We arrive on this planet empty handed and we will all soon leave empty handed. So then, how and in what spirit do we want to spend the time in between?
Nimo Patel
In my mother’s day the saying was “You can’t take it with you.” So Patel asks, how and in what spirit do we want to spend the time in between?
Some of us are certain, oh so very certain, we have the right answers about everything. Sadly years of life prove us wrong. Or is it really sad? I, for one, often have to be set straight by God regarding my opinions and what I thought I ‘KNEW’ beyond a shadow of a doubt. As I wrote previously, ‘I used to have all the answers. Now I am not even certain what the questions are!”
I implore you to examine yourself and your attitudes.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
Ephesians 5:8-13
“Find out what pleases the Lord,” that is how I want to live the remainder of my days. We can ask Him what pleases Him. We can ask for the strength and wisdom to follow His guidance. We can bring pleasure to the Lord. “Everything that is illuminated becomes a light,” a light that someone else might follow to know Him in whom we have our being. Oh that my life would be exactly that!
No, I cannot take things with me when I graduate into His eternal presence, but I can leave marked paths that others might follow to draw near to Him. The Word says,
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.
Here is a photo tour of parts of my birthday celebration. Bob made my favorite cake, coconut!
Oh yum. We HAD to taste it the night before!
He also took me to Andy’s Mediterranean Grill. It has gotten mixed reviews lately. We had not eaten there for a long time. It was going to be one of those experiments. If it had gone down hill substantially, it would be our last visit. It was as delicious as I remembered. They make chicken shwarma like no one else I know.
For appetizer I chose spanakopeta – filo dough wrapped around spinach and cheese
I have only had spanakopeta oven baked. Theirs was deep fried. Oilier but still delicious.
Bob ordered Hummus for his meal. He did let me share. I also shared with him! And there were still leftovers to take home.
And then for my entree!
I gave Bob the raw onions and olives off the plate. Oh my! So very good and had left overs for a second meal.
We chose to skip dessert as we had coconut cake awaiting us at home! Yes, their prices were quite a bit higher than in times past, but that is true of every restaurant we have been to this year. We will return in 2024.
I had phone calls, snail mail cards, electronic cards, text messages and many folks celebrating with me. A great celebration all around! My sister sent a flower arrangement. She is out of town and we will go to lunch at a later date.
Since Bob and I celebrate birthdays with only 3 weeks between us, our daughter bought us tickets to the theater to see “Girl from the North Country.” Great fun seeing it with Emily and Lizzie!
Thank you O Holy One for another year of living and loving!
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
It all belongs to You, God. As Eldredge has taught me ‘I give everything and everyone to You. I give everything and everyone to You.’
Since last summer I have been trying to print out a copy of this blog. At first I paid for an upgrade to get the bulk of it. Then I was just printing from the screen. When I returned to organizing the notebooks there were about six months missing. So I went to print those records. Then ran out of blue ink. Thought oh well, I will just print in black and white until an order of ink can arrive. Then the printer was starting to print in orange/pink stripes instead of black and white. Thought it was a fluke. Nope it was going nuts over there on the printer stand. Why not just black and white when I chose that? Plenty of black ink in there in two separate ‘tanks.’
A long way of saying this project has become a PROJECT. It still seems right to have a hard copy just in case the sun sends some rays that kill the internet or meteor showers destroy cloud storage! I have begun printing two sided and not fretting if I miss one or two dates. The print copies do not show links to YouTube, just big blocks where the link would have been. Guess this might be the reason professional writers and executives have secretaries? Or pay WordPress extra for fancier programs?
Not me. Just the 37 year old woman in her home office trying to reflect her life especially with the Lord of lords. I should have thought to being printing this when I first began writing the blog! Oh. That’s right I am 73 now, not 37. Drats. Just that much closer to home with the Holy One.
Have you read books by Rachel Remen, MD? I first found one in Albuquerque one the shelf of a coffee shop where you could take a book or leave a book. I have only read these two so far:
When we down-sized to moved I disposed of them. Recently I got one back. Now I will purchase the other one once I have finished the first again. The stories are short and great for those who might not have the attention span or stamina for long reads. Everything I have read from her though has been powerful. When this quote came in daily email from Gratefulness I wanted to share it and her writings with you.
Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.
