A private calling/mission complete! Thank you God! Thank you readers for making this personal goal a reality!

As I have been returning to the “Land of the Living” from this stubborn virus I had over the holidays …the reality of lost time has set in. Where did the month go?

Yesterday was (rather frantically) spent writing checks, paying bills, and sadly ‘thinking” about taking down Christmas decorations. The last three weeks are a distant blur of hacking and croaking… but I am finally climbing back in the saddle.

Losing time is scary, isn’t it? It leaves one completely discombobulated.

So I decided to charge the enemy of ‘lost time’ with some good old organization. Besides paying bills and starting to take down a couple of decorations, I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom…let some fresh air in and spray-sanitized every germ still brave enough to remain in the house…including me.

I attacked the ‘overstocked’ computer files…even the dreaded “Documents” folder. This folder contain years of old lesson plans, workshop activities, etc./ etc. I sharpened up my “delete” finger and charged in.

Unfortunately cleaning out documents is like cleaning out old photo albums…you never finish because you stop to relish (with delight) in the old-familiar faces from yesteryear.

I would re-read a lesson plan or activity and enjoy it just as much, in the present,  as I did while teaching it. And every now and then a story would pop up that seemed out-of-place in these particular files…but still containing a life lesson worth remembering.

That is how today’s story evolved. The title caught my attention and when I “opened” it I knew this was the perfect story for a new year. A story about marbles…

 * As I went scavenging the house looking for any marbles left abandoned in old bedroom drawers (talking about “losing one’s marbles”) for the title picture… I, instead, opened a desk drawer and fell over laughing.

I stared down at dozens of pink “Seeds of Happiness” clay smiley faces… smiling back at me. (I figured they were close enough to being in the marbles family to count.)

When (almost two years ago) Walsh and Mollie had the cake “revealing” celebration to find out if baby number one would be a boy or girl….Honey made dozens of blue clay seeds of happiness and pink clay seeds of happiness to give out, to family and friends,  as mementos of the happy occasion.

When the cake was cut and it was  revealed “blue” (our adorable Mr. Rutledge) …everyone made a mad dash for the blue bowl….leaving the pink bowl alone and sad.

(Will it be sad much longer or is baby two going to have the last “pinkalicious” laugh?..Only time will tell…but I am ready with the mementos if a little girl arrives on the scene. If it is another little boy….I’ll call you Honey! Back to the kiln!!)

“One Thousand Marbles”

(Author Unknown)

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it’s the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, of maybe it’s the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen, with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.

Let me tell you about it. I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself.

He was talking about “a thousand marbles” to someone named “Tom.” I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say…

“Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital.

” He continued, “Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.”

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.” “Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.

“Now stick with me Tom, I’m getting to the important part. “It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail”, he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. “I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.

“So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. “I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.

“I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for  breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones……

“It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!”

You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about.

I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.” “What brought this on?” she asked with a smile. “Oh, nothing special,” I said. ” It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”

…………………………..

So until tomorrow….this quote is worth a moment of reflection of two…

“If every year is a marble, how many marbles do you have left? How many sunrises, how many opportunities to rise to the full stature of your being?”  

– Joy Page

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

 * Sometimes you do get rewarded for cleaning up….like, yesterday, when I disassembled the “Apple Tree” centerpiece Honey made for me…Under it all was a beautiful plate she had molded in clay by hand. A hidden treasure…just like Honey!

  It’s hard to tell from this picture but “middle amaryllis” has four blooms and is so heavy laden/ top heavy…it can’t raise its head. It had toppled over in the night spilling dirt everywhere…

…so I began searching for some kind of prop…and decided on a crooked walking stick cane someone gave me as a joke (hopefully) when I retired…I then got some twine and somehow the walking stick is now tied to the blinds which are then tied to the stem. A little confusing but it is working.

Did you have your “Hoppin’ Johns yesterday?” I did…but only because my “luck” comes in having friends who make it and and then bring it! The luck of the Irish…my friend Anne Peterson! With friends, like Anne, I am now stocked in ‘good luck’ ready for the new year….bring it on!

If you are an Auburn fan…the bowl game was a real heart-breaker….anything more “heart-melting” came in the form of Rutledge and Eva Cate singing with their flashlight “microphones”…..imagination at its best.

