Easter Day #90

Every day of my life I celebrate Easter, but Happy Easter to those of you who mostly celebrate it today! :)

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My friend, Barbara, shared this at Facebook:

"If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today's world, and instead are "looking unto Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2) setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer." ~ Oswald Chambers

... and oh! Welcome to my world. 

But you know? There is a price to pay for this joy inside my heart and I will gladly continue handing over my payment. I could buy a different type of life, a more accepted one amongst my Christian friends, even, but no thanks. I choose daily, eye-lighting joy with my Friend.

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Wow! Loved this message this morning:

The Anatomy of a Habit

Life-altering stuff!

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Tom and I had our taxes done yesterday morning. Whew. Don't you always feel like singing the Hallelujah Chorus when your tax return is over and done with for the year?!

And Tom's new job begins tomorrow, bringing changes to us both, some to my housekeeping ways. I'll need to iron more, be more organized in my shopping trips since I'll have the car less... you know, actually think ahead. Oh dear! heh. 

Yet these next days and weeks will have more of a springtime, Suzy Homemaker dreaminess about them, and well, you already know how I feel about that!

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Wishing you all much, much joy!

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Confused by my title today? Go here.  :)

                                         

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Good Friday With A Different Spin

So as I always tell you every single Good Friday, I hope you didn't come here expecting to hear the ol', "Don't be unhappy--- Sunday is coming!" thing.

Uh, no. 

I simply cannot put Jesus back in the tomb all over again, for I can't, not even for 2 minutes (and especially not for a whole Friday and Saturday!) imagine waiting around for Him to rise again, living without Him in the meantime. 

My relationship with Jesus is moment-by-moment, He's more of a real friend to me than any of you are, even (no offense) and I believe this is why I've not had one single desert experience over the last 20 years ( a desert? With He who is the Living Water? How does that even work?).

Without a very real sense of His constant presence I'd be a disaster, a basket case and Life would be all wrong and senseless and lonely and well, dreadful.

And He didn't die so that I (or anyone else) could switch from a worldly misery to a Christian misery. ( I know too many bummed-out Christians. It's sad.) No, Jesus died to give us abundant, overflowing, joy-infused Life. And that's what He, alone, gives me. Minute by minute.

So today, yes, I'll recall Jesus' amazing sacrifice on the cross, but oh! Mostly I'll remember that He has already risen-- He has risen, indeed!


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Before you go.... Guess who got these groceries for her basement stockpile today for only $5.04? Woo hoo!

And I discovered today that there's a food pantry quite near my house so now I'll be able to drop off my extras very easily--yay! Don't you just love all the good you can do with sales and coupons?

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"Why do you seek the living One among the dead? "He is not here, but He has risen."   ... from Luke 24

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Happy Easter to each of my kind readers!!

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Around My House Today

The times, they are a changin'! Anyone else noticing that?

And well, you know how we have different seasons in our lives? This, it appears, is my Preparation Season. 

Preparing for what, you ask? Anything. Everything. Any type of huge change in our Country, any new way we must learn to live, any disaster. Preparing mentally, physically, financially. Doing what I can, feeling stronger nudges, especially, with each new threat from those meanie North Koreans or after any news story from a host of other countries who despise us. Or after any perusal of Last Days-type blogs.

Preparing.
Preparing.
Preparing.

And mega readying myself emotionally. Standing closer to Jesus everywhere I go, be it upstairs, downstairs, at the store or on Main Street or in the yard. Listening and receiving love, comfort, strength and hope. And trying my very best to obey Him in easy times so it'll be second nature in difficult ones.

And remembering that preparation must come before a change, lest one find herself frantically trying to adjust to changes.... or just sinking beneath feelings of being overwhelmed.

Just in case you wondered what I've been up to lately.

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Did you know you can sign-up at the Dunkin Donuts website and they'll mail you a post card around your birthday for a free medium drink of your choice? 

I finally used mine today and now I'm sitting here sipping my free medium decaf latte. Yum. When the woman behind the counter handed me my drink she said, "Have a very happy birthday!" and I smiled real big and told her, "Thank-you!," leaving out the part where my birthday was ten days ago. heh. But I thought her quite thoughtful to wish me a happy birthday, especially since the place was positively zoo-like.

