Realizing What We Have (While We Still Have It)

"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe..."   --- Hebrews 12:28

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So last Thursday. 

Happy Cat began limping and wasn't interested in eating which is huge for he's, well, er, piggish. And after all we've experienced cat-wise since last year, what. a. test!

Of course, the vet was on vacation for the holiday. sigh. 

After praying and setting Happy beside me on the red couch (off his foot) I, again and again, kept bringing my mind back to a positive place, one miles from worry. 

I mean, if one is going to pray with real faith, ought she turn herself into a stressed-out nervous wreck?  Probably not. 

Around midnight, I realized too often I take my all-is-well days for granted. When everyone is healthy and (relatively) happy, I don't appreciate it nearly deeply enough.

Oh, how remarkable are the sweet days God gives us!

The next morning, Happy still limped, but ate an early breakfast. Naomi researched online and spoke with a local woman at an animal hospital, and came home with some natural stuff for pain and stiffness.

Fast forward: by yesterday, Tuesday, Happy was his usual good ol' boy self. 

But we kept the vet appointment, mostly for a check-up on his too-red gums. Naomi drove him in for us and etc., etc., all will be fine with Happy's mouth in time, what with powders and potions.

And the limp is mostly gone. Whew.

One good thing came of all this: I told God (back on Thursday) if He'd heal Happy, I'd place folded index cards around the house saying, "Be gleefully grateful."

Because I should be. After all God's done for me and my little family, are you kidding? Daily I should be doing praise cartwheels. (Well, if I wasn't 65 years old. er hem.) But the gratitude should be flowing higher, mightier.

Our September, for days, has behaved as she should, very autumnally-cool, and while I'm celebrating the return of my normal true self, I'll follow-through with those reminder index cards.

And--I hope--forever remain thankfully, deeply, joyfully, gleefully grateful for this life God has given me--

--these pleasant, steady, golden days, even in the midst of a world which appears to have tilted off its axis. (Yet how good to know the God who can right it all again.)

Especially during tough times I remind myself to choose my words carefully. To speak what I want to have happen, not what I'd certainly hate to see take place.

You know, the power of Life and Death being in the tongue, and all.  (Proverbs 18:21.)

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Do you remember the Spencer for Hire tv series? Waaay back then, in the 80's, I recall turning up the opening theme music as loud as Tom would allow. heh. What a treat last week finding that music on Youtube here and to listen over and over and ----

And oh my.... this woman's sincere, heart-felt video about Swedish Death Cleaning. The best! Tom and I both came away so convicted to, for Naomi's sake, let go of every needless, stupid thing in our entire house.

And although this is (yes, another) tiny house video, what really stood out to me was the first few minutes. Her description of the lovely community she'd built and the way she went ahead and set it up even though folks told her it was impossible--you know I appreciated that part, also.

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Books I Finished Reading In August:

Heloise's Housekeeping Hints by Heloise

Hems and Homicide by Elizabeth Penney

The Firefly Summer by Morgan Matson

I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression by Erma Bombeck

An Enemy Called Average by John Mason

The Mystery of the Pilgrim Trading Post by Anne Molloy

Thread and Dead by Elizabeth Penney

Oh, and currently I'm reading Put Out To Pasture by Amanda Flower and wow. What a perfect autumnal cozy mystery. Highly recommended (the first pages read a bit choppy, but smooths out soon).

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And here's a movie Tom and I stumbled across and were surprised at how enjoyable it was:  Lost and Found

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"Bank Of America called the Police on a 93 yr old man, who wanted to make a money withdrawal with an expired identification. Bank refused! Officer Robert Josett took the man to the DMV, helped him get his identification renewed, then took him back to the bank to get his money."

--Kevin W.

And always remember this! ----

Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Got Any Greatest Life Achievements?

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him...And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. "   --- Colossians 3:17, Matthew 10:42

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So last week a much-respected man announced he considered  ______ one of his life's greatest achievements.

Now, I'll not fill in the blank since it's rather controversial and who needs folks scrambling down rabbit holes, missing your whole point?

But simply stated, the guy said 'no' when everyone else said 'yes'. He followed only his convictions, not the fear-inducing information swirling over the Internet and tv.

And in this case, his convictions proved right, for him, and now he feels relieved, grateful, and considers that choice one of his life's greatest achievements.

Wow. For a week, that hasn't budged from my mind. 

I even asked myself, "What if one of my life's greatest achievements is that I've decluttered over 2300 items these past 5 years? You know, so that--when Tom and I are gone--Naomi won't have to mutter in a pile of old clothes and trash, "Why did they keep all this junk? It's gonna take me months to clear things out!"

I mean, what if a Life's Great Achievement doesn't have to shake or change the world? Or be appreciated by crowds or remembered in History? What if it doesn't alter the course of your familial bloodline or become something for which you're remembered?

Instead, perhaps a greatest life achievement is anything God and you did together. You know, an act of obedience, probably one you didn't even understand at the time or deem important even a tad.

Your encouraging words to someone who'd planned to end their days, but went on to live thousands more in gratitude.

Recipes you created and handed-down to family generations.

The times your words gave folks hope for the future instead of dread.

The way your consistent faithfulness gave people something to count on and a glimpse of Jesus' loyalty.

The gifts you created which made friends feel loved in a time they'd felt  unlovable.

The instances you used social media to encourage, uplift, warn, inform, instruct, all at Jesus' leading and in His timing, perhaps changing others' course of history.

The times you loved your family well.

This past week? Similar thoughts were mine, all because someone did not hide away and avoid us all, but instead, shared words from his heart regarding a choice he made.

