When you were a kid did your parents let you order the Sea Monkeys advertised in almost every comic book of that era? Not mine. I might have had an ant farm once, unless that was my children? Can’t rightly remember. I did however have jumping beans. No idea where I got them, but they did jump. The ones that did not jump the kids in the neighborhood called duds. Now when I look up jumping beans on the internet they seem rather nasty and are not beans at all! Wikipedia, the know-it-all of earth, says Mexican Jumping beans are seed pods inhabited by the larva of a small moth. (Had she known, that would have made my mom say a resounding, “No!”)
Here is an entertaining two minute twenty-two second video coupling a Rube Goldberg set-up with time lapse photography and basic bean information.
This morning I woke up with agitation. I told Bob that packing and moving was a nice distraction from the pandemic, but now what? I was agitated and bored with all of this isolation and waiting to see who gets ill next. (My daughter has Covid for the second time and her entire family is infected.) The recent horror of politics is over for a few years, now what?
I had difficulty concentrating during my morning prayer time. I told the Lord “I am tired of doing this.” Almost immediately I realized this IS my life right now. So I need to make the most of this freezing rain, isolation, between was and is to be – this present moment is when my life is. Here. Now.
I have been using a new-to-me app called Calm. They provide meditations, music, ten minutes of relaxation (new daily) and BEDTIME STORIES. The stories are great and I rarely hear the end of a story! Recently I copied this quote from Calm: “The beginning is always this present moment.”
When I first read that I had to tell myself to soak that in. Live that out. The beginning is always this present moment. Quiet that jumping bean-like behavior. Be still in the shade of God’s Glory. Rest. “Oh Molly, be still. Rest, absorb, receive.”
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1 NIV
In a little while I began writing this blog again. Thank you to all of you who follow these ramblings! I am always amazed when Word Press shows me how many folks are following and where they are all over the world. I realize I am not the only one bored with the whole Pandemic and isolation situation. Praying perhaps what I write helps you to smile and occasionally to calm down.
The beginning is always this present moment.
Author unknown
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 
It’s hard not to be bored with the monotony of the pandemic restrictions, the endless days that seem to repeat themselves, with little to distinguish one from another. And yet, there have been some positive benefits to the limitations. As I looked back at this past year, I realized that I have devoted more time to my blog and have engaged with many more readers in the past. I have developed relationships with a small group of people who meet for Compline each weekday evening, some of whom I have never even met in person. Yes, I too am tired of waiting for things to get better, but I am conscious of the need to keep my focus on the present. When I feel myself getting agitated easily, I have learned to recognize that as a sign of stress and try to be really careful in what I say and do, lest I lose self-control and say or do something I will regret. My pastor keeps reminding us that it is ok not to feel ok, though most of us don’t like to admit it and respond automatically with “fine” when asked how we are doing. Calming down, for me, sometimes requires some conscious effort to stop worrying about things I cannot control.
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