But then, Buffalonians are like that and I am determined not to miss one single blessing God floats down to me in my lifetime. Not one will I ignore.

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Oh! And just moments ago I discovered some youtube episodes with Coupon Mom. They are delightful and inspiring. Love.

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Tom has just two more night-shifts left on his old job, so last night he made his locally-famous chicken burritos (but turned them into enchiladas, instead, he told me this morning) and everyone adored them. The list of what he needed to feed these 20+ folks was huge, but the cool thing? I already had 80% of the items here in my stockpile and freezers thanks to sales shopping + couponing. Love having cheap groceries on hand, but then, you already knew that.


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Oh! And I figured out why I love those flash mob videos like Best Coin Ever Spent. I'm thinking Heaven will be sooo much like that! Both spontaneous and rehearsed bursts of songs and dance and joy in the (golden) streets in honor of our most amazing God! Those videos seem nearly like peeks into Heaven's windows... happy sigh...

Top 7 Flash Mobs of All Time

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We have crocuses, the sun is shining again today and I think I finally heard a robin up in a tree--hooray!

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"Noah walked with God."   ... Genesis 6:9

"If you falter in a time of trouble, how small is your strength!"   ... Proverbs 24:10

"Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!"   ... Psalm 95:1

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Great Deals & Free Food (Or Sometimes It Pays to Procrastinate)

Not interested in saving money? Better move on to the next blog...  :)

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So! Remember when we found this like-new 'electric woodstove' for just $10 at a yard sale? Well, as Tom predicted, I eventually stole it for Debra's World upstairs. But hey, it saved us lots of money that way--we didn't need our big natural gas heater nearly as often.

Yet many times I carried that stove downstairs (backwards--it's easier that way) on days when Tom and I watched movies together or on afternoons when sunshine spilled all over the dining room table and I'd sit there and read. But really, 54-year-old ladies ought not to carry stoves backwards down stairs, so we planned to buy another one at Home Depot.

Yet we kept procrastinating, mostly since it's just been too cold to go anywhere one didn't absolutely neeeed to go.

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate.

Remember how I've encouraged you to sign-up with a few of your local coupon bloggers? Well, yesterday one of mine went to Rite Aid where she found a heater nearly identical to ours marked down to just $29.99 from $119.00. I thanked her (through her Facebook page) and told her I'd certainly go heater hunting today! So guess what I found at our local Rite Aid? The very last heater on the shelf and for just $29.99.

Tom said he's very proud of me. Happy sigh. :)

And no more carrying a heater up and down the stairs. Whew.

Using coupons with sale items. It's great fun buying groceries for 1970's prices and even getting lots of them for free. Great. Fun.

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Only last week did I discover the pilot episode online of Extreme Couponing. I really like Joyce on that episode. She'd be a blast to know in-person and I highly admire her for giving coupon lessons to all of her fellow shoppers in the store aisles! Gee, I wish I was brave enough to do that. I am, though, considering teaching a free couponing class in my home someday. That would be great fun, also.

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"... Freely you have received; freely give." ...   Matthew 10:8

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Why share these types of money-saving posts sometimes? So to spread hope that yes! God can still help us buy groceries and other items cheaply in today's extremely expensive world.

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Creating Your Own Life

  “Be still, and know that I am God.."   ... Psalm 46:10 

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More snow here last night. Sigh.

But you know? Snow outside my windows can't stop me from dreaming about Springtime and gardening. When you have an imagination, you are rich. You can have just about anything you want.

My favorite people are those who dream first, then create what they dreamed. They don't give you fifty reasons why they're a victim who never has any fun, nor do they listen to Negative Nellies. No, they take you by the hand and show you all around the bright, custom-made world they created from what they'd first imagined.

Yep, those Dreamer-Doer types inspire me. Much.

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Do you still have snow outside your windows, too?  Well, here are some free (as of today) gardening books for your Kindle (the amazon kindle cloud reader, as you know, is free. Just sayin'.) to help you dream and plan your next garden when Springtime finally does arrive. 

Never, ever let money (or the lack thereof) deter you from dreaming, planning or going out and getting what you want, even if you have to create and tweak it, yourself. Doing that usually makes it more meaningful, anyway.

