When I was mourning my mother recently, nothing seemed to comfort me. Then I heard this song rolling through my soul. The first version I heard was done by Willie Nelson. He almost nailed it. It amazes me where comfort can come from!
Then I found what was likely their version from December 1951.
With someone like you, a pal good and true I'd like to leave it all behind and go and find Some place that's known to God alone Just a spot to call our own We'll Find perfect peace, where joys never cease Out there beneath a kindly sky We'll build a sweet little nest somewhere in the west And let the rest of the world go by
As I listened repeatedly to the song, I realized that my sister has a sweet little nest, somewhere out in the west. She spends June into September there! And we have been privileged to stay there a time or two!
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 NRSVUE
Have you ever said,”I am so tired I could sleep standing up?” Sperm whales actually DO sleep vertically. I’ve seen it before on TV, but I am never bored by the scene.
The same website says, “In a nutshell, it’s so that they can float near the surface and stay alert to potential predators. Sleeping vertically means they can breathe when needed and quite literally keep one eye open whilst they sleep!“
The Americas narrated by Tom Hanks has been entertaining and fascinating us. If you have not seen it yet, this is a show certainly worth your time!
Praying your sleep is restful and hopefully horizontal!
I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. Psalm 4:8 NRSVUE
I have not heard this in a church in many decades. It arose out of my soul and confirmed where my feet find solid ground.
Jesus is all the world to me, My life, my joy, my all; He is my strength from day to day, Without Him I would fall. When I am sad, to Him I go, No other one can cheer me so; When I am sad, He makes me glad, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, My Friend in trials sore; I go to Him for blessings, and He gives them o’er and o’er. He sends the sunshine and the rain, He sends the harvest’s golden grain; Sunshine and rain, harvest of grain, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, And true to Him I’ll be; Oh, how could I this Friend deny, When He’s so true to me? Following Him I know I’m right, He watches o’er me day and night; Following Him by day and night, He’s my Friend.
Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better Friend; I trust Him now, I’ll trust Him when Life’s fleeting days shall end. Beautiful life with such a Friend, Beautiful life that has no end; Eternal life, eternal joy, He’s my Friend.
If you have not made Jesus your life, your joy, your all I encourage you to explore that option today.
Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. Hebrews 3: 12-14 NRSUE
The birth I told you about recently reminded me of my daughter’s birth. Fifty years ago today she came into the world. It is hard to grasp that number. I was in labor for 32 hours. Finally the doctor decided to do an emergency C-section. When I awoke they held her up for me to see. She was sticking out her tongue! (Of course, they had just popped a pacifier out of her mouth.)
She is a delight now, just as she was as a newborn!
Celebrating her daughter’s birthday this month, too!
When this woman turns on the joy there is no mistaking how she is feeling! She loves dogs.
For Mother’s Day her daughter took her to Puppy Yoga!
She is her Dad’s clone. They are so much alike I often wonder if I had anything to do with her birth! Emily is a joy and a blessing to us.
Happy Birthday, my dear!
Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Psalm 127:3 ESV
Things are far too serious for us to lose our sense of humor! by Terry Patten
That one is almost to difficult to type after the bombing of Iran. I am having great difficulty understanding that event.
“Let the laughter come, even if it has not been heard for a very long time, especially if times are hard and the future uncertain. Laughter is as important in adversity as wisdom and courage.” Steven Charleston
So I had this image two nights in a row.
A pianist works in the kitchen cutting up meat. Careful of those fingers, I think. Then I wonder is there a funereal fugue for pork tenderloin? Play 2 minutes and you will get the idea!
So we were driving along in New Mexico and this caught our eye at the side of the road. I found the slideshow online. Click on the link that says Home. Then choose slideshow on menu across the top. That is a pink rose I would to have in my garden!!
A friend of mine has been expecting her baby girl. The due date came. The due date passed. She tried everything she could think of to get that child born safely into this world. Had something called a membrane sweep. I did not want the details on how that is done. No progress. I teased her that perhaps she would have liberty by the 4th of July? I asked if she had tried walking in the pool. Her response, “I’ve tried it all LOL!!”