Oh the power of our words and actions as directed by almighty God! 

And most likely, not until Heaven will we realize the majority of our greatest life achievements, what they even were and the difference they made. Even those appearing the most insignificant of all.

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver... A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit... Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person... The power of Life and Death are in the tongue..."

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

Leo Buscaglia

Are we using social media the way Jesus would if He was sitting at our computer or phone, for peoples' benefit and good?

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Now here's a very unique tiny home!  (But you gotta love artistic and boho style to really appreciate it.)  ツ

10 Cozy Mysteries That are Perfect For Fall

Cozy Cottage Reading Nooks

Top 13 Foods That Cause Inflamation

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After Tom came down with gout the first time, we had to change his/our diet. 

He's always loved pastries, but now, well, forget those. But never fear! Alternatives exist. We just have to be willing to search for them. To discover what is safe. 

Generally, if we want to feel well, we can't be lazy.

Anyway, here's an alternative pumpkin pie recipe I make a couple times a month, even having it for breakfast (why not?). Tom loves this and has experienced no gout flare-ups with it.

One 15 oz. canned pumpkin

2 eggs

1/2 can evaporated milk 

1/4 c. sugar

3 envelopes Stevia

2 tsp. cinnamon (or to taste. Extra spices make up for the low sugar, we've found)

2 tsp. allspice  (ditto)

1/4 tsp. ginger

pinch of salt

1 graham cracker crust

Add first 9 ingredients to a bowl. Mix well. Pour into graham cracker crust. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. (I bake this in our toaster oven and mine doesn't always finish cooking in the middle, but we like it that way. heh.)

        (Instead of whipped cream, we add plain Greek yogurt.)

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"I woke up this morning and found this in my backyard." 

---@WendellTalks

"Be the kind of person that makes people believe this kind of story could be true about you even if they don't know for sure."

Boris Spider ----------

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

 ***

 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Where She Made a Major Change, One She'd Believed Impossible

"It's the little foxes that spoil the vines... God can make a way where there appears to be none."

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Upstairs we have three beds and yet could I sit in any of them to read books? No. Why not? Annoying sloped ceilings. Maybe if I was 3 feet tall, I could read in bed, but at a whole 5'2" (rarely am I too tall for anything)? Again, no.

I realized too often I've believed any real changes here Simply Cannot Be Made. I imagine lovely things, then the reasoning begins. Deal breakers or building projects that technically we can afford, but which I just don't possess the patience to live through (being older, set in my ways and having experienced plenty of carpenters trudging through my house, thank-you, but no).

So usually? I quit dreaming. Firmly I tell myself to deal with it, accept defeat. Heaven and my perfect home will come soon enough.

Er hem.  

Well, for 13 years my brain said, "It's impossible to read in bed at this house," and do you know what happens when you declare something to be impossible? It generally is. For you, er, me. "Be it unto you even as you believe" and all that.

But then c-r-e-a-k. One day my mind opened the Possibility Door. 

"What if there is a way to read in bed up here, but I'm just not seeing it?"

"After 13 years?" "Yeah, after 13 years." (Months ago I told Tom, "I'm now into talking to myself. So if I'm not standing right in front of you, speaking to you, then just ignore me.")  シ

So I thought of ideas. Stared at each bed. Imagined solutions and oh my, actually found one!

If I placed the bed in my Secret Bedroom (aka my Closet Room) on the adjacent wall, the ceiling would be higher above my pillows and I could actually read in bed.

Oh my goodness. I'd found the answer. 

Now, I'd have to make the bed shorter, but that's ok. Usually I sleep curled-up anyway.

Whew. One morning I exhausted myself with the rearranging and the cleaning (dust! Oh, the dust.), but, with God's help, I did it. Changed that tiny room around, doubled the floor space, even, and now I can read in bed.

Hmm.  A younger me loved needing to discover inexpensive, creative solutions. But now, not so much. 

Perhaps there's a sadness that I lack that same energy? An annoyance that I'm growing older? Frustration that this small house seems to limit my ideas? 

Or is my lack of patience and acceptance setting the limitations, acting like clouds, blocking-out what could be? Could constant gratitude, instead, sharpen my creativity? (I think I know the answer to that one.)

Well anyway, may this be yet one more lesson to keep me from feeling stifled, limited and just too old.

May I recall that challenges can keep my imagination in shape, alive, and creative enough to find solutions to all problems worth solving and making Life sweeter--

--even while the outside world is anything but.

Growing older? Yes, some parts are negative, but along the way we've picked up far more positives which can help us overcome the bad stuff.

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Whatever Happened to Our Childhood Wonder?  I'm not sure she discovered the answer, but I admire her for going on a search. Too often we get all 'oh hum' and, sadly, release things (relationships, hobbies, good habits, etc.) before their time.

Oh! Did I already share this tiny house with you? I really like the antique feeling she gave it.

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Books I Finished Reading in July:

Murder and Marble Cake by Nancy McGovern

Pioneer Girl: Growing Up On the Prairie by Andrea Warren

Strangulation and Strawberry Cake by Nancy McGovern

Sugar and Sliced by C.A. Phipps

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

Winterbound by Margery Williams Bianco

Always a Sleuth by Liz Turner

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"I sincerely believe we would accomplish many more things if we did not so automatically view them as impossible."   --- John L. Mason

And as I shared at Facebook--

Oh yes!

(We've had cooler days lately and it's been a nice return to who I really am. heh.)

(Beginning my celebration of Autumn in July really made all the difference. I've definitely found my new tradition.)

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. *** "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15