Something We Kinda Forget

"He answered, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”   ---Luke 10:27

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So yesterday was Thanksgiving (I hope yours was pleasant like ours!), but something else occured on Thursday.

What was that, you ask? Tom's and my 43rd wedding anniversary. 

Oh my! Forty-three years have passed since our wedding and yet that white-lace-and-promises,-a-kiss-for-luck-and-we're-on-our-way day still remains vivid in our minds. No really, vivid.

How grateful am I to be growing older with this 'husband of my youth.' To have whole reams of treasurable memories from which to choose and cherish anytime.

Anyway.

Speaking of love ... I'd read probably 5 books about Heaven, but this past week I bought one via Kindle and wow! If I could only keep one 'Heaven book', this would be Imagine Heaven by John Burke. 

It answered many questions, but more? This book reminds us of things easily forgotten in Today's so-distracting world. Here are a couple reminders:

"Love matters most to God because he is love at the core of his being ... God is also just, but his justice is his loving response to evil when it hurts the people he loves. ..

God must be our first love because only then can he teach us how to love others as he loves us... all other things we put first in our lives make bad gods that will let us down. We were made for God's love first. His love rightly orders all other loves.

'I clearly saw that every action, every decision and every human interaction impacts the bigger world in far more significant ways that we could ever be capable of appreciating.'

'I felt the presence of the Lord beside me and he asked in my spirit, ' ... 'What have you done with the life I gave you?'"

That last line? Haunting. To me, anyway.

Just a taste of this remarkable book which I couldn't put down and dreaded finishing. So when I did, I returned to the start and reread the (many) portions I'd yellow-highlighted.  

Seriously, this isn't only a book describing Heaven, but one instructing us how to live our best prepatory life upon this temporary Earth. It feels (to me) kinda like a cheat sheet, in fact (I say that reverently).

Over and again, Imagine Heaven reminds us how God prefers that we live this life He breathed into us here. Most highly recommended, indeed.

"Let all that you do be done in love."   --- 1 Corinthians 16:14

It's not just about 'being nice'. Doing what we can to help push back Today's darkness is also a form of God's love for His people.

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."   ---Colossians 3:14

So God gave me a time of rest after our nephew and his wife left, for their visit wore me out more than I'd thought. And oh, I needed to rest my poor little plantar-fasciitis-ed foot.

But uh-oh.

Ol' Debra enjoyed her vacation a bit too much and stretched it past God's boundaries (I'm thinking) so He sent along this Youtube video which straightened me right up! ツ

Warning! Watch Out For The Spirit of Laziness, Slumber and Delay.

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Speaking of Youtube, only this week did I discover that--sometimes-- you can speed-up people's speaking and so watch these videos quicker(!) Just click on 'settings' then 'playback speed.' (I find this fun. Your results may vary. heh.)

These were spiffy:

Four True Angel Encounters

One Hour of Vintage Autumn Music

Tiny Vintage Christmas Home Tour

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Oh! And this Thanksgiving I found myself feeling especially grateful for each of you, my Readers. Thank-you for reading here, commenting and encouraging me!

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

The Ruined Lawn And Other Stories

"Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save."   ---Isaiah 46:4

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So. Our front lawn? Pretty much it's a ghastly mess. Ugh.

Maybe I should've taken pictures of men standing in a 5-foot-deep trench changing-out broken pipes, but no. Barely could I handle peeking from behind the curtains, myself. 

Some pipes needed replacing when we moved here 10 years ago, and well, thousands of dollars later, they now are. Replaced, that is. (Thankfully we had money in savings.) And now we're left with a long, wide mound of dirt, tire marks and dried leaves everywhere (the lawn guys stopped mowing at October's end).

The plumber guys said they'll return in Spring to level things out better. Sigh.

Now, the younger, insecure Debra? She'd be frazzled. All what-are-the-neighbors-thinking-about-us?-ish. But this older, 62-year-old model, she's more like, "Oh well. Stuff happens and I'm too old/tired to fix it this time. I can't do what I can't do."

Maybe it's a tad like the way we keep the captions on our tv. Always. Captions used to interfere with my tv-viewing experience, yet now? They enhance it. 

