The Secret

No, this isn't about 'The Secret' in all the media now, even though I agree with some of its concepts. This is a different one.

Years ago, I learned The Secret to never wandering away from God. The crawling back all crying, skin-kneed, sorry and having wasted your life or ruined others' lives type of wandering.

I'd always been taught that The Secret was reading l-o-n-g passages of the Bible every morning, praying by the clock and sitting in a church pew every single instance that the doors were unlocked. And constantly talking about your faith, whether people wanted to listen or not. You know, being one regimented, good little Christian soldier.

And maybe that works for you. That's cool. I get that.

But The Secret--for me, anyway--is something different altogether. Simply put? I try never to stop needing God for even one minute of my days.

I drive our car into the supermarket parking lot and as I open the car door, I ask under my breath, "Please help me make wise choices with our money while I'm shopping."

While I'm yanking the lawnmower out of the crowded shed I say, "Please help me start this thing up right away and keep it going safely."

All day long it's "Please help me."  "Please help me speak kindly to Tom when he gets home from work, even if he does something to annoy me."  "Remind me to write down all the tasks I need to do so I won't forget any of them" "Show me the best ways to do all my chores today."

It's that constant neediness of Him which keeps me close. I can never become too distracted, too lost, if I require His help every hour.

And something else--a constant gratefulness. When I find something I misplaced, I'm quick to thank God for leading me to it. When I pull into a terrific parking place downtown, I say aloud, "Thanks for that!". When I run out of mayonnaise or cheese or cereal--and there's a terrific sale on them that week--I whisper, "Thank-you" right there in the store aisle.

It's that constant gratitude which keeps me close, too. It's having Him always on my mind--and finding joy in that. It's in enjoying God in all my hours.

These are the secrets.


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"By myself I can do nothing..." John 5:30


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Of Birthdays And Replies

A special thanks to those of you who wished Tom a happy birthday! 

Yesterday was one of those magical days, not because of where we went or what we saw, but because of the coating of Grace and harmony on each hour. We went out to lunch over in the village of Niagara Falls and shopped for Tom's birthday gift from me (we do things differently around here) and for odds and ends.

In the evening, Naomi and Carl came bearing gifts and dinner and dessert--what a sweetie pie our daughter has become. Though, she's always been a daddy's girl and that has always blessed my heart. Well, not counting the times she and Tom have allied against me. Er hem. Naomi had cooked us two Indian dishes--our first taste of Indian food in our conscious memories--and very good chicken dishes they were. And you can see the cake, above, which she and Carl decorated so cutely that I just had to snap a picture.

Just one more thing. I'd asked our friends and relatives to send Tom emails on (or before) his birthday and he was very heart-blessed by each note. In fact, he did the oddest thing as I sat here and watched him. Now get this--after he read each email, he immediately clicked 'respond' and wrote back to each person. What a wild, amazing concept! 

Debra never does that. No, she walks away and enjoys the note inside her head, then mops the floor and cooks meals. She spends days writing extremely droll and witty replies in the air which means often, she ends up believing she did respond to the email when no! She certainly did not.

I think Tom just may be onto something there. I'll have to give that instantly responding thing a try someday.



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Happy 50th Birthday....

...to my hubby!

Of course, you realize, don't you, that it's totally unfair that just a few years ago he was attending college with our daughter and their classmates thought he was her brother, not her dad. Somehow he manages to look younger every year and though I've watched closely, I can't figure out how he does that. (Drats!)

But anyway, happy 50th birthday to the best and sweetest husband in all the world (seriously, no exaggeration)! I am looking forward to all the years to come with you.