Illumination

A grand illuminating morning!

...

Fata Morgana

Fata Morgana

There are dark areas between the mountains and
the valley floor ~ hour glass in shape that are
described as being a fata morgana.

-24 F currently
Sunrise 9:49 a.m.
Sunset 3:25 p.m.

...

Addictions

Addictions are hard to endure. Compulsive actions are hard to control. If these actions become a hindrance to your everyday routine or these actions impede on another persons space or rights than you should make a change. I am not fit to stand on the pulpit and preach. I am not here to judge only to share.

There are times when my body craves that smoke from a cigar or cigarette, that sip of wine, that piece of chocolate, bread hot from the oven slathered in butter or a warm cup of rich dark coffee with fresh cream. All those things that when you have to much of is... well wonderful at first.

Everything in moderation! Everything that we do or eat should be taken in small doses.

The toughest of the common addictions would have to be alcohol and cigarettes. They change your body chemistry overtime creating a psychological as well as an emotional need for consumption. Nicotine creates a stimulation of adrenaline, which raises the blood pressure, heart rate and on average it takes about ten seconds for the substance to reach the brain creating the compulsive desire to smoke. It is the single most important preventable risk to human health.

As for alcohol addictions I must save that topic for another day.

If you quit once before you can again! If you have never stopped since you started, you can do it, be a quitter! Think of those loved ones that are around you everyday, seeing your actions, breathing your second hand. To all those in my life who are smokers: I love you and care about your long term health. For each of you I have reasons as to why YOU should muster up the strength to put the cigarettes down and walk away. And promise me that when next fall rolls around and I am craving a cigarette, please, please remind me of my words today.

Looking Glass

We spend a lot of time looking in a mirror or looking out a window. My window to the world is in my office. I can see a large expanse of land as the building is situated on a hill overlooking the valley. The trees are cleared in just the right spots for me to have a great view of the mountain range in the distance.

I have a small collection of windows in my house that have been made into stain glass art pieces or frames for my ever loved photo's. I have just refinished this window and cut the mat for the photos and am looking forward to filling it with photos.

Every window in my house has a story ~ this window was, up until recently, a window on the house of my childhood best friend. When I spotted it during our recent visit I just knew it had to hang in my house. Her husband went out of his way to ensure it was package well enough to make the 3000 mile journey.

Thank you CJ and that husband fella too!

Fears ~ Worry

To what fears do I own up to? What fears have I faced? Challenged and concorded? How many of our fears are truly in our control? Or in the control of others? Which fears do we face by choice or fears we smack into, no choice in the matter only to proceed forward giving it our all. Live or die!

Fearing for that which is out of your control is more akin to a worry. Where do I place my worries? Those that are out of my charge? In a pocket, a jar or in prayer? Lay your worries on me says our good Lord. Free your heart of worry and fear. Trust in the foundations you have laid.

I have recently verbalized my worry about who will be the mother of my grandchildren. What will she be like. Loving, kind, compassionate, yet firm in guidance, fair in the teachings and consistent in all things. I am a grandchild in this circle. How am I doing dear grandmother? Where you worried for me as I worry for the future? There were years of just cause for worry when it came to my young adult life. Rest knowing those years only made me stronger as I fear less and smile more.

If your fear is a stumbling block. Face it. If your fear is a worry rest it on the Lords shoulders. If your fear is something to avoid, that is what husbands are for, all those legged, furry and winged creatures. You can also rely on a jar, a box, or a tennis ball racket!

Waiting for Your Return

Wait! Wait! Wait! To soon we are lead to the gallows, to soon it all comes to an end and we are parted. Rent from each other when the heat was burning strong, just when my love for you was mounting upward ever higher. Your company I grew to enjoy. Torn as lovers pleading, begging for the other not to leave.

In the darkness I dream of you. In the darkness I imagine that you are there. I long to follow you. I know you are needed elsewhere and you had to leave. As I must stay here bound to my obligations. Forced to stand frozen in the cold snow breathing the frigid air of winters dark night.

I am counting the days until your return. Those precious seconds at first will be my delight to behold.

Demotivation

Demotivational Posters ~ looking at life in the opposite.
Good for a laugh when you are feeling the dark of winters morning.

As one of the perfectionists this is one of my personal favorites.

As the Queen of the World ~ I do enjoy watching others work,
especially if it benefits the queen!
I would also like to see their handiwork up close.

Motivation

Our motivators come in a variety of flavors. For the most part we are motivated by a desire to obtain something. Knowledge, love, material possessions, an understand of self or value in ourselves. The Antique Road Show measures the value of an object based on who made it or who might have owned said object. Looking at myself I can see my worth using these same guidelines as I am of God belonging to God.

Strength, they say, comes from within, the light that illuminates the way is inside of our hearts. In order for it to light the way to something special you must believe it's special. There is no secret ingredient ~ you just have to believe that there is!

Superman Vision

This week I had the opportunity to see the world though Superman's eyes. The mountains and those sheep never looked better. The rest of my world ~ well lets just say that hot pokers jabbed into my eyes would have felt better. So back to the drawing board this morning with Dr. Bob and low and behold I already have all the other extra sensory perceptions so that my eye do not have to carry the full load of super heroism.

In the Quiet

Stillness rolls across the land, no one speaks nor utters a word save for the small inconspicuous words on the weather. The lightning flash of the headlines disappear and all that can be seen of the moon is a malformed glow behind misty clouds.

Our world is shrouded in the night, evil thoughts from unholy creatures are on the wind. From white to blue to the coming black ~ consuming all that is just and right in its darkness. Fear is an unwelcome companion.

This to shall pass, stand firm your faith.

Moral Majority

As voters we do not hear much about the 'moral majority' any more. One has to wonder what this implies. Does it imply that the moral majority is now the moral minority? It has been said that we are on the cusp of history? History in the making goes beyond the gender or the persons ethnic background. History in the making that could change our entire future and belief system. History that could break our nation away from what the United States of America was founded on, God.

Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in they sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Bleeding Scabbing Scar

When we loose someone we love or experience an emotional loss there are stages, I suppose, that you have to go through. There is the bleeding of the freshly opened wound. This could happen in the form of a slow cut that we could see coming say a loved one with terminal cancer or the death of an elderly parent. Or the gashing open of the flesh that requires the swift hand of a medic, either way the bleeding must be stopped to form the scab that will leave the scar.

It is the scabbing stage of grief and loss that I wonder about. We do all heal at our own pace and use different techniques to accomplish this healing. How does one keep from picking at the scab?

Perhaps this train of thought is due to getting older, as we age and gain more knowledge and retrospect on life, we can see more clearly our mortality. More importantly for me at this time is the mortality of my parents. There have been friends and loved ones in my life as of late that have lost their parents causing me to wonder what to say, how to act. Trying hard to avoid those killer cliches.

Beautiful memories, warm loving feelings glowing from the scar. Thank you CJ ~ wise words to build upon.