There is something so simple
and pleasurable
[Read more...]
Perspective
Read 690 times
You know that old movie The Perils of Pauline? Yeah, that’s what my recent days have been like. I am trying hard to be a Pollyanna but it is a struggle. Honestly, Monday hurt. I know it was all first world trouble and I really should bite my lip when others around me are hurting physically and ill or have loved ones that are. Perspective!
I posted about the busy-ness of these weeks without going into a lot of detail. So much was hanging on the tax refund mixed with regular crazy busy life of late. We have a loooong list of things that need to be repaired, replaced, renewed, re-lifed, and re-loved. Each year that we get a refund we try to do at least one something fun among the responsible that would add to our lives in some way to help soothe the stress of everything else. One year we bought bikes (or kid carriers) for those that didn’t have one (or a hand-me down that fit). Just Walmart cheap ones, but bikes. That was years ago and now a few children need bigger ones, again.
[Read more...]
Four things
Read 596 times
You can’t take it with you.
You know that line, right? What’s here on earth does not go with you in the journey after, no matter where you are headed.
But there are four things I wish I had, but probably never will. I am sentimental. Being sentimental is a part of me that runs deeper than I’d like (at times).
One. There is a ring that is “rightfully” mine. It’s a birthright thing. But I’ll never see it. It was my grandmother’s ring. It’s beautiful. I would do almost anything to wear that ring right now.
Two. There is a ring I want on my finger that I can’t wear anymore. Since I was about three months pregnant with Bairno I have not been able to get my wedding ring on my finger. The pearls fell out of my engagement ring about two years after we were married so I have not worn that since then. I wish I had a new set of rings to wear. A white gold or platinum set. It’s the color I like, not the metal. I might would even choose a pewter set if I could as long as it was what I really wanted. Then someday I could leave them to Birdie.
Three. There is a ring that is mine that I am supposed to give up in less than a year. I do not know if I can. It is a ruby ring. Flawed. A dark pink, not red. It’s too big for my finger. Always has been. Tradition (about 5 generations) says to give to the oldest daughter when she turns 16. I got it when I was 15. I took it off my finger one fateful day about 6 years ago and I have a hard time looking at it. It brings me pain now to see it. But I want to have the band repaired and enjoy it again before I pass it down. I want my daughter to understand the heirloom quality based in tradition. I worry she will lose it. She has a hard time keeping her jewelry safe. She has no where to keep her things.
[Read more...]
Reconciliation, Restoration, and Prudence
Read 556 times
Please read this post first.
The end goal of forgiveness is reconciliation and restoration. Reconciliation is always possible. Always. Restoration is situational. Quite often the two are lumped together. Stay with me; hear me out.
Healing and Bitterness
What happens when the offended does not forgive, holds on for revenge. Remember forgiveness is taking the hurt on yourself, not heaping it back onto the offender.
Let’s go back to that wound in the arm example I used. So someone stabs me in the arm. I now have a gaping, bloody wound. What do I do? I put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. If it is really bad I may have to use a tourniquet to prevent too much blood loss. Tourniquets are meant to be used short term. What happens if I leave the tourniquet on for too long? I risk losing my arm. If I cut off the blood supply with a tourniquet to my arm so the bleeding will stop I cut off the blood supply to more than just the wound. My whole arm will begin to atrophy, die, and rot. I risk losing my arm completely.
[Read more...]
Forgiveness, Mercy, and Grace
Read 584 times
Lately twitter has been the reason for many things to be in the forefront of my thoughts. There’s this thing about twitter that let’s us openly (term used lightly) eavesdrop on those we follow or maybe even snoop through the @replies to find the context of a tweet. All this is public as long as the tweeter has his tweets publicly viewable.
So today I see a string of tweets about forgiveness and one persons struggle with it. Then not so much later I see one asking for another word for mercy. The replies given for this request were plentiful. I’ll share a few of the ones I saw.
Mercy
From one who turned to Merriam-Webster.com:
humanitarianism, philanthropy; empathy, pity, sympathy, understanding; commiseration, favor, grace, benevolence, care, compassion, gentleness, goodness, goodwill, kindliness, kindness, meekness, mildness, niceness, softness, charity, clemency, lenience
Another replied with:
compassion, grace
And a third:
charity, generosity, leniency
Another split reply:
Depends on how you’re using it. Maybe compassion, benevolence, humanity, tolerance, grace, softheartedness, forbearance, clemency, gentleness, lenience
I offered: kindness, forbearance.
[Read more...]
Recent Comments