Rachel Naomi Remen
Isn’t that a wonderful thought. Years ago I thought I might have the answer to some things. As I turned older and older I realized I not only did not have the answers, I wasn’t even certain what the questions were! However, pursuing unanswerable questions with my husband and other other good friends has made for a good life.
I wish the same for you!
Rachel Naomi Remen, MD is Clinical Professor Emeritus of Family and Community Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine and Professor of Family Medicine at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Ohio. In 1991 she founded the Remen Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (RISHI) a national training institute for physicians, nurses, medical students, nursing students, veterinarians and other health professionals who wish to practice a health care of compassion, meaning, service and community. She is an internationally recognized medical educator whose innovative discovery model course in professionalism, resiliency and relationship-centered care for medical students, THE HEALER’S ART is taught at more than 90 American medical schools and schools in seven countries abroad. Her bestselling books Kitchen Table Wisdom and My Grandfather’s Blessings have been published in 23 languages and have millions of copies in print.
In recognition of her contribution to medicine and medical education, she has received numerous awards including three honorary degrees, the prestigious Bravewell Award as one of the earliest pioneers of Integrative Medicine and Relationship Centered Care. In 2013, she was voted the Gold-Headed Cane award by UCSF School of Medicine for excellence in embodying and teaching the qualities and values of the true physician. Dr. Remen has a 70-year personal history of chronic illness, and her work is a potent blend of the perspectives and wisdom of physician and patient.
No amount of regret changes the past. No amount of anxiety changes the future. Any amount of gratitude changes the present.
Ann Voskamp
Many times I begin my prayer thanking the Father for another day of living and loving. Reflecting upon my recent birthday I thank the Holy One for another year of living and loving.
Best birthday card ever!From my sisterMy sister, PaulaMe
“At our age there are not lots of new friendships, but the ones we experience we hold dear.” Our neighbor, Kathy, has only been known to us a couple of years. Through her first year of struggling to get her brain around what it takes to live with a chronic illness and that illness being also a rare one, we became close. It is difficult to communicate with people who have never suffered from chronic illness. As Kathy says, “They just don’t get it.” Her diagnosis, antisynthetase syndrome, is rare and causes much misery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisynthetase_syndrome Fewer than 50,000 people in the US are thought to have this. Together we have re-affirmed Ann Voskamp’s wisdom that ‘any amount of gratitude changes the present.‘ This year when she returned to Florida, as snowbirds have a tendency to do, it was harder than ever to let her go. We have been married the same length of time, we are the same age, we each have a son and a daughter. Both of us have 3 grandchildren! Her wisdom and friendship bless me deeply. We share our faith freely. When I developed scalp psoriasis I told her I was getting tired of being like her! We don’t speak about dandruff, we refer to blizzards of skin cells falling from our heads after we scratch. We both need to vacuum our beds, our chairs and our cars. It is almost impossible to NOT scratch this sort of itching.
As I unwrap this gift of a new year of life I will try to remain present to all that is given. Life is truly a gift.
With another year of aging, I cling more and more to this verse in Corinthians
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV
Less energy, true that. Less flexibility, true that. Undiagnosed hand and foot itching, yep. More renewal, thank the LORD for that! The Scriptures declare He will never leave me or forsake me. And it is true. There are times when I move away from God, but He is ever near and holds me in His nail-scarred hands.
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.“
Isaiah 49:15-16 NIV
I truly live a varied and pleasing life, rich in adventure and blessings. There is no way I can account for it. One friend tells me I see things others do not when I take a walk. I am blessed to be married to the best man in the world. This year I have continued to work on finding some of the best recipes to cook. (I already miss fresh Ohio tomatoes!) My desk remains stacked about 6 inches deep. If I ever get ‘caught up’ I suppose it will be time to die? Let’s not even discuss how deep the sewing table is with projects.
I have out lived both of my parents. Bob calls it the ‘miracle of modern chemistry.” This year I promise to continue to write this blog as long as I am enabled to come up with new thoughts and inspirations.
May you cling to the One who has you engraved on the palms of His hands. May you rest in the knowledge that the same Holy One is able to renew you day by day. Peace and all blessings to each of you, my dear readers.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure, but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of the world.
“Ruthless furnace of the world” certainly describes the daily worldwide news. May you risk delight today and give the LORD all the glory.
