Changing: Accepting and Liking It

So. Tomorrow will be the first time our friend, Donna, has visited Hobbit Cottage since her husband, John, passed away and I can't believe it's been that long, even before we welcomed Daniel and Sammy The Cats into our home! They've been here forever.

But Donna's making up for all her months in the hospital by going places with friends and having extremely creative adventures (she's one of those happy extroverts, but I love her anyway), plus it keeps raining here and I want to give her a tour of my four gardens so, well, we've had a hard time coming up with a date.

So finally, the 4th of July worked out for us both.

I could only think of George Foreman grilled chicken breasts for lunch and maybe some store-bought potato salad---my head's been hurting(off and on) with sinus-issues even with scads of Vitamin C since Sunday when we ate some Ben & Jerry's frozen lemon yogurt which must be real because I can eat fake-ingredient-infested ice cream all day long, no problem**---and I don't feel like cooking the salad, myself.

Well, for days I'd been annoyed by, "What else? What else should I make for lunch?" thoughts drumming inside my head. And then today, oh! A lightbulb moment. "How about if we give Donna the garden tour, visit awhile, and then all drive to Sullivan's for lunch?!"

...You know, the place with the deck where I'm whooshed back to the 1950's and where I sit and dream beneath the table's umbrella about the old house across the tiny river below. The place where, even if it rains (as it tends to lately each day), there's a covered eating area.

And oh my, that idea felt like peace and joy and parade-like happiness. 

Why do we so often believe we must always do what we've always done? Why do we question or become suspicious of our personal changes? It used to be that you'd find me painting walls if you dropped by or rearranging furniture or shopping yard sales every weekend. (Or always cooking homemade meals when we have company.) Yet now? I almost never do those things. 

But hey. I did them for decades, I'm now 54 and don't I deserve to move on to new things? To spending hours tending my garden, instead, or writing and encouraging people online? To branching-out and researching new interests and fine-tuning what God's given me to do?

I'm thinking yes, I do deserve that--but sometimes it's hard to say good-bye to who I used to be. To let the 'safety', the non-challenge of well-worn paths remain in the past, days remembered with smiles. Yet we all deserve to grow and to remember that even God said, "To everything there is a season." And with Him, I'm thinking everything means, well, everything.

And I think I can handle that.



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"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"   ... 2 Corinthians 5:17

"To everything there is a season, a time, a purpose under Heaven."   ... Ecclesiastes 3:1

You change your life by changing your heart.
Max Lucado 


The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.
Oprah Winfrey 


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**Oy! Lunchmeat may be the head-problem culprit. I never buy it, but I got some free this weekend and have had a daily sandwich since. Hmm--I've not had a problem before with lunchmeat, but I know some people do. Talk about changes! But honestly, I'd rather avoid lunchmeat forever than ice cream. :)

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Happy 4th of July, Everyone!