* Let me try and see if I can get the video to play….all 10 seconds of it…Thanks Kaitlyn for recording this….obviously the “song” was dedicated to Dad (Walsh/aka Woo Woo)…With such obvious ‘talent’ …surely a tune can’t be far behind.

Dear Reader:

Happy New Year! And look who surprised me this morning in all her glory? “Middle Amaryllis” greeted 2015 with two beautiful blooms… back-to-back!

It reminded me of the two-faced Roman god, Janus, who looks to the past with one face and to the future with another. (Though I will have to say the two “faces” of my amaryllis are much prettier than the sculptured faces of Janus…don’t you agree?)

What a way to start the day…much less the year! I took time to do some reflecting last night and realized that three weeks of feeling crummy (and missing out on holidaybirthday activities) had distorted my overall remembrances of 2014.

The last three months of this past year have certainly been challenging…all the trips back and forth to St. Francis for physical therapy while adjusting to “Python” constricting wrappings on my left hand and arm several weeks in succession. (Though I do love my physical therapist….adorable and so sweet!)

And then coming right on top of all of that…an (initially) innocent sounding cough that  decided to settle in my larynx and not leave. (It didn’t even have the decency to pay rent!)

Christmas was definitely “dampened” by my laryngitis and bronchitis. (How I have any lungs left is quite miraculous…I feelt like I have coughed them up several times a day for weeks.)

Isn’t it wonderful that nothing stays the same in life? Whether good or not so good….change will happen. When one has been going through a ‘not-so-good’ time…this knowledge is quite gratifying.

To add even more hope and joy to my mental health…the  sun came out so beautifully yesterday…and after two doses of antibiotics I am already feeling stronger physically and my voice is beginning to return. Life is reassuring me (through my amaryllis blooms) that it continues to go on…and something beautiful can “pop” at any moment.

Besides…how can I ‘poo poo’ 2014 when I went to Ireland for goodness sake? Those memories will last me a lifetime!

In fact WordPress sent me two annual reports this year….one showing that the pictures from Ireland Anne and I sent- (which John put on the blog) drew the largest number of views from 2014!)

The first annual report covers the time period from Jan 1 to the fateful November 19 time period. The second annual report covers stats from  November 25 until December 31. I want to share these reports with you and I will also provide a link to both reports, if interested.

But… just in case you can’t open the link (for some reason)….let me share some of the major stats with you.

First Annual Report (January 1-November 19- 2014)

Crunchy numbers

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about79,000times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 3 days for that many people to see it.

The busiest day of the year was June 25th with 982 views. The most popular post that day was Photos of Becky and Anne in Ireland.

How did they find you?

The top referring sites in 2014 were:

1. facebook.com
2. web.mail.comcast.net
3. reddit.com
4. semalt.com
5. pinterest.com

Where did they come from?

+ From all over the world

− 168 countries in all!

Most visitors came from The United States. U.K. & India were not far behind.

Who were they?

Your most commented on post in 2014 was Stop and “Remark” about God’s “Remarkable” World

These were your 5 most active commenters:

• 1 Gin-gEdwards 116 COMMENTS
• 2 Ambika Murthy 56 COMMENTS
• 3 Sis Kinney 46 COMMENTS
• 4 Jo Dufford 41 COMMENTS
• 5 Honey Burrell 33 COMMENTS

(* Thank you girls for commenting and letting me know your thoughts…it helps me tremendously.)

Here is the link for this report: http://archivechapelofhopestories.wordpress.com/2014/annual-report/

The Second Report only included the blogs from November 25, 2014 to until December 31. It is interesting to see the change in dynamics in this short a period, however.

Crunchy numbers

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 3,600 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 60 trips to carry that many people.

There were 426 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 58 MB. That’s about a picture per day.

The busiest day of the year was November 25th with 166 views. The most popular post that day was When to ‘Cut Our Loss’ and Keep Moving A’head.

 

 

How did they find you?

The top referring sites in 2014 were:

1. facebook.com
2. buttons-for-website.com
3. make-money-online.7makemoneyonline.com
4. pinterest.com
5. urlm.co

 Where Did They Come From?

 51 countries in all!
Most visitors came from The United States. Brazil & India were not far behind.

Who were they?