Last Sunday night they went to the hospital. As they entered the building, her water broke. The baby arrived 18 minutes later! All is well. At least they made it to the hospital!! Baby is lovely and weighs 8 pounds, 1.8 ounces. All this from a tiny woman. There was not even time for her to be medicated for the delivery! Unplanned natural delivery 🙂
This little girl is likely to be a corker! Entered the world on her own timetable and will certainly have mom, dad and big brother answering to her!
I looked out the office window yesterday and was delighted to see the first nasturtium blooming!
Speaking of humor. My daughter and grandgirls took me to a shop in Batavia for Mother’s Day. I got a “string of pearls” plant. Previously I had killed mine by over watering it. While there I saw this plastic planter. I thought, “no, I am not going ask for that.” Well, then I could not forget it. Last week I went back and bought one. Got a plant to try in it and voila!
Just makes me giggle!
Along with the rest of America we are sweltering here with high heat and tropical humidity. I am uncertain if these pansies will survive this weather. They looked nice, though leggy, this morning.
Snapdragons are blooming happily! Geranium is one I brought in the house over the winter. It should bloom again soon.
Life beckons us as a flicker. A tendril. A corner of darkness. A bell. A spark of the soul. And curiosity propels us to follow.
ROSE ZONETTI
That is how most of my writing begins. Something is dropped into my consciousness and I set out to follow the path it creates, to discover what is being said.
At Last!!
Finally have notice that the printing has begun!! So excited and humbled and grateful to God and Richelle, the Editor at Crown Publishing!
The book should be available this week through Amazon. I am somewhat amazed. Tired, too.
I will update the post as soon as I know how you can gain access to it.
So all you need to do is go to Amazon and type in Molly Dutina and the title Treasures in Plain Sight should come up! Or use this link to the page …. Treasures in Plain Sight: Growing Closer to Jesus in Prayer https://a.co/d/aYPZnXj
There is print edition as well as a Kindle version for $9.99. The photo show it as less because in my personal Amazon account I have shipping credits right now. Though the book lists for $12.00, please know I earn less than half of that. Any profit will be used for the next book or other Kingdom work.
Thank you for your prayers and support through this process!
This quote stirred in me as I marked year fifty of my mother’s death. The photo above shows my mom with her white gloves at our wedding.
Every sorrow I bear will be supplanted by a greater heavenly joy, when you, O Christ, make all things right and new – even this thing. From Every Moment Holy – For Navigating Difficult Moments
Fifty years ago on Flag Day, I awoke nine months pregnant. My mother was visiting us in Kentucky. She had driven herself down from Ohio. I assured her the baby would not be born this weekend, but she was so excited she could hardly contain herself. She was sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room.
She had brought a Styrofoam cooler filled with food for us. We had put the cooler on the porch the night before to dry. That Saturday morning it was getting ready to rain and a wind had come up. I was afraid the cooler would blow away, so I walked through the living room to go get it off the porch. As I walked by I noticed she was not breathing. I got the cooler, closed the porch door and stopped again. No, her chest was not rising and falling.
That began a time of anguish and grief like none I had ever known before.
This is fifty years later. I know, because our daughter turns fifty in a week or two. Mom never knew any of our children. She has remained Grandma Ann, mostly known for recipes I was able to recreate after her passing.
I still miss my mother. Even though I am now 74 years old, there are still times I long to hear her voice. I wonder what she would say about the book about to be published with Kindle Direct Publishing using my writings from this blog and other writings? I had sort of hoped the final approval for printing would come on June 14th, the date of her passing. Approval did not come on that date though. Page 11 I wrote about her influence upon me by songs she taught us while driving in the car.
The tile of my book will be Treasures in Plain Sight: Growing Closer to Jesus in Prayer. I has 107 pages and is 5 x 7 inches. It will cost $12.00. I will earn only a small fraction of that. I did not print it to earn money though. I worked on this to get the writing out there where hopefully people can use it to draw closer to Jesus. Below is photo of the proof copy.