I have now turned 73 years old, or as one friend quipped, “37, until I can no longer reverse the numbers!” Anyway you look at it, aging has been galloping down the road towards me. The trouble with seeing all those specialists and the dentist a week or two before a birthday is they all bring it to your attention! “Oh, I see you are about to have another birthday!” My Dentist says I need all these filings because of “TMB”, Too-many-birthdays, i.e., my gums have receded and there is now new enamel to decay!
Ha! But we must risk delight! We must continue to seek treasures in plain sight! If our eyes fail then we must seek humor in every place that we go. If we cannot go then we must remember humor from past experiences. Hold to that “stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless furnace of the world” and the ruthless march of decay our body experiences.
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
This old hymn has blessed me many times through the years. There are times when I cannot remember the name, though I never forget the sentiment in verse one! Written by George Matheson, 1882. I usually envision the underside of the waves that I saw when snorkeling. Here are the lyrics to read as men sing below.
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
4 part harmony a cappella The Best!!
Another comfort song when wrestling with my itching flesh. I listened to it repeatedly and envisioned my self in things like, “O cross that lifts up my head.” His love is more mighty than my flesh or any suffering we might know.
If you have never visited Holmes County, Ohio there are some fun things to do and learn. Though located in nearby Tuscarawas County, we always make a stop at Warther’s to get our knives sharpened or purchase a new one!
Ernest “Mooney” Warther was born on October 30th, 1885 in an old, one room school house in Dover, Ohio. The youngest boy of five children, Ernest learned at a young age the value of hard work. After his father passed away when Ernest was just three years old, times were tough for the Warther family, with young mother Anna, five children, twenty cents, and a cow. Upon turning five, Ernest began his first job as the local cow herder, taking cows to pasture for a penny a piece and earning him the nickname that would stay for the rest of his life, “Mooney.”
One fateful day, taking the cows out, Mooney found a rusty pocketknife in the dirt. This old knife would ultimately change the course of Mooney’s life forever as the young boy began whittling sticks, fence-posts, and anything else he could get his hands on. Because times were tough and money was short, Mooney would only finish the second grade and would eventually lie about his age at 14 to work at the American Sheet and Tin Company which was one of the local steel mills. Falling in love with the railroad and steam engines as a teenager, Mooney found his focus for carving, which became his hobby. When he was not working at the mill, he was carving. If he was not carving he was with his wife Frieda, his own five children, and their neighborhood friends. Mooney’s journey is one that is remarkable, with one man creating sixty-four scaled and working representations of steam history. His carvings were created between 1905 and 1971, between the ages of 20 and 86.
There is a museum of the carvings works of Mooney Warther. See the locomotive photo above. Well worth your time when you visit there! Just amazing that he made those things without lasers or any technology of our time.
There are only about 10 miles between the two locations. The fifth generation of Ernest “Mooney”, David Warther, has opened a new shop and his own museum.
David began carving full-time at age 29, and in 1993 he opened a carving exhibit in the nearby village of Sugarcreek which is considered a tourist enclave in the heart of Ohio’s Amish country. David found himself carving every day amidst interested visitors and groups from bus tours as well as the local schools.
In 2008 David Warther Carvings was established as an IRS recognized 501c3 non-profit organization and in 2013 the carvings were moved to the new 10,000 sq. ft.exhibit building known as David Warther Carvings Exhibit and Gift Shop. David’s carving studio has been incorporated into this new building, where he shows visitors his special techniques and complete workshop of hand tools.
David’s evenings are devoted to his family and to a musical instrument parts business he started years ago. In addition he has become an expert in knowing the laws and regulations regarding the buying, selling and gifting of estate elephant tusks and ivory carvings in the US.
David’s inborn interest and natural carving ability has resulted in an art collection that is highly educational in its conveyance of human history and progress. Of his creative abilities, David believes the words apply when Christ said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
We did not make the time to visit his shop and museum this time. Gives us a destination for next time!!
If you might be wondering where I went or why I quit posting here are a few reasons.
We traveled to Holmes County Ohio last week. Took a break for a couple of days. The last day there I had to stop taking all antihistamines as I will have allergy testing this week. The stoppage brought the symptoms of itching back like a herd of wild horses running in a stampede from a predator. I have been a basket case of misery.
We celebrated Bob’s 75th birthday with dinner out and then homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. (His favorite.)
Someone gave me this recipe years ago. It is such a favorite that Bob will drive miles to share a piece with two co-workers who have now also retired. This is one carrot cake that does NOT sink to your tummy like lead.
