Category: Just do it

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Joy, Just do it, Music, Praise, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust, Worship, Yield

Rumi

Seems like wherever I turn these days folks are seeking direction and fulfillment for their everyday lives. I keep returning again and again to Rumi, the poet, theologian, Islamic scholar, and Sufi Mystic. I am not looking to replace my Christian faith, but this guy understood the depths of mysticism and genuine faith.

Merriam-Webster defines mysticism as a religious practice based on the belief that knowledge of spiritual truth can be gained by praying or thinking deeply. I know Jesus would agreed.

Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop. There are quite a few dead leaves dropping around here and summer is not even complete. How about the things we fill our lives with that do not fulfill us? Can we drop some of those and be more like the tree described in the Psalms?

Happy are those
    who do not follow the advice of the wicked
or take the path that sinners tread
    or sit in the seat of scoffers,
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees
    planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
    and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper. Psalm 1:1-13 NRSVUE

Whatever lifts the corners of your mouth, trust that.  There is a local billboard that states “If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.” It is powerful advice. Our worship service has children participate especially in collecting the offering. There is also a special children’s sermon that is delightful. I am always refreshed by the children. And they know how to smile!

Before I had the recent foot surgery if I saw someone in a wheelchair I made an effort to get on their eye level and greet them with a smile. Since I have so recently driven electric wheelchair shopping carts in so many different stores I am even more inclined to do that. It is an entirely different world down there. Most people just hurry past and ignore those who are seated. Try giving those folks a smile of yours! If you have never driven one of those carts, the next time you see them lined up for charging you should try one, just to gain a new perspective! Of course, if there is only one or two please leave it for those of us who cannot walked the area of American mega-stores! There are some people who would see me reaching for an item and ask if they could help me with it. There is still kindness all around us!

Hard, but oh so true. Constantly flowing, never clinging, always embracing the new. Wowsers. Here are just a couple of short songs to keep you in the ways of a river today.

And an even better one is Ever Flowing!

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Focus, Just do it, Obedience, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Trust, Yield

Present

This morning my meditation sites seemed to all converge. Don’t you just love when that happens? God uses all the sources around us to point to the Divine will for us.

Challenge to me is can I stay right here in the present moments as they unfold this day? Not worry about if I can attend the book discussion group this evening. Having no fret about completing my writing so I can teach a new pattern to someone tomorrow morning. No concern about something I said or did yesterday. Just right here. Right now. This present moment, enjoy this gift.

Then the Scripture meditation on another app:

12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us, then, who are mature think this way, and if you think differently about anything, this, too, God will reveal to you. 16 Only let us hold fast to what we have attained. Philippians 3:13-16 NRSVUE

Paul urges us to turn loose of the past, anything we have already laid hold of we should keep, but not dwell there in that past accomplishment. Press on toward “the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” Right here I want to embrace You Lord and Your will for me.

It has been said that if you do not know what God is asking you to do right now then obey the last thing that you heard. In other words, if I do not have new marching orders, do the last thing I heard. How do you accomplish that? Are you obedient to what you have been told or are you always seeking for something else, some new thing you might like better?

Trying to find artwork to illustrate this blog entry I found runners and then more runners (that does not apply to me as I barely walk right now) then even worse, a guy walking a tightrope over the Grand Canyon (I fear heights). For me to ‘press on toward’ means do not stop where you are for more than this moment. On toward the goal.

Along with Paul I do not consider this a done deal. It requires my discipline and obedience daily, at times hourly. “Let those of us, then, who are mature think this way.” Ouch that could hurt on days when I am stuck in some other kind of thinking! The good Lord does not leave us to ourselves. Paul goes on to write “and if you think differently about anything, this, too, God will reveal to you.”

Holy Spirit come please, correct my wrong thinking and help me to follow hard after the thoughts of the Lord God Almighty. Deliver me from brain habits and flesh habits and world habits. Help me recognize and cling to Christ-like habits. Make me wholly Yours. Amen.

Posted on in Book quotes, Faith, Just do it, Obedience, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Trust

Sensible Shoes Series

This series of books written by Sharon Garlough Brown features 4 women on their spiritual journey, ending with Book 4, entitled An Extra Mile. I finally started reading book 4 and have been staying awake longer at night due to the story. Brown is a terrific author! Once a librarian told me you know it is a good book when you wonder what the characters are doing when you are not reading.

