:: Jiggling the Web for Instant Search Engine Rankings

:: Jiggling the Web for Instant Search Engine Rankings

Posted using ShareThis

Squirrels, Patterns and Christmas Tree

I sit each morning for quiet time for reading the weekly Bible Lesson, reflecting and writing.  As I sat this morning listening within and quieting mind chatter, just listening, I heard my heart beating, the high-pitched ear ringing, with an occasional musical bell-like tinkling from somewhere deep within my right ear, listening, listening.  I then see two squirrels scampering high up in the pine trees, then a third joining in, chasing, running round and round, up and down, running across the wisteria vines that grow and connect three tall pine trees.  They run like tight-rope walkers with perfect balance, fearlessness and abandon.  No struggle. Complete grace.  Sure-footedness as they run up, down, across, around and around into the patterns of branches up above.
      My thoughts turn to patterns of the vines, patterns of the branches all weaving together, strengthening each other as they intertwine, moving up, connecting and holding those three pine trees together.  I imagine how I would take a picture of this tangled scene of pine trees and wisteria vines in order to capture the beauty of it all. I see myself as I lie down on the ground with camera facing upwards towards the sky.  I center all the vines, branches, and trunk to fit in the camera lense.  I see the wonderful patterns...delightful views of patterns.
    I then think of the magical views I remember seeing while lying beneath brightly lit and decorated, tall, beautiful and fragrant Frazier fir trees from Christmases past.  What a magnificent perspective it is looking up through and into the sparkle and reflections of the multi-colored mini-lights on the shiney ornaments up through the branches circling the trunk with more intricate patterns... lights, branches and pine needles.... all coming together creating a sense within of inexpressible awe for the beauty and feeling the magical enchantment of it all.
     I didn't put up a Christmas tree this year...the first time in my entire life I haven't had a fresh Christmas tree lighting up my living room with a sparkle of joy for those few weeks at Christmas time and that always spoke to me of love, joy, sharing, and beauty.  I understand why I didn't put up a tree this year after returning from a two-week vacation in Florida during the first two weeks of December.  I knew that I wasn't willing to jump into the rush and press of playing catch-up cramming multitudes of activities into my days after enjoying a unique and very special times of quiet reflections that I was able to share with a dear friend on this unique vacation.  I found this picture of the palm tree that awakened a love for and affinity with palm trees and that I so strongly felt while in Florida.  I love discovering how this picture captivates me looking up through the branches from this perspective. Beautiful isn't it?
   That trip to Florida helped me move through this Christmas season in a new way.  It was important for me to move away from expectations to recreate the magic of Christmases past as my family now looks so different from years past.  The hustle and bustle of the season have gone but the love and memories remain. 
     That's what patterns of Christmas trees, branches of palm trees, vines of wysteria all represent to me.  This was my first Christmas in 15 years without my dog Missy sleeping under the Christmas tree.  Oh how she loved to lie under the Christmas tree!  Just looking at her one felt her contentment and peace with sleeping under the decorated tree. Included in this memory with Missy, I see the fire burning in the fireplace, Bill sitting at his desk, mother sitting in her favorite chair, Christmas carols playing.  Beautiful memories.
   Yes, I will put up a Christmas tree again and again, asking for help when I need it, but definitely I intend to have more Christmas trees in my life.  These memories don't feel the same as mind chatter.  This was a healing trip for me, beginning with watching the squirrels, pine trees, vines, palm trees, branches, Christmas trees all dance together in lovely patterns of thought. That is what's so alluring and inviting to see all this with new perspectives, from below looking up rather than straight on.  Exciting and beautiful intricate patterns, designs, colors, highlights.  And if you've never layed beneath a Christmas tree, looking up through the decorated branches, try it. I highly recommend it.  I can't wait until next Christmas to do that once again---but wait, I can close my eyes and I'm there, right now.

Psalm 55 angel

This has travelled around the internet before. I am deeply touched each time I read it.  I'm not certain when this took place, but since the message is timeless.

It's too long for facebook, so I decided to copy to my blog.

'Friends are God's way of taking care of us.'

This was written by a Metro Denver Hospice Physician:

I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on
Colorado Blvd., and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely
managed to coast, cursing, into a gas station, glad only that I would not be
blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow
truck. It wouldn't even turn over. Before I could make the call, I saw a
woman walking out of the quickie mart building, and it looked like she
slipped on some ice and fell into a gas pump, so I got out to see if she was
okay.When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than
that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with
dark circles under her eyes. She dropped something as I helped her up, and I
picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel.
At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the
ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car
seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.
I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying
'I don't want my kids to see me crying! ,' so we stood on the other side of
the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that
things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, 'And you were praying?'
That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a
crazy person and said, 'He heard you, and He sent me.'
I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she
could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the
next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates
for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car,
who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.
She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City . Her boyfriend left
2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she
wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan. 1, and finally, in desperation, had
called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They
lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on
her feet there.
So she packed up everything she owned in the car. She told the kids they
were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live
there.I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for
safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, 'So, are you
like an angel or something?'
This definitely made me cry. I said, 'Sweetie, at this time of year angels
are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people.'