CARROT CAKE serves 10-12
MIX 1-1/2 T. oil 4 large eggs
-2 c. sugar 2 c. grated carrot
WITH 2-1/2 c. flour 2 t. cinnamon
1 t. soda ½ t. salt
½ t. vanilla
ADD 1 c. chopped walnuts ¾ c. currants or raisins
1 c. crushed pineapple in its own juice
POUR into large greased pan 13 x 9, or Bundt or large bread pan
BAKE 1 hour Bundt or 40 min. 9 x 13
ICING Blend ½ lb. 10x sugar 4 oz. Cream cheese
¼ lb. Butter 1 t. vanilla
I always bake it 9 x 13. The cup of crushed pineapple in its own juice can sometimes be found in a can in just the right measurement.
I see the allergist tomorrow. They just told me to go ahead and take the antihistamines. Doctor will decide a treatment plan and when/how to test me. Geesh. Lots of misery for nothin’.
In Mad Honey Jodi Picoult wrote, “We aren’t here on earth in order to bend over backward to resemble everybody else. We’re here to be ourselves, in all our gnarly brilliance.”
Another author wrote, “Stop trying to be someone. You are someone.”
Are you willing to live the challenge to be your own authentic specially created self? There is no one else on earth who can be you. At almost 73 years lived I am here to tell you that you are a special creation, loved and cherished by the Father with special tasks in mind for you and you alone.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 NIV
In Sensible Shoes Sharon G. Brown wrote: “She said, ‘Write what you’re feeling. Tell the truth. Write like nobody’s reading.’ And just like that, I was invited to show up authentically to my grief and pain. It was a simple act but nothing short of a revolution for me. It was this revolution that started in this blank notebook 30 years ago that shaped my life’s work. The secret, silent correspondence with myself. Like a gymnast, I started to move beyond the rigidity of denial into what I’ve now come to call emotional agility.”
Have you tried this practice? Years ago when I began journaling I made Bob promise that he would not read the journal. As far as I know he has absolutely kept that promise. Then later I asked him to promise that if I die before him he would not let the children read my journals. I wrote much in there trying to work out how to parent them. It reflects on my ignorance and searching more than on their behavior and how I truly love them, even when they were on my last nerve.
I sometimes think of this blog as journaling on the screen. Some of what I post comes from my recent journals. Would you take the challenge to be authentic in journal writing? There are no rules in how to do it. At times I write paragraphs with complete sentences. Other times simply a list of words. Phrases that pop up. Prayers, things copied from others, crayon drawings, photographs. Magazine clippings. It is your journal. You can make it any way that you want. The main goal is to be authentic. Having a lousy day? Write that. A great day? Fill the page with sunlit words.
Authentic: genuine, no pretense, transparent. Below is my favorite image of transparent with the Lord.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10 NIV
There is something amazing about putting your thoughts and experiences into words. At times you learn something about yourself that was previously hidden from you. You come across thoughts that were difficult to contact previously. At times, uncovering something you knew earlier in life but then forgot! Sort of like a pen as a steam shovel, excavating a basement, down to a bedrock belief.
The shelf with the open shell and the shelf below it up to the Bible and Harper’s Bible Commentary show my journals minus one or two.
I have had folks tell me they cannot write. I always think to myself, “Well you can think. We all think (unless there is a brain injury of some sort.) Write what you think about.”
“Here to be ourselves…Be the someone we are created to be.” Stop apologizing for who you are. Sharon Brown called journal writing ‘secret, silent correspondence with myself.’ I would expand that thought to include correspondence with the Father. When I write it is often a revelation to me what I am thinking. Many times also, there comes a revelation of what the Father thinks about what I hold as truth. Holding a wrong interpretation, if I am willing to yield, that concept can be corrected.
One of the stories Bob was always glad to read to our children was Mike Mulligan. The story is about Mike and his steam shovel, Mary Anne.
The newer types of shovels took away jobs from the steam shovels.
I think journaling can be a form of self examination. Why not give it a try? You might begin like in a child’s diary just recording events that occur. Given time and prayer and a willingness to go below the surface I believe you can find treasures within your own life experiences.
You will never know unless you give it a try! Use your pen as a steam shovel. You just might come upon treasure you buried a long, long time ago!
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 