In part 2 of this book, Page 166, a couple of the women are experiencing an experiential prayer journey to the cross on Holy Saturday. The fourth prayer station is described as follows:

Three dead trees were secured in five-gallon buckets with duct tape and rocks. Draped through the bare branches of the trees was a long black cloth, at the top of which was painted the silhouette of a weeping woman. Blue beads and crystals representing tears hung from the branches, and at the base of one of the trees was a puddle fashioned from turquoise tulle.

“Jesus Speaks to Weeping Women”, the sign read. Beside it was the Scripture text from Luke 23:27-31

A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then

“‘They will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
    and to the hills, “Cover us!”’

31 For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

I have read the Bible through several times and studied particular books many times. I did not recall this passage at all. See why I like her writing? The image of the dead trees, the way the woman’s tears were depicted; certainly her church must have had this display once?

Two characters stop at this prayer station. The author writes out their experiences. These two paragraphs drew me enough to turn down the page in my book (rather than look for a pen or pencil as I read into the night). Page 170

But I can’t fake joy, Lord. What I have right now to offer you is sorrow. Gratitude, too, but also sorrow. I miss ___ _____.I miss my work. I miss my space. I grieve what was. I grieve what will never be. I grieve.

But I’m not the only one who grieves. I sit and stare at these dead trees watered by tears and find myself strangely comforted at the thought of being part of a community of the brokenhearted and the disappointed who keep watch for redemption. For resurrection. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Let that be true, Lord! Not just for me. For all of us.

This has been a difficult summer in our household. Recovery from the foot surgery. Storms. Multiple deaths in our neighborhood. Storms. Bob got really sick and is on multiple inhalers and treatments for his lungs. Another death looming. Garden going to seed despite the efforts of friends and both myself and Bob .

It has been refreshing to read Amy Carmichael writing to those who are ill and struggling, see https://treasuresinplainsight.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=23617&action=edit Sharon Garlough Brown writing about those who are grieving and ways to take our eyes off our own discomfort and place our eyes upon Jesus once again.

Again Sharon Garlough Brown writes on Page 174

I know you invite me to trust you as Redeemer, Lord. Not to expect you to be the God who fixes broken things or prevent brokenness from happening but to trust you to be the One who redeems broken things, makes your presence known in the midst of all that is broken, and keeps us company as we grieve. You do make all things well. Like Julian of Norwich’s prayer. All shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of things shall be well. Someday. No matter what.

God is with us in anything and everything that happens to us in this life. Somehow everything that happens to us in this life can form and shape and prepare us for life beyond this world as well.

If you have never read this series of books I cannot urge you enough to look into them! Book 1 is entitled Sensible Shoes and introduces you to the four main characters. Those characters are developed through the all four books and certainly worth the read.

Author Sharon Garlough Brown

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Just do it, Look, Rest, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Thanks, Trust

Amy and Tamara Inspire Again

I have been experiencing this and trying to express it since the surgery on June 15. Still clumping around in the boot and hoping this cheers those of you who are struggling.

August 15 Amy Carmichael from Edges of His Ways
For the tempted. (1)
Psalm 77:3, P.B.V.: When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God.
“Have you noticed how, when you are in heaviness, you are always tempted to think about yourself–your uselessness, your failures, your nothingness–yourself in one way or another? I have known this temptation and have constantly found it tormenting others. To draw one’s thoughts to oneself is a long-tried and most successful wile of the devil.

“Straight against this is the word we have in this psalm, “When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God.” I will turn my thoughts from myself to my Father who loves me and does not stop loving me, though I am useless and a failure and less than nothing at all.”

The meditation app Calm on the same day brought forth the idea of how we fixate on certain things as required for our contentment. We are ever reaching for one thing or the other than what is for our happiness and contentment. Both Amy Carmichael and Tamara Levitt encourage us to find peace right where we are. Right now. With things as they are.