Your most commented on post in 2014 was When to ‘Cut Our Loss’ and Keep Moving A’head

These were your 5 most active commenters:

• 1Gin-g Edwards – 11 COMMENTS
• 2Johnny Johnson – 8 COMMENTS
• 3ambikasur – 6 COMMENTS
• 4Jo Dufford – 5 COMMENTS
• 5Brooke- 4 COMMENTS

* Once again gals and guy (Johnny) I appreciate you taking the time to make a comment….I look so forward to getting comments back on any blog reading. Means the world to me!

Here is the link to this report: http://chapelofhopestories.com/2014/annual-report/

So until tomorrow I share with you this blessing for the New Year… that I love from Irish poet John O’Donohue.

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”

My hope for all of us as we travel this next year’s time period along our journey is that we are brave enough to accept change and use it to help us grow in the light of God. To be the person God always wanted us to be. To reach our full potential…using the gifts God gave us.

And now John O’Donohue’s Poem for a New Year…..

“For a New Beginning”

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

—John O’Donohue

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Ya Alert….my good friend Libby texted last evening to let the Ya’s know that her darling daughter, Betsy, had quite a health scare yesterday at work. An ambulance was called and Betsy was taken to the hospital to check  her light-headedness, extreme rapid heartbeat and accelerating blood pressure.

Over time it eventually dropped down low enough to release her with a monitor to get more information on what is going on. Hopefully then there will be some much wanted answers to this puzzling episode. Please keep Libby’s and Betsy’s families in your prayers this week. Thank you.

 * Betsy is our “It’s All Good” mantra gal…she is the epitome of optimism and love…so Betsy I say to you now “It’s all good” because you are in God’s hands.” And as Auntie/Mama Boo would say…” Don’t worry…It will be alright”!

Dear Reader:

As I sat on the sofa yesterday deciding on what story would end 2014…a child’s name kept trying to break through the cobwebs of my memory. A story that really touched me but had been pushed aside for another story a few weeks ago. I remember thinking (at the time) to “bookmark” the pages.

Not only did I not do that…I didn’t even write down which book the story came from. I knew the overall gist of the story (loved it) and that it involved a little girl with a different name….but nothing else would come.

I started looking through the nearest books around my computer… but with no luck. I finally gave up and went to get something out of the guest bedroom and there was a book lying on the bed that I knew intuitively was the book.

  It didn’t take five minutes to find the story: “Iva Mae’s Birthday” written by Nita Waxelman in Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul.

The story is told by the author….as she remembers a little girl in grade school with a special birthday that taught her classmates important lessons in life… that would come much later.. only with maturity and reflective hindsight.

Before we start the story… Take a minute and think back to the one adult in your life who was there for you during the tough times and the bad times growing up….yet never judged you while the crisis was at hand. (Later perhaps… but not during the crisis)

Dee Dee and Poppy were these two caring adult mentors for their grandchildren. It was mainly the granddaughters,( though also the grandsons occasionally) who sought Dee Dee’s wisdom with problems at school, dating issues, and “Mom doesn’t understand me” conflicts.

Poor Poppy got the midnight calls once the boys started driving…they were broken down, or in a fender-bumper…what to do when the police came, and even more serious car wrecks. Poor Poppy, at this period of his grandchildren’s adolescent lives… always seemed to be missing his truck or car which he had loaned a grandchild with car problems.

It is very important in child development that there is a grandparent or relative to assist in the awkward growing up antics of adolescence skirting the first line of offense…the parents. ( Now that I am a grandparent I understand this new position even clearer.)

However, (in our story today)  it is Iva Mae’s mother who emerges as the real hero and birthday saver… while teaching one of the most important lessons in life to twelve first graders.

“Iva Mae’s Birthday”

The year is 1936 and Iva Mae Maples has never had a birthday…but this year, in the first grade, she is determined to do so. She has walked around and invited all her classmates (orally) to her birthday party which would fall on the third Friday of September.

It is deep in the Great Depression, all the children are wearing scraps on pants legs and dresses as they would grow taller throughout the year… but at least they all had shoes. Not so with Iva Mae…very quickly the children understood that she was the poorest girl in the first grade class.

Her feet could be seen through the holes in her mother’s shoes. They were too big and kept falling off her feet. She even wore her mother’s cardigan sweater as a coat…even though the sleeves fell down to her knees.

