Oh! I had to share this photo with you taken by Mary Woodfield. I clicked onto the Buffalo Weather Facebook page and gasped when I saw this snowy scene from Jamestown, NY. (It's more magical when you click to enlarge. Oh, and as my buddy, Ann, mentioned, notice the resemblance to George Bailey's Bedford Falls ... this is why I love living back here!)
But still, I like snow better when I experience it by way of photos. :)
And guess what? We're due for dangerous wind chills over the next two days (minus 30 degrees, anyone?), but you know? With this early, snowy, frigid weather we've had, it's been eerily comforting to me, like the Buffalo winters I first knew 20 years ago. Like the way Winter's supposed to be here, signaling a sort of "and all is well and back to normal" type of feeling.
Yeah, I never thought I'd hear me say that, either.
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In the mood for some hard-hitting truth, the kind which I've craved and listened to for 19 years? Go here. She speaks of complaining and one of my top goals this year is to stop. Complaining that is, especially about unchangeable things like the weather, peoples' decisions and things which must be done.
No, really. It's time... time to clear away even more debris inside my head so to create much more space for peace.
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Believe it or not, I'd almost rather not have a memorial service for myself when I pass away. It would just be too complicated for my scattered-everywhere friends to gather in one place and throughout my life I've hated to inconvenience and bother people (it's a first-born thing, most likely).
But, if a service was attempted, here's the only song I'd like to have played there. No, seriously. I think it would be perfect, especially when you capitalize the word, friend.
Hey, don't laugh. It's my memorial service, after all. :)
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Did you see all the terrific coupons in today's newspaper? I bought an extra copy and the coupons have to be pretty great for me to do that.
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Well, I need to return to ironing Tom's shirts for his trip. Let's all stay warm, happy and grateful for all we've been given, ok?
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“If you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out... Complaining does not work as a strategy. We all have finite time and energy. Any time we spend whining is unlikely to help us achieve our goals. And it won't make us happier.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
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Have you chosen songs for your own memorial service?
I know just where this is, though I don't go into downtown Jamestown much at all......I am afraid this may be the terrible winter the almanac suggests. But we will find ways of making the best of it and finding the blessings in it.
ReplyDeleteGuess what Debra? I'm a first born too. I have two younger brothers. You are so right about complaining. I try hard not to but still catch myself doing it. I'm going to listen to the Joyce Meyer podcast and hear what she says about stopping it.
ReplyDeleteI went to Joyce's site and listened. Perfect teaching. I also noted there her reference to Daniel4 and Babylon then to America and how we are taking God out of everything and how that should not ever happen. It correlated with naturally with the Wake up site. Thank you for leading us to Joyce's site. I have so much to learn....even more to begin to do. With God's help I will continue on.
ReplyDeleteOur weather has been in the 70s and even 80s here. I do remember growing up though being snow bound. Brenda at coffeeteabooksandme.blogspot.com/ talked yesterday of how she is preparing in case the electricity goes out because of this storm. Not just to have supplies in as she already had them, but other things she is doing to prepare to ride it out. Sarah
Pretty, tho rather dangerous!! Hopefully they can keep the electricity going for everyone!!
ReplyDeleteYou are right about complaining. It rather did get the children of Israel into serious trouble in the wilderness. It it hard to know why in so much of life!! Sometimes later we do see the reason behind events. But we have to remind ourselves often that no matter what GOD really is in control!!
Elizabeth in NC
Thank God for people like Joyce Meyer. She's been telling us the brutal truth for many years, even though it's sometimes hard to accept it. I loved one of her older sermons that said, in a nutshell: The biggest problem in the Christian community today is that we're all acting like a bunch of robots spouting, "what about me? what about me?, what about me?" If we're honest, many of our problems are self imposed due to an inflated opinion of ourselves. Thank goodness that God loves us, forgives us, and continues to help us learn how to live.
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