I've accepted that.

Or perhaps acceptance of the lawn situation is akin to the way I've given-up ever finding my dream house this side of Heaven. Or that I can only eat two meals a day, no longer have boundless stamina nor is there much left for me to decorate. Or the way some dreams are far past ever working out.

But you know what makes all these type things feel trivial and unimportant? This:

Seriously. 

Go loving God with all your heart and you discover Life doesn't require appearing 'perfect' to others anymore. You're fine, better than. In-love-happy! Contented, accepted, and at peace, assured that--somehow--everything is gonna be all right. In time, with God's strength and wisdom, things will work out His way.

You realize what God thinks and knows about you is what matters most.

Whew. And this cloudy autumnal morning you can color me grateful for all that. Indeed.

"Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place."   ---Revelation 2:4,5

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Oh my, I've watched hundreds of Youtube videos, but yesterday these, below, shook my soul. Made me teary. You'll wonder at my sanity, but ..... I felt like I was viewing myself in the backyard of my house in Heaven.

Seriously. 

The long hair. The dresses. The pretty face of a woman contentedly fixing-up an enchanting summer cottage.

I had to still my heart as I watched. And watched. And watched.

Old Fairy Cottage Renovation

Cottage Kitchen Renovation

Cottage Bedroom Renovation

Cottage Veranda Renovation

Be sure to use the captions on these. Unless you speak Russian, of course.  ツ

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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

Popcorn For Dinner--Or--November This And That

1.) Months ago Tom and I stopped eating dinner. You know, an evening meal. 

It's like we can't(!) We sleep horribly if we do. So now our main meal is at noon, then around 4:00 pm I might, for myself, make popcorn the old-fashioned way. Or perhaps a corndog. Or I'll have a little dish of vanilla yogurt. Or a slice of peanut butter toast.

Tom? Nearly always he has Greek vanilla yogurt with a bit of frozen fruit, granola and nuts sprinkled over it. 

We both sleep much better. Much. Better. (My main point here? Keep seeking until you find what works for you. Never give-up early!)

2.) This is an odd movie recommendation, but here you go--

Last night we watched a 2021 movie, one based on a true story of an English artist: The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain. Benedict Cumberbatch (as always) was incredible and we liked this rather-old-fashioned-type film. 

But I cannot recommend it if:

You are close to anyone with mental illness.

You're feeling depressed.

You're experiencing problems with relatives.

You hate cats.  シ

Just a tiny smattering of language, but the mental disorder stuff is the real 'problem'. Yet Tom and I, overall, enjoyed this film, especially the moments with Louis and Emily.

3.) I found this fascinating reading:  Inside The Oldest Farmhouse In Manhattan. My, my, my. I'm shocked it's still there.

If you'd rather, you can watch a video about it here.

4.)  I shared this at Facebook:

"When you start to feel like things should have been better this year, remember the mountains and valleys that got you here. They are not accidents, and those moments weren't in vain. You are not the same. You have grown and you are growing. You are breathing, you are living, you are wrapped in endless, boundless grace. And things will get better. There is more to you than yesterday."

― Morgan Harper Nichols

5.) Autumn. A lovely time for dreaming outdoors.

6.) Having trouble finding canned pumpkin? Remember, you can always make your own pumpkin filling from the pumpkins you've used as decor. It's easy. Here's a recipe.

These are the kind of days, I believe, when we need to retrain our thinking this way. Don't have something? Need it? Can't buy it? Make it.

7.) Here's something I find helpful: At Facebook I joined a page called Word Of The Day. Each morning on our homepage we receive a new word with its definition. So easy and as I stated, helpful. Love it!

8.) Now, here's a great verse for these crazy days of ours:

9.) If you like neutral farmhouse decor, this video will certainly scratch that itch, perhaps forever. heh. ツ 10 Antique Farmhouse Home Decor Tours.

10.) Oh, and regarding our Country? Hang in there! Good things are happening now and are coming ahead.

(I hope you've found a few folks 'in the know' who encourage you. Dr. Steve Turley is one guy who can find a positive spin for anything and Tom and I have felt grateful for him this past year.)

God bless the encouragers!

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