It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course,
you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home
with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect
the mechanic won't find anything wrong.
Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter
of their wings...
Psalms 55:22 ' Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He
shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.'

Reclaiming Your Life From Clutter and Spiritual Wealth Ripples

I was cleaning and organizing my desk once....again (where do all those piles come from?) when I came across an old email that I enjoyed enough to print out to keep for future reference (ah-ah, that's where those piles come from!). It was an article written by Alexander Green entitled, "How to Reclaim Your Life", where he discusses simple strategies for decluttering. I found it refreshing. I would love decluttering using his method.
His simple method of decluttering came about when he and his family moved from Florida to Virginia. They simply left everything behind in Florida and moved into a completely furnished home in Charlottesville, VA, where their new home was furnished with everything.....right down to the bath towels and wine glasses. All they had to do was pack a few suitcases. What they quickly discovered was that they fell in love with their new neighborhood and home. As they realized they were staying, they also realized that all that stuff they left back in Florida - the drawers, closets, cabinets, and storage bins overflowing with stuff they'd accumulated - they didn't miss it, not any of it. How liberating is that?
    I love this method of simple decluttering and found it extremely helpful to keep in mind as I worked through my year plus of decluttering exercises here in my own home (and that continue today). Green mentions that according to Peter Walsh, the organization expert for Clean Sweep, a series on TLC, that we, as a nation, are overwhelmed with "stuff". There's been a 75% increase in just a dozen years of storage facilities in this country, just so we can store all our "stuff". It is said that our homes are a metaphor for our lives--- representing who we are, what we value. Is that true? Have you heard that we're not to keep anything that is not beautiful, functional or that we simply can't live without it (I had to add that third one fo myself....so hard letting some things go)? Green offers other compelling reasons for decluttering in his June 26 column in "Spiritual Wealth".  I recommend reading it. I liked his style of writing and bought his book, "The Secret of Shelter Island", a collection of other upbeat and helpful articles. I recommend reading that too.
    This leads me to the ripples of Spiritual Wealth used in the title for this blog entry. A while ago I read another article of Green's adventures of visiting different caverns in Virginia. I loved that article. I loved the idea of those caverns, and after looking them up after reading Green's article, I planned a visit to them. And yes, those are the same caverns I wrote about in another blog adventure with grandson Jack. Ripples. I wouldn't have taken that adventure had not been reading about decluttering. Ripples. Caverns. Family. Love. Connections. Adventures. All ripples. I bump into this email from my piles of stuff and have another blog.  All the while my decluttering continues. Ripples.
     Who knows what ripples lay ahead....a new house, already organized?

Christmas card and New Year's Resolution

I painted this simple evergreen tree with the intention that it would be my Christmas card this year. I didn't get cards printed. I didn't get cards mailed. This is how my wishes for a very Merry Christmas are going out this year to family and friends.....sending them out through this blog.....belated, but very warm, heart-felt wishes for love, joy, and peace to each of you to fill your hearts, families and homes with blessings of ever-present good.

Another intention of writing a Christmas letter that was going to be sent with this card also didn't happen. I admire those that have the ability to encapsulate a year's events into a few paragraphs. I keep thinking I'll try my hand at it one of these years, but now here we are, another year gone and the only Christmas letter I have written are in thoughts only. Well, and this blog...can this serve as my letter?

New Year's Resolutions have never been a part of my life. Sometimes they're fun to think about what could be done better next time, but most often as I hear how they frequently turn into guilt thoughts, I find myself avoiding making resolutions in the first place.


This year is different. I have found a resolution that I love and that I can renew and keep each and every day for 2010 and beyond.

On New Year's Day, I sat reading a Hargreave's article entitled "New Year". I was sitting in the bright sunlight, looking out towards awe inspiring and magnificent mountains. These inspiring views uplifted me in ways that words cannot do justice. Hargreave's reminder of reviewing the past year with the idea of beginning a new year humanly with promises for future good be replaced by a "day with the Lord" present idea message that spoke to and moved me. This is the day the Lord hath made, be glad, rejoice, give thanks. This is the only day. Mrs. Eddy defines day as "the irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love" (S&H 584)

In the Bible in Isaiah, we read, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." Hargreaves asks where we are identifying our own thoughts about ourselves. With the "thee"? Or is it with the "light"? Are we discovering the Life that is God? Are we not to leave behind even the highest human concept of anything and see the unfolding of Mind, Life, God that's revealing itself? Are we not to leave behind all problems, limitations, sad experiences, mistakes, regrets....all records of dreams and part of the "thee" idea and unknown to light? As this "spiritual and divine Principle of man dawns upon human thought and leads to 'where the young child was', even to the birth of a new-old idea, to the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes" (S&H 191), wonderful things appear to happen as a result of this dawning. Things appearing that represent clearer views of the wonder that already exists and is ever present to spiritual discernment. This new day, this new year, this new outlook from which all good exists and is reflected right here, right now. This is what I wish to celebrate.


This is my New Year's resolution....in the words of the Psalmist, "Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Ps. 119)