But no matter…Iva Mae was the most popular girl in the first grade…she was funny and giggled all the time tucking zinnias into her pigtails. She would belch and then glare at the poor student sitting next to her saying, “Well. I never, I sure hope you feel better now.”

Iva Mae brought the most wonderful lunches to school. Her mother canned day and night to keep food on the table and the results were wonderful to the other classmates who watched her eat homemade vegetable soup with a big square of buttered cornbread…as their mouths watered…staring down at their peanut butter sandwich.

Finally Iva Mae’s birthday arrived. The teacher had all the children put their presents in the coat closets until after school when they would follow Iva Mae home for the party. Everyone was so excited…ice cream and cake…WOW! Iva Mae’s eyes were as big as saucers as she stared at all the presents in the closet.

When the bell rang at three everyone grabbed his/her present and began to follow Iva Mae. But she was suddenly acting strangely….the closer we got to her home…the quieter she became and now her eyes looked bigger than saucers….filled with terror.

Everyone soon discovered why. When the dozen students trouped into Mrs. Maple’s two room house…she looked confused and dazed. Bewildered she stared down at Iva Mae… waiting for an explanation.

In the quietest voice we had ever heard  …while twitching this way and that…we listened to her say: “I just decided to have me a birthday party, and I didn’t think you’d mind. I plumb forgot to tell you and …” She was now staring down at her feet sticking out of her mama’s shoes.

You could have heard a pin drop. Poor Mrs. Maples didn’t know about the party…oh no…no ice cream, no cake!

Mrs. Maples clutched at her throat saying repetitively…”Oh my…oh my.”

We could all feel the indecision as she looked down into Iva Mae’s pleading eyes. Then, suddenly, she started to laugh while tears flowed down her face. She went over and hugged Iva Mae. “You’re right…it’s party time.”

For the first time the whole class began looking around at all the shelves in both rooms of the house. Every shelf was jammed with home-canned produce from her garden. It actually was a beautiful sight of plenty…the different colored jars were catching the mid-afternoon’s sun rays and sparkling like they knew they should be decorative for the party.

Mrs. Maples grabbed four quarts of soup from one shelf and began to warm it up. She then told the girls to go pick fourteen pears from the garden and a bunch of zinnias to decorate the table.

Out in the garden one girl asked Iva Mae why her mother gave so much room to the zinnias when she could grow more produce if she made it smaller. Iva replied that her mother said: “Oh the zinnias are the food for our souls.”

The zinnias were beautiful…every color imaginable!

While snacking on soup and crackers…we soon forgot all about the ice cream and cake. Mrs. Maples arranged the 14 pears on a big platter and right in the middle placed a candle which she lit and we sang Happy Birthday to Iva Mae.

Everyone munched on his/her delicious pear… as Iva Mae opened all twelve presents: paper doll books, coloring books, hair ribbons, lotion, scarves, Old Maid cards, puzzles, yo yo’s and even a kaleidoscope. Iva Mae’s face was pink with delirious happiness.

And Mrs. Maples? She glowed also to see the happiness on her daughter’s face.

Before everyone left mother and daughter gathered zinnia seeds and gave them as a thank you gift…placing them in each child’s palm. Mrs. Maples said, ” Plant these next spring, and remember me when you see them bloom.”

The author concludes it has been 65 years since she was in that little first grade class with Iva Mae and she still remembers the courage of that poor mother surprised with twelve children… expecting a birthday party.

“I remember her good humor, her sweetness, her creativity, her courage in making do during a hard period in their lives. I remember her showing me that you don’t need ice cream and cake to have a great party, and that no gardener is ever too poor not to have something to share with others.”

“Perhaps most of all, I remember how I no longer felt that Iva Mae was the poorest girl in our first grade class.”

…………………………..

So until tomorrow…Let us end 2014 remembering the brave and kind individuals who helped us grow along our journey….and let us begin 2015 by stopping to look back and lend a hand to those behind us who need a boost at this point in their lives.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* The photo of these two canned tomato jars (title) came from gifts from Honey at Christmas. Getting ready to make some more vegetable soup.

Eva Cate got an easel for Christmas and she has the ‘art bug’ going around now… which makes her mom (art teacher) very happy…Mandy told me she painted three “Masterpieces” yesterday and shared one with us.

I can hardly wait to see you, blog readers, next year (tomorrow) and share together what the New Year brings….Thank you for your loyalty to the blog! I will share some information WordPress sent about the old and new blog stats. Quite interesting.

