Some Things Are Better Left Alone...

(If you've not yet watched the NCIS season finale, you may want to come back to this after you have.)


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Oh wow. I just now finished watching the season finale of NCIS.


Good grief. Let's just kill off the whole entire cast we've grown to love, ok? Or make it look like they did, anyway.


Ack!


NCIS is one of those shows where, most of each season, it's like watching the same episode over and over, week after week. Same ol' corny jokes from the same ol' characters who almost never change their lives in any way, who never advance and move on or grow in their attitudes or relationships. The only thing that ever changes is the corpse.


All reasons why I love it.


Always the same  (in a world that's always changing), always there, ever-so-watchable week after week, season after season, year after year. Smooth, witty dialogue. Predictable.


Comfort tv at its very best.


These finales.... argh. Writers jerking me around like that, making me want to zoom through summer so I can see who survived the ax--and who didn't.


(It'sJustATvShowIt'sJustATvShowIt'sJustATvShow....................)


Harumph.......




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"If something ain't broke, don't fix it."  ... copied




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When You Keep At It ....

So.


When I called my mom on Mother's Day, she told me that, on the previous Tuesday, she and her boyfriend hiked ten miles up and down a mountain trail. Ten miles.


Good grief. My 73-year-old mother is now officially in better shape than I am.


I mean, me hike ten miles? Some of which are uphill? Uh, no. I would die.


No, seriously.


Of course, I saw this day coming--Mom and Phil have been walking a few miles daily for a couple years now whereas I've been walking less and less than ever before (back in the other 'burbs, I used to walk lots). So hey, this had to happen sometime.


So yeah, yeah, yeah.... As I'm always preaching to you--we reap what we sow and that applies to walking, also. And to everything else.


I know. I know.


So guess who's gonna get back out there and 'just do it'. Yeah, me. The 53-year-old daughter who's had just about enough of this being out-walked, out-distanced by her mother.


Bleh.  :)






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Of course, you know I'm actually, in reality, quite proud of good ol' Mom who's created a whole other life for herself since my dad passed away. She's an inspiration and I brag about her to just about anyone who has ears.






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My buddy, Mary, sent me this video and it inspired my socks off. Great song and great people in the video. You'll love it. 


(And thanks again, Mary.)




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Sharing: The Road to Happiness

Ah, those cats. What they've added to my life! 

Especially since Tom's returned to work, why, it's like the old glory days of Lennon and McCartney. I go outside and--when I spy a cat in the window--stop and wave and speak to it just like to earlier cats long gone. And when I glimpse them sitting beside each other staring out from the storm door, I smile at their cuteness and their happiness, too, at being able to watch the birds and squirrels and the leaf shadows playing on the lawn.

How God blesses us when we share our lives with others, even when those others are pets.

Sadly, I know lots of depressed, miserable, complaining Christians and I've noticed they usually have one thing in common: they are not sharers. No, they concentrate upon, "How can I get what I need? How can I make my circumstances better? How can I make myself happy?"

But the happiest Christians I know? They share everything they have and are. They think-up 'Living to Give' goals. They're too busy to complain because they're watching for the next need to pop-up in someone's life and then pouncing to meet that need if they can. And calling it all joy.

Oh, to be like those people and to spend time with them, also, learning how to give, encourage and live better. I'm needing to beef up those goals in my own life.

When I look back--besides the moments I've shared alone with God--it's been the hours I've shared with others that have brought me the most happiness. Be they people in Real Life or online or be they sweet little animals running around my house, making me laugh at their antics or even the sparrows out at our feeders, the same sparrows God's aware of when they drop into the grass. 

Sharing. So godly. So welcome.  シ



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Our neighbors' pretty landscaping this morning.


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19 Ways to Encourage Others


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2 Corinthians 9:6-7

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

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Speaking of cats.... Back when Daniel was soo sick, I realized how trivial I'm being when I complain about lesser things. What's more important than our family's health? And since that time? When I'm tempted to complain, God immediately zaps me with conviction and --often the complaint stops on its way to my tongue. 

So I can be thankful the hard time happened, if only for that one thing.



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