if color were medicine

Time to allow SELF CARE

Constantly torn from pillar to post….

                                   Meeting everyone’s needs but our own.
                           It’s time to put ourselves on our own agenda and


                 find time to meet our own needs and do what makes us happy.


                                       It’s okay to take time for ourselves.


          We don’t even have to wait until everyone and everything else is taken care of.

Every DAY!

Everyday Christ is born in our hearts if we believe.

Everyday Christ’s gifts are given to us if we accept them.

Everyday Christ grows and learns if we do.

Everyday Christ baptizes us along with himself into a life of obedience.

Everyday Christ answers prayers as we pray.

Everyday Christ converts our hearts as we convert our ways.

Everyday Christ forgives our sins as we forgive ourselves and transform our spirits.

Everyday Christ follows us into the wilderness where we wander.

Everyday Christ rides into our world when we are watching and waiting and waving our palms in praise.

Everyday Christ washes our feet and serves us as we allow Him to take the lead of our lives.

Everyday Christ dies on the cross for the sins we commit.

Everyday Christ rises from the dead to take us into eternity with Him.

Everyday Christ’s church is born out the fire that we allow Him to ignite in our souls.

Everyday Christ, the Father and Holy Spirit reign in our hearts when we love them.

Everyday Christ wants to have our love, devotion, service and prayers.

Every D A Y!

Every day starts a new year! That was this morning's revelation during devotions. Since this date will not come for another whole year, you have my permission to declare every day New Year's Day! Make the most of it. Relish it! Live it! Forget past missteps and tomorrow's crises. Today, as the Bible tells us has its own worries (Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.) Each day has enough trouble of its own.. Deal with this moment and you can make it to the next and the next and so on. This is a short post but full of great things to think on!

Layers

How does life unfold?

one layer at a time

with days of hope and

nights of fears.

dreams realized and

others squashed.

Today shoulc be our only concern.

Tomorrow should remain a dream of possibility.

Yesterday should be memories of good times and challenges conquered.

2012 Word Focus

My word focus* for 2012 is PRESENT.



Not a gift but now, today, in the moment….


I have wasted much of my life worrying over what has happened and may happen, dreading the negative past and experiences that may reoccur. Fearing what if “X” happens is a constant issue. I have obsessed over bad things forever and the worst things I have experienced have been fairly mild compared to what could have happened. Recently while going through a difficult time I couldn’t move away from, I kept telling myself that all I must do is deal with the present moment and all the others would take care of themselves.


As a successful worrier I hope this word focus will help me learn a new method of dealing with life’s turmoil. As usual I have researched this word and found a few great thoughts and quotes on the subject which I will share now and as we go into and through the new year.


• Life unfolds in the present.


• Mindfulness is a way to focus on the present.


• Living in the present takes practice.


• Being in the moment forces us to no overthink (worry, obsess…)


• Relish the now of your life and worries dissolve.


• Breathe.


• Self-control is enhanced when you stay in the present.


• Accept what is happening in the moment, don’t add your own spin on what it may become or why it happened at all.


• Much is out of your control anyway.


• Your thoughts don’t have to materialize.


• Dwelling on the past or future is futile and useless.


• Present living makes things clear, calm and positive.






Quotes:






“I have known a great many troubles but most of them never happened.” Mark Twain


“Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” Cherokee Proverb


“Rejoice in the things that are present; all else if beyond thee.” Montaigne


“Yesterday is history; tomorrow is mystery; and today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.” Babatunde


“if you worry about what might be, and wonder what might have been, you will ignore what is.” Unknown


“we crucify ourselves between two thieves: regret for yesterday, and fear of tomorrow.” Fulton Oursler


“When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.” Unknown

* word focus is used by many in place of resolutions. it doesn't necessarily mean you conquer the task any easier than a resolution but it makes you examine a part of your life maybe ignored or neglected before the focus.

year end thoughts

At year’s end as I review…I realize many blessings…

surviving fears and dreads;

keeping parents in spite of health issues;

having my son return to NC with a reasonable distance to home and acquiring a good job in his field of expertise after a long journey both professionally and emotionally;

having a husband of 31 years continue to love and cherish me;

having supportive friends;

and the good grace of God over us all…..

end of year thoughts

Endings are terrible.

Finishing isn’t always positive.

Leaving is sad.

Goodbyes are difficult.

Change is hard.