A Big Shout-Out to my oncologist, Dr. Silgals, who ordered me antibiotics to help me get rid of this never-ending bronchitis/larynigitis yesterday. I finally see hope where it was fading for me after three weeks of “muteness.”

Thanks Dr. Silgals for stepping up to plate for me on this medication. A homerun!

Happy New Year!

  Dear Reader:

I heard back from several of you yesterday remembering Christmases past and special people who have gone ahead but who still live within you…guiding you along your life’s journey. I will share one at the end of the blog. Thank you for commenting!

But before we do that…there was one other idea mentioned in yesterday’s story that I forgot to mention. It, however, started me thinking in a new direction.

In one passage of the book Theodora is trying to remember her favorite Christmas….at 93 the task isn’t easy.

She finally settles on a Christmas from the 20’s when she was around six. She describes how everyone would help wet long strands of rope, hanging it on the front porch. While it was drying the family would begin inserting all types of greenery …interweaving it in the rope…so that by the time the rope dried the garland was secured for the holidays.

Then they would all bake cookies and cook favorite recipes together…followed by each child decorating his/her own room in any Christmas fashion they wished for the holidays…always surprising the family with  “tea party” drop-in delivered with home-made invitations.

Theodora commented that the fun of the holidays was never in the presents, even as a child she realized that, but in the preparation for Christmas. Theodora lived for that glorious moment when everything else stopped and all the family came together to create Christmas memories ….the best present of all! Being together…sharing one goal.

Still…the children wanted to make their parents and grandparents a gift and they did…the same gift every year. And every year the family would make much “fuss” over the present being the best or the prettiest yet.

You see…back then…people read…a lot! It was not unusual for the average reader to have three or more books “going” at the same time. So the children worked on  homemade “bookmarks.”

Theodora and her brother Gordie would construct bookmarks for the family members who loved to read…which turned out to be everyone in their family. Their home’s library was well stocked with every kind of book imaginable…there was no censorship of reading materials. Simply to read took importance over what one read.

Theodora and Gordie would work together….drawing a bird or flower on a “skinny piece of tall, stiff paper.” They would then color their pictures carefully and finish off the gift… making a fringe using manicuring scissors. They would sign their name…always including the important date… like Christmas 1923.

While waiting for the Christmas tree to go up…Theodora and Gordie made homemade envelopes for their bookmarks and then hid them under their beds.

Parents and grandparents, alike, would act completely surprised at their new bookmarks… as if they had never even seen one before…each Christmas this or that bookmark was considered the best one yet!

The bookmarks only had to hold up a year until replaced with a new one….but, one day, Theodora happened across several years’ worth of bookmarks in her grandmother’s bed table drawer… after her death. They looked like they had all been handled many times, with affection, by her grandmother. The large envelope that held them all…read “Comfort and Joy.”

……………………………

   This Christmas gift of old…got me thinking about all the different bookmarks I have accumulated over the years. But for some reason the only one I seem to be able to hold onto is a miniature wooden cross given to one of my children when they were baptized….long ago.

If we look at our own life journeys as stories…haven’t we all experienced “bookmark”people in our lives who appear (seemingly out of nowhere) to help us through a rough passage in our lives and then disappear as quickly as they came?

Perhaps the “book marker” helps us close a chapter in our lives that has been dangling for too long. Or perhaps the “book marker” reminds us where we’ve ‘strayed too far from our story’ and helps us return to the central focus of our narrative.

I believe God sends our own personal “bookmarkers” to us to keep our story flowing in the right direction… all the while not losing our place in it.

So until tomorrow…Let us use these special “bookmark” people who come into our lives to keep us moving forward steadily…not losing time trying to figure out where we left off  our journey.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

  * Our “Darling from Dubai” (Ambika) could relate to yesterday’s story about the loved ones who have gone ahead…another God’s Wink.

Hi Becky!

This blog title actually happened with me today in the morning… Not in reality though, and not exactly a thought also… After a long time, I had a dream about my Grandmother who had passed away few years ago…And it’s like I’m walking up to her and asking her if she wants to have some tea with me… She replied yes with a really sweet heavenly smile… That’s all the dream was about.. Lol… I’m not sure whether I thought about her, she just suddenly appeared in my dream…
And what a coincidence… You too came up with a similar title.. Wow!