Where there's God's will, there's always a way. When you have an imagination, desire and God's blessing, you can usually find exactly what you need for creating a Life you'll love. That's what I say, anyway. :)

How To Grow More Vegetables

Home Vegetable Gardening

Gardening For Little Girls

Culinary Herbs: Their Cultivation, Harvesting, Curing And Uses

Organic Gardener's Composting

Small Gardens and How to Make The Most of Them

Vegetable Garden Pest Control

Gardening Without Irrigation. Or Without Much, Anyway

12 Best Herbs For Flavor and How to Grow Them

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"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."   ... John 14:27

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"What God orders, He pays for."   ... Joyce Meyer

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Gifts For Those Who Love Home Inspiration

Oh! Some of you home-lovers will enjoy these gifts I gathered just for you today:

Off-Grid Float Cabin: Retirement Tiny Dream Home in BC Wilderness

After this video, I felt as though I'd traveled to a gorgeous river in summer time (gotta love that). The couple's deck, floating garden, writing cabin, potato garden, bedroom and, well--all of it inspired me.

I did have to smile, though, when she stated something like, "There's a simplicity to living off-grid." She said that while my eyes were still glazed over from all the complicated details they'd had to take care of in order to do so!

Tom and I could never live this way, but for whatever reasons, we do love watching other people who do.

Teen Tiny House Builder, Austin Hay, Finishes Dorm on Wheels

This young man will restore your hope in teenagers. A kid who's actually thinking ahead to his future! Didn't know there still was such a thing. シ Loved the desk in the bay window, the siding, his proud grandpa, the boy's tenacity and the cleverness of the whole darn project.

From Scratch Magazine

Oh wow! The premier issue of this farm magazine is nearly like seeing a free issue of Mary Jane's Farm online. Gorgeous photography and informative articles for those who farm in reality or mostly inside their heads (like me).  A special thanks to Robin for sharing this with me via Facebook!

Photos From Beverly Cleary's Childhood Home

And if you've enjoyed Beverly Cleary's books, especially her autobiographies, you'll love seeing photos of her childhood Portland, OR home. What a sweet house! Thank-you, Sara, for sharing this link with me at Facebook!

These gifts should keep you all busy awhile. Enjoy your Thursday whether you have sun or snow or something in between....


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Oh! Did anyone else watch The Middle last night? The way the kids' project presentation came together was one of the most hilariously clever high school moments, ever. Laughed till I cried and even chuckled about it all the way up the stairs to my room.

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My Twilight Zone Moment

Question: What is wrong with this picture?

Answer: It was taken on this First Day of Spring. Ack. Not one hopeful sign of Springtime anywhere out there. 

To live in snow country, you must be brave, rugged, patient and able to encourage yourself in the Lord like King David did. :)

And that's all I'll say about that.

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So! On Monday, Tom and I arrived at the medical complex for one of his back injections. This always means a 3-hour wait for me which I don't mind during lovely weather when I can relax outside in the car with coffee, snacks, books and opened, breezy windows and happy blue skies. Those are practically like days at the beach for me.

But these wintertime injections are never what you'd call beach-like. 

This medical complex is large and lovely, but oh! The waiting areas in the halls and front garden room portion... They are dark, hard to read in, for they have only recessed canned lights dotting the ceiling like mini stars. People walk around these areas all squinty-eyed, searching for room numbers. 

And you'd think the garden area with the huge window walls and plants would be bright, but noooo. Though they do have amazing you'll-fall-asleep-if-you're-not-careful black chairs, the windows face north, the floors are deep brown and the ceilings also have those mini star-like lights. 

One word describes this place: dark.

Anyway, I kissed Tom good-bye at his doctor's office then stepped down the shadowy hall to the mini bistro where I bought a decaf, then over to the vending machine for honey-roasted peanuts. Then I sat my purse and heavy book bag (with 4 terrific books) and coffee down upon a table, removed my coat, took a sip of probably the best decaf I've had in months and then realized with horror that I'd forgotten to bring my reading glasses.

And that's when I had my Twilight Zone Moment.

Remember that original TZ episode where the Earth is destroyed and only one man survived? And yet while walking in the midst of the crumbled-down city library he realizes one amazing thing: all those thousands of books belong to him and now, finally, he has all the time in the world to just read every incredible book ever written. 

Now, instead of facing a catastrophe, he's feeling gleefully blessed.