Accept the challenges as gifts of grace, mercy and strength.

Happy Habits

Habits can be chosen and broken.



Bad habits can be replaced with good ones.


I’ve heard various amounts of time it takes to change habits.


I think some habitual activity is wise, but anything can be overdone.


I think we should all, especially in today’s world, find a way to make happiness a habit.


There’s a quote I love by Thich Naht Han:


     “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,


      but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy”.


I find this so true. With practice maybe we can all end the year and begin the new one with a smile on our faces, in our hearts and out there to share with the whole world.


Maybe this will be contagious and just heal a broken and hurting world.


Pie in the sky, Pollyanna thoughts but I needed to hear it and hope you did as well.

stop reading now if this is TMI

Unfortunately, I am one of those who tend to worry over what was and dread what will be. I obsess till I make myself sick many times. Being afflicted with irritable bowel syndrome only adds fuel to the fires of fear. Even good things that are not regular schedule stuff tends to bother me. For my type personality (and I don’t think there is a letter designating it yet) I tend to fret and stress over all things. As long as things are rocking along normally and in a rhythm I know then I do fine but the minute something throws me a curve, I lose it, in every possible way. In the end things are never as bad as I thought. Of course, I look back and see “past” hard times and find they were not so difficult. They brought me here.



So perhaps some day I will see these challenges and difficulties as a great strengthening of my spirit and not nearly so demanding. I hope that day is near. Maybe it I clean these negative thoughts, feelings and attitudes out now I will avoid them later.

Unity's 12 Gifts of Christmas become a focus for me.....

faith is my plan

strength is my fuel

wisdom is my guide

love is my endurance

power is my source

imagination is my catalyst

understanding is my salvation

will is my commitment

order is my fortress

zeal is my prayer

elimination is my safety switch

epiphany is my hope

if...

if a tiny babe born in a stable can change the world...believing in him can change a hurting world
if his grace can make a lost soul an eternal optimist...sharing that message can lead a world to eternal hope
if a single star can shine brightly enough to lead seekers to that stable...that same light can shine into the lives of a dark world
if three wise men can look for that babe....then we should be as wise to look for him
if christmas can be such big business in the secular world....then it should be as big in the life of each person in that world

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is a time to…

Seek a child’s vision

Follow a shepherd’s star

Listen for angels’ hymns

Travel far in faith as the Wise Men

Accept a life of service and selflessness

As the parents and child in that Nativity long ago.

Choosing what's best for Christmas!

It’s Christmas Eve!

Time to choose:

Others over self

Hope over doubt

Faith rather than worry

Joy instead of sadness

Peace not despair

The Light is always just beyond the Dark.

Darkness looms but without bits of light it is not fully realized.

These time slivers of light fight the dark and illuminate my soul.

It is said it is darkest before the dawn.

Light is on the rim of all darkness, never far away.

Push past the darkness.

Seek the light.

It is there is you try hard enough to see it.

Similar to light and dark, hope and despair, obvious opposites, are only a breath apart.

If focus can be navigated, hope stays in the light and pushes the darkness of despair to the back.

So never give up; light trumps darkness.

Hope defeats despair.

All of life is about focus.

We can choose to allow the negative focus to rule or we can focus on the positive and push all the despair, all of the dark and all of the negative as far away as possible.

Christmas Survival Guide

Stay calm

Hold onto sanity

Breathe


Find joy


Know purpose and do it well


Trust hope, prayer & salvation


Give more


Complain less


Love more


Forgive


Accept


Ignore what is not eternal


See blessings


Share all you have


Express gratitude

A Christmas Exemplar

Mary's Witness

His breath is my breath.

His love sustains me.

His grace continues to save me.

His joy is my joy.

All things come of Him!

Oh, Lord!

Amen!

(If only I could be as faithful as Mary.)

C H R I S T M A S

C is for a CARING Lord    

H is for a HOPE like no other

R is for REDEEMER of my heart

I is for IMMENSE love

S is for my SAVIOR forever

T is for the TRUTH for always

M is for MASTER of my life

A is for endless ADORATION

S is for SANCTUARY for my soul



Christmas Lessons

Hope is multiplied when prayers are said.

Joy is created when blessings are share.

Grace is abundant when forgiveness is given.

Faith is increased when beliefs are stated.

Love is doubled when given and accepted.

Peace is realized when chosen as a daily practice.