I am working on Volume 2 which will be about relationship with God.
Please pray for these materials to fall into the hands of folks who are yearning for God. I pray this is all done to God’s glory. I am now wondering if I should submit the poetry for publication through Kindle Direct? So many decisions about so many things!
Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:6-7
Ha! It just came through! Here is the link to purchase the book !! https://a.co/d/1dcvaGf
This morning pieces of this hymn were rolling about in my brain. I could not catch the title. I finally sat down to breakfast with a hymnal and began paging through it, trying to find the song. I suppose the Lord felt badly for me as eventually a phrase popped up. I put it into Duck Duck Go and the title came up. The hymnal I was looking in did not even have this song!! Grace and mercy, loving kindness extended to this old woman.
The lyrics here are slightly different than the hymnal I have. Text by Walter Chalmers Smith and traditional Welsh Hymn melody.
To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:17 RSVUE
The opening photo reminds me of “Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above, Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.”
If you have ever traveled in the western United States you have likely heard the term ‘big sky’ referring to the clear vistas and blue almost beyond imagination.
The Splendor of the Sun
The pride of the heavenly heights is the clear firmament, the appearance of heaven in a spectacle of glory. The sun, when it appears, making proclamation as it goes forth, is a marvelous instrument, the work of the Most High. Ecclesiasticus or Sirach 43:1-2 RSV
This book is included in the part of the Bible called the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament. It is not generalized recognized by the Protestant churches. Why is this sometimes called Ecclesiasticus and sometimes Sirach? Wikipedia says ….
The Book of Sirach, also known as The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, The Wisdom of Jesus son of Eleazar, or Ecclesiasticus, is a Jewish literary work originally written in Biblical Hebrew. The longest extant wisdom book from antiquity, it consists of ethical teachings, written approximately between 196 and 175 BCE by Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira, a Hellenistic Jewish scribe of the Second Temple period. Ben Sira’s grandson translated the text into Koine Greek and added a prologue sometime around 117 BCE. Wikipedia
Regardless of who is right as to inclusion with other Scriptures, I do believe that ‘the pride of the heavenly heights is the clear firmament! The appearance of heaven is a spectacle of glory!”
by rmdutina
I already forgot the name of this tree. Bob took one or two photos of the tree, I took the close up .
Oh, that sky! When the New Mexico morning air was cool I would just step outside and breathe deeply. In fact, you could do that now as you look at the photos! 🙂
Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of the earth. Thank you for the privilege of seigneur our dear friends again in their home. Thank you for the splendor of New Mexico.
Once while in Los Cerillos (fondly called Cerillos) Dan and Bob visited a rock shop where they found a lovely tube of yellow stone from a mine. It sat for years on my windowsill or as a paper weight in my office. Recently a strong wind blew it out of the windowsill and a piece of the end broke off. It is much too rough for me to try to grind down.
Our trip 2-1/2 years ago to New Mexico Dan tried to take us to the same rock shop. Though the sign said open hours, they were closed. This visit we tried to visit there again. They were open!
This man is the actual owner and quite a character!
The shop was much cleaner than when we looked through the windows.
We found another yellow calcite tube for our son. My favorite new rock is the photo above, orange calcite. It seems to draw light to it and through it.
Dan also found a restaurant listed that seemed to have a great menu. I wanted to order my first elk burger. The Blackbird Saloon was very historical from the old wood floors …
to the neat idea for beer pulls …
The elk burger was tasty and not too gamey like venison. I can likely purchase it at Jungle Jim’s, though I hate to think what that would cost! The burger very very thick. I asked for it well done, no blood. It was served with blood on the plate. I sent it back. It was still too raw in the center. drats. I ate around the edges and took the rest home to have for supper. If I was running the restaurant I would have made it into 2 patties and cooked them through before serving. But, no one asked me!
We had a nice ride on another lovely day. If you get to Albuquerque try to visit Los Cerillos. It was fun!!
for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. Colossians 1:16 NRSVUE
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 