And by the way, congrats about the number goal that your blog has reached in just 1 month… Hopefully, you should achieve number 500 by the year end… Have a blessed New Year 2015…

Ambika

Dear Reader:

When people ask me how I come up with ideas to write a daily blog year ’round…I reply that it only takes one quote or saying that I hear on television, or in a conversation, or perhaps even  read in a book that stirs my imagination….and I am off and running.

This is what happened yesterday. As you know I am trying to “weather” out this viral bronchitis/laryngitis by not talking and doing a lot of reading.  So I decided to catch up on some of the books friends gave me at Christmas.

When Toni handed me the book (The Christmas Pearl) last week…she told me that she was sure I would enjoy it…it covered southern Christmases in Charleston from the 1920’s up to the present, including lots of old Charleston recipes, and best of all…it had powerful life lessons in it for all of us.

She was right.

Without being a “spoiler alert”… the title of the book is somewhat misleading…purposefully. When I saw the title I “assumed” it had something to do with a special piece of jewelry…perhaps passed down from generation to generation and the story would center around the different people who wore it. Wrong!

It does has to do with a “jewel”…. but that “jewel” falls into the human category. Nope…that isn’t even right…Pearl once was human but she has been dead for several decades as the story opens….returning as one of the most loveable “ghosts” you would ever want to meet.

Pearl had once been the Gullah housekeeper, confidante of all the matriarchs in the family, and mother to all the children growing up in the old ancestral home in downtown Charleston. She was the anchor for all the family’s trials and tribulations for many years leading up to her death.

Two generations later…the house and family are both falling apart…. Pearl is sent back down to earth to fix it for a special family Christmas gathering. All the funny and poignant antics that provide the “cure” for Christmas and this family’s problems keep the reader quite entertained.

Give yourself a couple of hours…and you will finish this reading easily…chuckling to yourself along the way. It is near the end of the story…that the life lesson that most touched me appeared.

After Pearl returns home to the hereafter- the main character (Theodora) sees Pearl’s face materalize one last time in a dream. When Theodora expresses how much she will miss Pearl…Pearl (with all her pearls of wisdom tidbits) proclaims:

“Don’t you understand Theodora?  “I’m always just a thought away…just a thought away.”

Isn’t that a powerful statement? I remember hearing someone once state that none of us are really gone or “dead” on earth until the last one who remembers us has departed. How true!

As long as we are still in at least one person’s thoughts we are still remembered and alive through them.

After hearing Pearl’s wise advice…Theodora drifted to sleep blissfully “thinking how wonderful it was that everyone I loved was only a thought away. I could live with that. I could live for it, too.”

So until tomorrow…Remind us to take time to remember the loved ones who have goneahead…and who also have left behind a part of themselves in each of us.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* A Big Happy Birthday to my “Baby Boy”  Tommy Dingle…now Esquire. Tommy will always remember this birthday for being special because he starts his new job today. Brooks Styles, Attorney at Law (real estate) has hired Tommy to assist him with closings and other required criteria associated with the job. This is one happy mom!

* Yesterday we talked about everyday miracles… well, one could be forming for the blog before this roller coaster year ends.

Remember when we had to close Chapel of Hope Stories November 19 (Gettysburg Address Day) and save almost four years of stories in a private folder?….On that fateful day I had been at almost 300,000 views and at 499 (so close to 500) subscribers which I thought solved the mystery of…my license plate: Was the blog the avenue for “aiding” or helping 500 (people)? So close but yet so far.

But now since starting over on November 25…just a little over a month ago…I am once again closing in on 500….491. Will 2014’s blog end on a happy note with the 500 becoming reality? We have three days to see if I can pick up nine more subscribers. Stay tuned.

* And talking about being close….Look now at “Middle Amaryllis” …. It has two pink blooms that are just about to pop open….since they didn’t make it for Christmas… I sure hope they will bring in the New Year with all their pink heavenly beauty! We will see!

This first picture was taken around 8:00 Sunday evening….

The picture below was taken around 9:00 this (Mon) morning…looks like the buds are pulling away to give them room to bloom…and there are two more smaller buds on top…four blooms in all eventually…this is getting so exciting!

  Dear Reader:

When I received this “Bubble Light” for Christmas,  a week ago, I was thrilled….Christmas memories from the past came rushing back!

