Dear Reader:

By most calculations we are well into the Christian Lent season of sacrifice and repentance. Many churches and cathedrals use this time to display beautiful paintings from the life of Christ….especially scenes from different parables and symbolic drawings of the Christian religion to adorn their services. (Pinterest)

When Anne stopped by the other afternoon she mentioned that she had seen an idea on Facebook that prompted her to add a new act of giving to this year’s Lent season.

A note, card, or letter is written to different people we know, as specified in the instructions….one letter for each of the forty days. One doesn’t have to just use Lent’s 40 days but (like Christmas and giving year ’round) can begin this gift of communicating thanks for other’s presence in our lives at any point in the year.

Here is the instruction sheet on how to cultivate relationships through Lent….Better late than never I am starting this today. I don’t know exactly what I will say to myself  the first day…but I do know I will thank God for his shower of blessings that continue to fall on me. I love a challenge…especially a literary/communicating with others/ one! A Lent Scheherazade contest….Yeah!!!

A few of the challenges that really caught my attention are:

Write to Someone Who….

You taught

You share a secret with

Walked with you through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

Once forgave you

Is a father/mother figure to you

Once gave you good advice

……………………………………………………………………………………….

You get the idea. It makes us stop and remember all the people who have helped us grow through good times and bad. It is time to recognize them for their part in our life journey…even if an experience was negative….that, too, can make us stronger..

So until tomorrow….When we think of Lent may we transfer the stories of Jesus into our own lives and use them as role models for life.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*March 1-WOW! Another month and before it is over Easter will have come and gone. Time, these days, just seems to go faster and faster… like an out-of-control carousel. But let’s hang on for the ride because life is beautiful. Now say “Rabbit’ and let’s all have a wondrous March!

*Anne has my back….in case I forgot to put a rabbit picture in the post… she decorated hers so I am thinking March is going to be doubly lucky.

Honey, Mike, and the family are probably still putting band-aids on their feet but once again the Burrell/Salisbury family came through for the MS Challenge Walk. So proud of all of you! And thanks to everyone who gave to this wonderful effort to keep researching a cure for MS.

*As Gloria Houston, children’s author, continues her battle with cancer…..on her Home page website, there is the sweetest little video…her mother, Ruthie, the main character in the Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, is asking people to donated  100 pennies (or a dollar) in honor of her upcoming 100th birthday (she actually died about two months before she officially turned 100) to help pay off the national debt. Go Ruthie….she feared for her children and grandchildren if we didn’t get the debt paid off.

In lieu of flowers when she died in January of 2014, the family decided to continue to honor this last request. When you pull this link scroll down to the video and there you will see and hear a very determined (almost 100 year old) woman pleading for a better tomorrow for future generations. That’s our Ruthie!

Scroll down until you get to: ruthie’s plea

Gloria Houston: Home