Tamara says, “The stories we tell ourselves about our lives suggest there is always something missing, some incomplete piece keeping us from happiness.” She reminds us that it is “unhealthy to place our happiness on some ever-elusive external goal.” She challenges us to find satisfaction with who we are right now. Amy stated we might feel “useless and a failure and less than nothing.” Tamra suggests we turn loose of the idea of something missing and cling instead to what is here, right now, as enough.

Tamara says, “When we rely on external factors as the key to happiness we only perpetuate our discontentment. She quote B. Grace Bullock as saying, “Once you shed your distorted lens and self-doubting beliefs, there’s a good chance you’ll discover that you’re pretty awesome. And that the light burning within you is a far more accurate reflection of who you are than the stories you have been telling yourself.” That is when contentment becomes possible.

Shed your distorted lens

So my struggle the last couple of months has been to stay in the present, realize that even with physical limitations I can turn my heart and mind towards God. If I stop telling myself distorted stories and think upon my God, contentment is possible. Just now.

As I am.

Right here.

Give it try!

Posted on in Aging, Amazing Creations, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Focus, Illness and Health, Joy, Just do it, Look, Nature, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Thanks

A Little Bit of Awe

Bob reads Time magazine. I occasionally pick it up if there is an article that catches my attention. In the throes of this recovery from surgery we both caught a wicked cold. The headache and coughing are exhausting. When I moved his magazine this article caught my attention, “5 Ways to Experience a Little Bit of Awe Every Day. ”My first reaction was , “Not again!?”

I was finding it difficult to think about awe in the midst of the ripping sound of Velcro, hot ortho boot, inability to move about the house without forethought and planning, gripping abdominal pain from coughing so long and so hard. Now someone wants me to find awe?

When I finally stopped long enough to read the article I realized the exercise was exactly what I needed. Dacher Keltner a psychologist and author is quoted as describing awe as the feeling you get “when you encounter things that are vast and beyond your frame of reference,” shifting attention away from self and toward something larger.

You can read the article here. https://www.pressreader.com/australia/time-international/20260727/281754161083947

I read through the list of 5 ways and made myself look away from the coughing and the lingering limitation to my walking ability. I found indeed there could be a shift in my thinking. I knew this to be true, but have not experienced this noticeable shift in several months. The shift is very difficult when you feel unwell.

For example, we had some nasty storms pass through our area recently. One tornado came within a handful of miles from our house. We watched the neighbor’s trees twist and turn in the wind as never before and the elephant ears in our garden were being whipped into a frenzy. I wondered what would happen to the newly bloomed mallow flowers on the shrub next to the giant ears. Two days later we were both marveling at how the flowers seemed to be entwined and hugged by the elephant ears in our garden. In other words, the plants were still standing and prospering despite all the storm threw at them.

If you don’t feel good and are limited in your physical function one challenge you don’t want to encounter is the invasion of the tiny black ants. One treat I am allowed is a couple of ginger snaps or a few select low carb cookies with my morning coffee. I opened the can with the coconut cookies and it was literally crawling with ants. So many in fact that I just threw the cookies away. There was no way to pick off a few and save the cookies.

Bob helped me pull things out of the closet and vacuum up ants. I sprayed bug killer and shut the pantry door. If would take hours to wash things off and replace them in the pantry. By the time I was finished I was exhausted. At some point in the housekeeping event I remembered the verse about consider the ant you sluggard, while contemplating how do they even get inside this house? Look they are congregating around the edges of the dishwasher. How do I spray there?

6 Go to the ant, you lazybones;
    consider its ways and be wise.
7 Without having any chief
    or officer or ruler,
8 it prepares its food in summer
    and gathers its sustenance in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
    When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want, like an armed warrior. Proverbs 6:6-11 NRSVUE

We find those tiny critters on the dining room table. I will occasionally find one walking up my arm. I am getting to the point if I feel like something is crawling on me I check to be sure it is not an ant.

There is the reset button! This invasion did not have to be more fuel for frustration and despair! We may never win the battle with the ants, but we can hold a little bit of territory. There are likely ten thousand upon ten thousand ants living in our backyard alone. When Bob pulls up a solar light to change the battery he often encounters them going mad up his arm and all over the light. A moment ago he saw none. Then wham he is battling for his own skin.