Growing up… my siblings and I always had three of these original “bubble lights” on our tree…one for each of us. (They first arrived on the scene in the fifties-remaining  popular until the seventies when miniature “fairy” lights removed them from the commercial scene.)

I remember at night mother would get my two brothers and I ready for bed by baiting us  “If you hurry and take your baths and get ready for bed…you can watch the “bubble lights” for fifteen minutes before going to bed. That’s all it took…

It worked beautifully. We each had our own”bubble light” that we ran to under the Christmas Tree…lying on our bathrobes we simply stared at the water “bubble” over and over in the clear, liquid-filled vial, as the red and green base reflected off the tree. (Of course each of us thought our “bubble light” was the best…with the fastest water bubbles…mine really was the fastest!)

Isn’t it strange how one simple ornament from Christmases past can bring back so many family memories, long forgotten?

As  an ‘ole history teacher’ that is how I always viewed history. I felt it was my job to tell stories so memorable….that a quote or artifact or picture would bring the time period and event rushing back to them like my old “water bubble” Christmas Tree ornament.

  My brother was reading this book over the holidays concerning the Founding Fathers’ shared sense of awareness that they were not alone in setting the principles of democracy and freedom in a country where the people were the government. God was leading them in this endeavor.

Not every elected representative shared the same name for God..but they all knew Something/Somebody, bigger than them, was with them.

Jefferson, who called himself a Deist, believed in a “Supreme Being” and Franklin and Washington referred to God as “Providence.” But no matter the title…the elected representatives to the Declaration of Independence and later Constitution believed that God was leading them.

And the other central core idea among both assemblies: The belief that everything that came to pass (winning the war against one of the greatest military powers at the time and then proclaiming a government for and by the people) was nothing short of a miracle. This was a widely accepted belief among the representatives.

Ben showed me three examples from the book (quotes from representative sharing their personal views in God’s role in creating this country we call home) which I will share with you.

Benjamin Franklin: “I have so much faith in the general government of the world by Providence that I can hardly conceive a transaction of such momentous importance (as the framing of the Constitution)…should be suffered to pass without being some degree influenced, guided, and governed by that omnipotent, omnipresent, and beneficent Ruler in whom all inferior spirits live and move and having their being.”

George Washington: “The adoption of the Constitution will demonstrate as visibly the finger of Providence as any possible event in the course of human affairs can ever designate it.”

Benjamin Rush: (Physician and representative from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

“Doctor Rush then proceeded to consider the origin of the proposed Constitution, and fairly deduced it was from heaven, asserting that he as much believed the hand of God was employed in this work as that God had divided the Red Sea to give a passage to the children of Israel, or had fulminated the “Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai.”

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We have talked many times in this blog about the everyday miracles taking place around us constantly. But to be aware of these miracles we have to stop and leave the framework of our busyness, our ordinary lives to see all the extraordinary things happening right under our noses.

There are certain times, in our lives, benchmark moments, however, that are so miraculous that the “one from many”  and “many from one” sense individually and collectively that they have witnessed a miracle from their Creator. The Declaration and Constitution are examples of this that we can appreciate today as much as they did over two hundred years ago.

So until tomorrow…Let us keep our eyes open to past, present, and future possibilities of miracles as individuals and as collective bodies of possibilitarians seeking miracles in our midst. They are there.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

  Dear Reader:

After, admittedly, a few tears and a little  disappointment that my voice didn’t return in time to tell the annual Christmas story…I dug down deep to get my priorities and attitude straight….(through a special piece of advice that my Ya friend, Libby, told me after the shock of re-starting the blog.)

I have had some people who didn’t make the service (due to the weather or illness) ask me to share what was on the cards I gave to Dorothy (Associate Pastor) to read and hold up. Here they are:

1) I THINK A SMILE IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT

2) …BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE TO TALK TO GIVE IT!  (I was smiling my biggest smile)

3) I CAN’T TALK!  ( Sad expression)

4) IT IS VIRAL LARYNGITIS (WHICH MEANS YOU DON’T GET ANY OF THE “GOOD STUFF” TO KNOCK IT OUT!)  (I gave a disgusted shake of my head)

5) “LIFE IS ALL ABOUT HOW WE HANDLE “PLAN B”

6) WELL, GUESS WHAT?  (I was getting all excited)

7) “I’VE GOT THE BESTEST PLAN B AROUND”  (Holding two thumbs up)

8) CARRIE SIMPSON WILL TELL THE STORY TONIGHT…( We all started clapping)

9) *** AND AS FOR ME…

10) *** (Libby, remember your advice) “I REFUSE TO LET ANYONE OR ANYTHING STEAL MY JOY FROM ME!”  (Hands crossed over my chest)

11)*** EVEN THIS FROG STUCK IN MY THROAT! ( I made a few ribbit motions.)