But as he reaches down for the first book, his glasses slip, fall, and shatter on some rocks. And he cannot read without them.

Heh. That scene suddenly appeared to me while I sat there at the table with four books, three hours, two dark rooms and no reading glasses.

But ol' Debra tried to keep her sense of humor. I finished my coffee while thinking happy thoughts then packed up everything, walked down the hall out to the large garden room and sank into the comfy chair nearest a huge window. I whipped out The Prize Winner Defiance, Ohio (my book with the largest print), aimed the pages toward the window 8 feet away (attempting to capture hopeful bits of a glare) and for the next two-and-a-half hours, squinted through just three pages at a time before pausing lest my eyes become strained. Over and over.

Oh, and fondly recalled how, until age 42, I'd had perfect vision.

Oh well! I survived. And even better-- I felt so blessed while, during my pauses, I'd watch people holding the glass doors opened for each other, running to do that in some cases, even though big square buttons open the doors automatically. Sometimes folks in wheelchairs (and persons behind them to push) paused before the doors (inside), waiting for their driver to bring the car through the snowflakes, and people walking in would hold the door and ask, "Are you leaving?", perfectly willing to stand there holding the door for as long as it took.

I do love Buffalo folks. And I do love a God who blesses us and gives us a sense of humor if we'll only stay open to receiving what He sets down right in front of us. And always remaining very, very grateful.


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Psalm 28:7 
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. 
My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Philippians 4:6 
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.


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Oh! After we arrived home Monday from the always-scary-but-more-so-in-the-snow NYS Thruway, Tom and I finally watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green. Oh. My. Goodness. Absolutely loved that movie and cried through the entire thing. Highly recommended and it's squeaky clean--yay!

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Are You Prepared For Disaster?

So.

I'm nearly finished gathering supplies from this very basic emergency kit (I gave you earlier) inside a few totes in our basement. I'm nearing the point where--if we had just 10 minutes to leave our home in an emergency situation--we could do so without becoming all insanely panicky. We'd just be medium-panicky, instead. :)

That is a comforting thing, actually.

I'm even more closely prepared to hunker down for weeks here at Hobbit Cottage, should that be required, instead. Hopefully you won't see Tom and I on the local news in a wild-eyed crowd down at the supermarket right before (or after) a disaster. Hopefully.

Of course, none of us enjoys imagining potential disasters , but being a responsible adult requires thinking ahead, fun or not. At least it's more fun being caught prepared than unprepared.

Here's an article which amazingly states how I'm feeling about this preparedness thing. These days? This time in which we are alive? Hey, you never know.... and so I'll continue preparing for a future which only God, Himself, can see.

And there is comfort in that, also. That He sees what's ahead and can warn and direct us even before a hard time arrives. Whew. He is good.


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When God asks us to prepare ahead of time, He enables us to do so. He gives us the wisdom along with the finances, even if it just means stocking-up on two types of items per week or adding to emergency bins over a period of time. Where there's God's will, there's a way.... including the energy and all else required to finish well.

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Here's another Kindle freebie book (free as of today):
Survival Guide for Beginners

And another one:
Food Storage: Bug-out Buckets, Specialty Buckets, and Transition Buckets, for Preppers

And one more:

Doomsday Prepping Crash Course: The Ultimate Preppers Guide to Getting Prepared When You're on a Tight Budget

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"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³ The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴ The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

⁶ “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

⁹ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰ “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut."   ... from Matthew 25

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A Free Helpful Kindle Book For You

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Oh! Here's another present for you.

Grandma's Herbal and Homemade Remedies. You can get this eBook free for your kindle--at least, it's still free as of today.

I'm making a list of plants from this book to add to my herb garden in front of our house. I'm all for discovering herbal remedies and way, way prefer  running to those rather than my medicine cabinet. I currently take no med's and hope to keep it that way for many years to come. Books like this one help me much--this one is written simply and is easy to understand, thank-goodness! :)

Just thought you might like this eBook!


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Again, you can get a free Kindle Cloud Reader through amazon.com. I love mine and have found over 300 free books for it.


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Ha! This morning I accidentally wore my snow-shoveling coat to the supermarket. Eegads! That rattly ol' black wool thing is barely presentable for shoveling snow! heh. So I slipped it off and folded it over the sides of the cart both at the supermarket and Dollar Tree. Fortunately both stores felt warm enough without it. :)

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You *Can* Go Home Again. Online.

