Dear Reader:
The other night I had ‘one of those nights’ when I couldn’t fall sleep. There really wasn’t anything pressing on my mind… still I felt physically tired but unfortunately mentally alert. All kinds of crazy images floating through my mind.
So I started my old trick of punching pillows…first this one, then the next one…and so on. I tossed and turned like a ship at sea during a violent storm…rocking back and forth.
Finally I remembered an old adage my grandmother told me:
Remember, when you’re having bad dreams, turn your pillow over. The good dreams are on the other side.
So I flipped all the pillows over and tried to remember any funny incidents of late (or even farther back) to settle my scurrying mind down. And then it came to me and I chuckled to myself.
It was the night of the double rainbow. Walsh, Mollie, the boys and I had gone over to the house one evening to look around but the code on the keypad didn’t work and we never got in. It was Rutledge who pointed out the rainbow to all of us…so while Walsh and Mollie kept trying different doors….I stayed near the end of the driveway with Rutledge talking about the beauty of the rainbow.
Suddenly a car slowed down and an elderly couple rolled down the window to ask if we were going to be their new neighbors. I told her (and her husband) that I wasn’t but my son, daughter-in-law, two grandsons and soon-to-be little sister would.
They had been driving around following the rainbow…I introduced Rutledge who had come running over…he was very friendly and said “Hello” to the couple. The woman started oohing and aahing over him while Rutledge beamed. I, then, asked their names. She told me they were the Fosters…and pointed out where they lived farther down the road.
We chatted a few more minutes and then they started slowly leaving…with the windows still down. “Good-bye Fosters” I called out loudly. Rutledge was enthusiastically waving good-bye and yelled out even louder…”Good-bye Fossils!”
The smile on my face froze…”What did you just say Rutledge?” “I told the Fossils good-bye” he replied happily not picking up any cues that what he said and I said didn’t match. (I came to find out later that his class had been studying about fossils with their dinosaur unit.)
I can only pray the window went up in time to block the final good-bye greeting from Rutledge…but still…it worked…I smiled at the image , flipped my pillow and fell sound asleep.
So here is one more funny image to remember the next time you have trouble sleeping.
Peach Brandy
Sunday morning came and the man showed up at church. The preacher recognized him from the pulpit and said: “I see Mr. Johnson is here with us this morning. I want to thank him publicly for his hospitality this week and especially for the peaches he gave me and the spirit in which they were given.”– Author Unknown –
So until tomorrow…
“Today is my favorite day” Winnie the Pooh
Happy Birthday Lassie! All us September gals have got to stick together! A beautiful month for a birthday!
*I also have some sad news…Susan Cadwell’s mother, Nancy, passed away unexpectedly Sunday…her son Keith found her…today is her funeral. Even though Susan had her mom a long time…when it comes to moms…never long enough. Please keep Susan, Bekah, Ady, Lee, Vikki, and Rhodes in your prayers…as a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother is remembered. *Nancy was always so sweet to write letters of encouragement to me right after the diagnosis and early treatments…so nice!
ichaseferalcats
John Turner
Legally Ohm
Becky Dingle
Becky, Please tell Susan how sorry I am. None of us are promised tomorrow but a sudden death is always a shock.
I find that when I can’t sleep, which has bee pretty often since my husbands passing, that God has put something on my heart and I better be in prayer. ( it makes the evil one so mad he just knocks me out) LOL
Oh, and what about the weather over there?
Hi Becky…It’s been awhile now since I last wrote your way, but decided that I should do that today! Yes, here I am up and very wide awake at 3:40a.m.! Just couldn’t sleep and I think perhaps I’m still on Eastern time after our recent New England/Canada cruise with Holland America. It was our first ever cruise and just so wonderful! In fact my husband kids me and tells others that I’m rating it not just a 10 out of ten but would give it an eleven!! And some I tell that it felt like a little taste of heaven….to have delicious meals made and served with love; to have even my bed made up with fresh linens every day; to view some of the world’s most beautiful scenery and share all this with some of the most amazing people on the face of this earth. All of this and so much more was VERY GOOD! I still get excited as I share about some of the sweet surprises that we enjoyed along the way like discovering a Gideon Bible in our room; having the opportunity to enter into an inter-faith service on board our boat; to meet dear Christian folks from all over the place….like Australia….and others who we had never met but live only a half hour away here in the lower mainland of beautiful British Columbia.
Another sweet surprise was the huge pieces of b’day cake presented to us one evening….this treat came along with “serenading” by several of our Indonesian waiters who sang to us in their native language…very lovely! And there were the wonderful programs each evening with clean humour and lots of good fun. Lots of music and singing and dancing too….Yes, a little taste of heaven. All these wonderful memories leave me still too excited to sleep, so here I am at our computer writing to you. And here I am at the computer happy to find messages this morning from our son who is presently in China; and other friends who live and serve in Laos. So many good things happening all around the world and often we never hear about these positive events. Too much news these days focuses only on the wars, terrors and tragedies or our world scene. If I awake thinking of these things I try to use my time to pray for people all around the globe. It can be a wonderful time of talking to my heavenly Father without any distractions.
And another thing I have come to enjoy doing during sleepless nights is to work my way slowly through the alphabet, thinking of names for God, or even describing words for my Saviour. (e.g. Awesome God; Beautiful Saviour; Counsellor; the One who DELIGHTS in me; Everlasting Father; God of goodness and grace; Holy; Infinite and always interested in me; Just; Kind, caring King of Kings…..etc.) Hope this might be a little idea for others to use as well. I do it often and find it is a wonderful way to fall asleep again with His presence very much with me and all around me.
And so dear Becky, there is my little sermon for the day. Blessings and love, Lynn