Then I joyfully introduced my wonderful niece Carrie Simpson! And it was pure joy to watch her sweet face and enthusiastic expressions throughout the readings.

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E Pluribus Unum (found on the United States Great Seal) is a Latin phrase that we, Americans, translate into meaning “One out of many” or “One from many.” 

Since we are the ‘land of immigrants’ this phrase is felt to have special meaning for a novel concept emphasizing the importance of diversity over only one tolerated acceptance of a people or ideas. Or as Malcolm Forbes once quoted:

“Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.”

I started thinking about the importance of diversity while recognizing and accepting individual differences yesterday afternoon. What prompted this train of thought was the movie Ben and I went to see- The Imitation Game– Based on the true story of the life of Alan Turin, the  brilliant English mathematician, who created the first footwork for the modern day computer, and in doing so broke the Secret Nazi Enigma Code …which saved millions of lives and sped up the conclusion of World War II.

Alan Turin, played incredibly by Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes/ actor on BBS…really cute) is an enigma in himself….Bullied unmercifully as a child at boarding school, a mathematical genius with few social graces… he is clueless to reading “people”…only machines. He spends much of his life feeling friend-less and alone. He is also gay in a time when England considers it a criminal offense and subject to prosecution and job loss.

Yet it is this complicated, brilliant, vulnerable individual who changes history and saves millions of lives. The personal price for him is high, however, when given (court order) harmone treatments to make him “right” again when the legal system learns of his “condition.” * Bring kleenex.

Just another example of man’s inhumanity to man. People who are considered “different,” in any facet of the definition, still have a tough “go” of it today. But, think about it,  if John Turin had not been different, with all the complexities of his genius and abandoned upbringing, we might be speaking German right now. A hero among heroes. Remember “God don’t make no mistakes.” He has a purpose for each one of His children.

Speaking of God…our God is the God of diversity. We only have to re-read the creation story to see that His own plan, His design, for the world was based on diversity and providing global bio-domes, different environments, throughout the world for thousands of different species to live.

God just didn’t want zebras wandering around and nothing else…just like He doesn’t want all of us humans the same skin color, gender, or sharing the same interest and talent, height, weight, etc.

Here is a short excerpt from an article I found and liked on God and diversity.

God Fitted Habitats for Biodiversity

James J.S. Johnson, J. D., Th. D.

God chose to fill the earth with different kinds of life. All over the world, we see His providence demonstrated in ecological systems. Different creatures live in a variety of habitats, interacting with one another and a mix of geophysical factors—like rain, rocks, soil, wind, and sunlight. But why does this happen? And how does it happen? These two questions are at the heart of ecology science—the empirical study of creatures interactively living in diverse “homes” all over the world.

Why did God design earth’s biodiversity the way that He did?

Two words summarize the answer: life and variety.

God loves life. God is the essence and ultimate origin of all forms and levels of life.

God loves variety. God’s nature is plural, yet one, and He is the Creator of all biological diversity anywhere and everywhere on earth.

……….

I started out with the inscription on the Great Seal of the United States- E Pluribus Unum- and our translation of it…”One out of many.”

However the original Latin meaning is slightly different…but importantly “different.” It reads: “Out of many, one.”

I think God’s idea of diversity is the original Latin one…Though mankind is many…God looks upon us each as unique individuals, we are all “one” to Him because like any good parent…He recognizes the strengths and weaknesses in all His children’s diversity yet loves us, unconditionally, for simply who we are…He is accepting of us being “different” because He doesn’t see us as such.

So until tomorrow….Let us help others with differences that make them the societal victims of bullies… by showing them the possibilities to change others with their gift of uniqueness and “different” from God.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* My favorite quote from the movie:

“Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of… who do the things that no one can imagine.”