Oh wow.

This afternoon I walked past the elementary school where I attended 6th grade. Then strolled just a bit farther and stood in front of my junior high school. 

Then I turned around and stepped past the same houses I passed while walking home from school at ages 11 - 14, until I reached my old home which happened to be the church where my dad pastored. (Yes, we lived inside a church those years. Long story.) 

After that, I crossed the street to my grandparents' landlords' house (dear church members), but I couldn't step down the actual alleyway where my grandparents' cute cottage stood with two others, all backed by a country-like grassy lot, where beyond that, a house with a grapevine arbor still, to this day, sits all farm-like. In a very suburby-suburb.

Why couldn't I step down that alleyway? The Street View camera wouldn't let me. I even got a bit teary-eyed, for I needed to see their house! To maybe find them still there waiting at the green wood-framed screened door for me. But walking down that far proved impossible, for I was technically 3,000 miles away from my grandparents' home of 40 years ago and that camera was my only connection. And it stopped me.

So I chose the Birds Eye View, instead, and found their house that way, from above, like a bird. And stared awhile. And remembered so much... and came away with a full heart.

Again, oh wow.

As my title today says, you can go home again. Today. Online.

There are lots of ways to walk past the houses you knew as a child, but here, below, is how I did it. It's fast. Easy, though you may have to learn how to make the arrows take you where you wish to go:

Choose a street address you remember from your childhood and type it into your address bar (google it if you wish) then add a comma, then zillow.com.

What might likely happen--I'm making no promises to anybody--ha!--- is that a nearby house will pop up as being currently for sale or for sale at a previous time. Click on that address. Now, if there's a photo of the house for sale or a map, look above it where it says Street View. Click.

Then start walking. Remembering. Click on the arrow in the street. Look at houses you pass. Smile when you seem to pass invisibly through the occasional oncoming car. heh. Use the arrows in the top left corner to turn around or to view the houses on the other side of the street. 

Amble. Go anywhere you wish. Find your childhood home or where your grandparents or friends lived or your former school. If there's only a parking lot there now or a newer home, just be thankful for your memories. And move on.

I so enjoyed my trip back to Sacramento--so little house-wise had changed and I almost felt like I'd returned to 1973. I even saw the walnut tree I used to climb on windy days so to imagine myself on a carnival ride, what with the swaying branches. 

And I nearly felt like my grandparents still lived in that cute cottage-y place with the wooden screen door, the white picket fence and coffee cans of hens and chicken plants. But no.... they live in a much grander, lovelier home now. Yet I can't get anywhere near that home, online or otherwise. For me, that heavenly place is only reachable through my mind and heart.

But still, I do try sometimes to visit their new place in my thoughts. I always come away smiling from there, too.


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 Here's where I lived as a very dreamy-eyed 16-year-old. Click on Street View and you'll see my house, the church parsonage at the time. (The house was white with brick when I lived there and my bedroom was at the top left-hand side, painted an awesome apple green.) I very, very often walked around this pretty neighborhood (to the left only!) and on up to the cemetery then through there to the city library. :)

Oh my! Over an hour later I've seen a total of 6 (!) houses I lived in as a child and teenager and 3 which Tom, Naomi and I shared together. Fun!


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Still Dancing In The Streets (To Me, Anyway)

"You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil." ... Isaiah 9:3

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 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Nearly 20 years ago when Naomi and I arrived at the Buffalo Airport to meet Tom (who'd lived here 10 weeks preparing things for us), I remember immediately feeling  joy in the air. We'd flown from Nevada where, well, uhm... I never quite got that joy-in-the-air feeling, but at the Buffalo Airport! Oh, as I watched the happy people hugging and laughing around me, I felt as though Buffalo was a city of people dancing in the streets.

In fact, when we eventually stepped outside of the airport doors, I remember feeling surprised that people weren't actually dancing out there. That's how real the happiness felt within me, like the sweet relief of finally coming home to where I belonged, to where I'd wanted to live since age 16.