This marvel is occurring in all the neighbors houses. Some even find the ants where this is no food about such as in an office. Yet the ants explore and send out sentries and food gatherers. Can we just for a moment be in awe of them?

This awe is one thing that makes it possible to turn away from the attention my ailing self demands and look to the Lord. This marvel, even for a moment, helps me move towards praise and pray again. It is no slight thing to find a way to focus on the Risen Christ when your body of flesh is clamoring so loudly. Here again is a big reason why I admire Amy Carmichael so much. Her writings delineate her turning away from the flesh and the world to God Almighty.

You might want to try it today, if even for a moment.

Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Focus, Joy, Just do it, Listen, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Trust, Worship

Zing!!

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12 NIV

And God said, “Gotcha, Molly!” Indeed my attention was fully clasped upon that verse.

Yep, I have at times been less that patient in my afflictions. Not always joyful in hope. Trying to be faithful in prayer, but even there I often fall so short.

And where was I convicted? While watching a movie on the channel Great American Family. During recovery, I spend most afternoons watching a movie and trying to do a few rounds of crochet. This particular channel is showing Christmas movies and at commercial breaks they show a Scripture verse.

So there I was with foot elevated, coughing and being convicted that maybe I could live Romans 12:12 a bit better.

Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. Romans 12:12 NRSVUE

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. Romans 12:12 NLT

Rejoice, be joyful – can you do that even when forced to stillness, Molly?

Patient in affliction, in trouble – healing is going to take almost every single day of this summer season. And then I will need to learn to walk with this new equipment in my toe, or as my friend Dan said, my own “hardware store” in my toe.

Persevere, keep on, be faithful in prayer – yes, those needs, Molly. There is the one across the street still battling cancer and now a widower. The church as we try to reach the hurting with the Good News and comfort of Jesus. There is Pete’s family as they prepare his house for the market and decide what to do with his belongings. The one who suffers from Parkinson’s. The two widows down the street. The other with the awful struggle with antisynthetase syndrome. She who is practically bedridden with back pain and a variety of other ailments. The needs for prayer are always there, Molly. Will you be faithful as the Holy Spirit leads you to pray?

Lord, forgive me I pray for falling short of this call from Paul. Help me to bring joy to your heart. Help me to hear you singing over me. Please do not stop encouraging me to do better as your child and daughter of the King of Kings. Amen.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Just do it, Nature, Praise, Prayer, Surrender, Trust

Second Chance! Take A Lesson

We saw this story on the news recently.

What amazes me is how the new parents were willing to feed transplanted chicks! I could imagine one eagle saying to the partner,“But honey, they multiplied over night!!”

If you listened to the 4 minute video Marcie Logsdon, veterinarian, mentions “if the baby is there and begging to be fed, the adults feed it.” Oh! if only humans could be so kind and giving! Perhaps since this is our national bird we could all take a lesson from the Bald Eagle parents.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25: 35-40 ESV

Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Obedience, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Surrender, Yield

Forward Day by Day

I have read this quarterly booklet of devotions for many years. Decades even. Since I was about 15 years old, off and then on again. Most of my formation as a Bible learner was made by reading the Scriptures listed in the daily lectionary that Forward D-B-D prints in this tiny booklet.You can subscribe to a print edition or read it for free on-line.

“Forward Day by Day is a booklet of daily inspirational meditations reflecting on a specific Bible passage, chosen from the daily lectionary readings as listed in the Revised Common Lectionary or the Daily Office from the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer.

Published quarterly, the daily meditations are rich in substance and offer a wide range of witness and experiences. Each month’s meditation is written by a different author.

Inspiring readers since our first issue was published in 1935, Forward Day by Day remains a significant resource for daily prayer and Bible study to more than a half million readers and listeners worldwide.”

You can download the app for Apple products at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forward-day-by-day/id561455965

They also posted this: Google has removed our Forward Day by Day app from the Google Play Store. Despite our adherence to all terms and long history on the Google Play Store, we are currently unable to satisfy Google’s verification requirements. We have been working for months to appeal this decision and continue to explore how to get the app back into Android users’ hands.

