive.
We know that you are our shield and protector.
We praise your wisdom and power.
Amen.

What goes around........

In order to arrive at my place of employment, I have to maneuver one of those modern automobile traffic configurations called Traffic Circles or Round-Abouts. Living and learning to drive in the American Heartland has given me very little experience with this type of  "traffic calming" device. Cities in the Midwest are traditionally built on grids. We have right turns and we have left turns. We make a point of not "merging" into traffic!
Years ago, while in Paris, France, I remember being a passenger on a bus circling the Arc d' Triumph (BTW, our driver did have a minor wreck, trying to make the exit) and in the United Kingdom, I was driven through a few of them.
In the U.S., I actually drove through DuPont Circle in Washington, D.C. and I remember listening to my father's rants and raves as he attempted to negotiate the Traffic Circle at the heart of Indianapolis, Indiana. Those encounters were the extent of my Round-About experience, until I took my current job.
Now, every day, I use the Traffic Circle to get to work. In fact, it's a double circle. The rules of the Traffic Circle are simple. Entering traffic yields to traffic already within the circle. This rule applies to every state in the US and county in Europe, except New Jersey,(where no rules apply).
But there are many, many drivers who apparently are not aware of this one, very simple yielding rule.
And, believe it or not Traffic Circles are becoming the norm in new road construction.
The last two Retirement Communities, constructed in our area, are approachable only through Traffic Circles.
Senior Drivers----Round-Abouts!
A perfect storm!

Dear God: Sometimes life makes no sense. Your children have made up some really silly rules. Sometimes our human solutions are slightly ridiculous, especially when your instructions are so simple. "Love God and love one another".
We praise your Wisdom and Power.