And now, 2 long decades later? I've never lost that feeling ... and that is why I loved, loved, loved this photo, above, which was taken yesterday by a local news station at a St. Patrick's Day parade. For me, that picture is so close to what I glimpsed within my head and heart when God planted me here 20 years ago. And that's still how I see Buffalo, even today--a city full of happy people.

And I am grateful.


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The above photo came to me through my local news' Facebook page--I would have missed-out, otherwise--yikes!

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Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing for me;  
Thou hast put off my sackcloth;
Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing for me,  
And girded me with gladness;
To the end my glory may sing praise unto Thee,  
And not be silent.
O Lord my God, 
I will give thanks unto Thee forever.

(Click any line of that song and you'll be able to hear the tune of it. An old time favorite of mine--does anyone else remember and love this one as I do?)

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A special thanks to you who wished me a happy birthday here at Blogger and over at Facebook, also! Your good wishes kept coming all day long, warming my heart and making me smile. Thanks so much! I had a lovely day, especially when the sun finally decided to come out and stay. :)

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Why I Seldom Make Comparisons

"If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" ... said by nearly every mother on the planet. :)

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I'm so enjoying The Cat, The Professor and The Poison by Leann Sweeney. Her first book in the series was a delight, but I'm enjoying this one even more.

And you know? I hesitate to say that because rarely do I make comparisons in this blog. Or well, in Real Life, either. Why not? Because God showed me way (way, way, way) back at age 15 that comparisons can hurt peoples' feelings. 

See, the year before, 'Brenda' and I were hired as a pair of workers to clean the home of a family who 'bought us' at a church auction for a day of doing household chores (the proceeds went toward our youth group activities, I believe). We had a pleasant time dusting and washing things and pausing for lunch at the kitchen table.

The following year at the auction, Brenda was hired-out with 'Nancy' and I still recall how, the next day, she and Nancy laughed about the terrific fun they'd had washing windows while making silly faces at each other. Then Brenda said, "I had lots more fun this year than last year."

Then she caught herself, (probably when she glimpsed my sad, fake smile) and added, "Oh, but it was fun last year, too, with you."

Heh. I can laugh about it now, but when you're 15, that type of stuff can bug you for a few years. :)

But you know? That moment taught me a lesson: Avoid making subjective comparisons if you can. When you're speaking of two different
items/people/books/experiences, speak about the specific qualities of both. And leave it at that.

I mean, it's not like Leann Sweeney will ever read my blog, but if she did, perhaps she'd think by my statement that her first book lacked something. Maybe she'd read similar reviews and mine would only reaffirm her feelings that she should have tried harder with the earlier book.

 Or (more likely) maybe one of you, my blog readers, might absolutely, positively love Leann's first book yet didn't care for her second and perhaps a thoughtless comparison could reinforce the belief that folks rarely appreciate the same things you do. Your feelings of being the odd guy out, the lone voice crying in the wilderness, might be confirmed, leaving you feeling alienated. Again.

Hmm.. that example may sound trivial, but let's see.... 

Let's say Janey Ray is the singer who makes your heart burst with joy, but then I come along and say, "Oh, that tinny-sounding Janey Ray! I always turn the radio off when she sings. Now, Sue Stu--there's a woman worth listening to!" 

Well, how would that make you feel? 

Or if I made a similar comparison between your favorite preacher or blogger and mine? Or what if I told you berry pies make apple pies taste boring, when unbeknownst to me, apple pie is your favorite food in the world?

Oh, the list is endless about these subjective types of things! God created us all so differently, with unique combinations of tastes and desires, and oh my... I know! It can be hard sometimes not to make comparisons, but instead, to just 1.) simply state what we like and leave it at that and 2.) find the good in what others enjoy and 3.) just let others love what they love, even if we hate it... without trying to hard sell our own likes.

Maybe this all sounds unimportant and trivial and the temptation is to say we should all just grow-up and learn to get over having our likes dismissed and criticized by others. But hey, does anyone really ever grow up that much?

Over and over the Bible tells us to watch our words--that we'll be judged by them, even. And to me? This is a great area in which to take those instructions seriously, for by considering others' feelings we'll be just a bit closer to walking in the kind of love which God says is the most important thing of all. 

And anytime we get closer to doing that, it's a Good Thing.


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"For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."   ... Matthew 12:37


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Enjoy cozy mysteries? Here's an amazing list of the best ones out there.


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