The author for the month of July, 2026 is Tina Francis. Both Bob and I have enjoyed her writing. Her bio reads: Tina Francis is a writer, photographer, and seminarian pursuing the priesthood int eh Episcopal Church. Born to South Indian parents, raise din Dubai, and shaped in Canada and Seattle, she carries many hones in her bones – an atlas of memory and migration.” Such an interesting woman!

Her is her entry for July 20.

Matthew 26:39b My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.

“In Gethsemane, the air is heavy with the scent of bruised grass and the metallic tang of fear. Jesus kneels, hands in the soil as if steadying himself against the weight of what’s coming. The moon spills a cold light over his back. It’s not the absence of faith that drives him to pray like this; it’s the abundance of it. He knows what obedience will cost.

“I have prayed this way. I have my own cups. Not crucifixion, but quiet devastations: the diagnosis that didn’t change, the apology that never came, the joy that slipped through my fingers no matter how tightly I closed them.

“Julian of Norwich wrote, “All shall be well,” but she never promised it would be painless. Surrender tastes less like peace and more like metal on the tongue. Maybe that’s the prayer here – not certainty, but consent: the willingness to let God close the distance between what we want and what will be. To say yes when we do not understand the story, only the storyteller.”

“Not certainty, but consent. To say yes.” I would add say yes, continually.

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Focus, Humor, Just do it, Look, Praise, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth

Not Allow the World to Deaden Us

Read this quote and just knew I would want to comment on it.

We have a responsibility to hold to the power of love that we know to be true, and to not allow the world around us to deaden that in ourselves.

LUCAS JOHNSON

We were watching Project Hail Mary and he used the line, “Shields up!” from Star Wars. And the computer answered him with a humorous line.

We greatly enjoyed the movie. I believe we watched it on Amazon Prime? At least it took my mind off my forced sitting.

I am not a movie expert, but when negative things come at me, and I suddenly realize it, I tend to tell myself, “Shields up!”

The quote says to “hold to the power of love that we know to be true.” Shields up! Grasp that power of love! Do not allow the world around us to deaden us to any good power within us. It is not only the space movies of the modern age that tell us this. Paul told the believers in Ephesus to put on the FULL armor of God. Those words hold true for us in 2026 also.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:10-15 NIV

AND 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:16-18 NIV

When was the last time you consciously took up your shield of faith? Deliberately put on the full armor of God? When was the last time you read this passage in your Bible and knew for a certainty that it was something God wanted you to do?

Stay conscious, alert, diligent to what is going on around you.

Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 1 Peter 5:8-9 NRSVUE

And if you get a chance to see it, enjoy the Project Hail Mary. It is almost a one man show with Ryan Gosling and he also produced it. I found it very entertaining!

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Humor, Illness and Health, Just do it, Special Event

Doctor Description

He wrote I had a 1st MTP hardware removal fusion revision, bone graft, 2nd MTP capsular hepby. The first MTp fusion did not fuse correctly.

Two plates, nine screws in the area of one great toe. Ouch, ouch, ouchy. The swelling continues and I elevate, ice and try not to react. Sit, listen to audio books, crochet a little, nap, rest my head, try not to think too much. Rub Aquaphor into the scar and surrounding area. Tender!

I am coming to intensely dislike this orthopedic boo . Regardless of what sock I choose it leaves lines in my foot. I know if I do not honor his instructions, this will not heal properly. Trust me, I WANT this healing to be proper and thorough.

My husband, who thinks he is highly humorous, loved Dan’s cartoon about “This little piggy.” I did NOT as it hit too close to home for me. Doc told us if this gets infected he would have to amputate my toe.

Bob did make up for his unappreciated comedy by finding a difficult to find candy bar at Walgreens for me. He told the cashier he had to make amends for making fun of me. Okay. I can accept that! And trust me, that candy will last a long time.

After elevating and icing July 16
Toe July 20 after being down for several hours.

They used so much betadine for the surgery it might never come out of my nails! Foot really looks much better than it did a month ago. I did not post the bloody, scabby photo.

I have not done anything about learning Origami other than look at the image I want to create. Oh well. Time to stop writing and go ice and elevate. My toe dictates much of my life right now!

This creation by ChatGPT and me.

ChatGPT wanted a toe on the obey button. It looked to weird to me.