In everything you do, stir in love. In your cooking, baking, cleaning, fixing, budgeting, planning, giving, working, playing, resting, & relating … stir in love. Every day love unceasingly!
Category: life
Salty
I am not an affectionate person but with my husband only. There are many deep-seeded reasons for that. I have opened my heart to be warm and kind to the people put on my path of life. Many years ago I read a book Open Heart, Open Home by Christian author, Karen Mains. It provoked me to develop my gift of hospitality. This gift is not about impressions but acceptance and warmth to all. Not just in my home, but in my heart and wherever I am. Hospitality is not just for my friends and family, but for all people and creatures that cross my path. “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,” the book of Hebrews (13:2) tells us.
The mineral, salt symbolizes hospitality according to this bible study website https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/salt/. “As one of the most essential articles of diet, salt symbolized hospitality; as an antiseptic, durability, fidelity and purity.” Salt’s ability to preserve and to sustain life has made it an allegorical symbol in many religions. “Called a ‘divine substance’ by Homer, salt is an essential part of the human body, was one of the first international commodities and was often used as currency throughout the developing world,” citing PW Reviews 2001 November. We need salt to regulate the water in our bodies, both necessary for survival. Did you know that 60% of your body is water? “All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came, ” John F. Kennedy is quoted.
As a Christian, “Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another,” Mark’s gospel (9:50) encourages me. Do not take it for granted. By God’s grace I keep myself salty by prayer, meditation, listening, and reading. My hopes are my oral and written words shared season your heart with life and God’s love. 
Kin
There are so many people in this world, but it is a small world at times. Based on the 1920’s concept “Six Degrees Of Separation”, we each are six or less connections away from one another in this game called life. This concept is used with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media. Based on genetic studies, for most of us if you go back 10 generations, you probably share a grandmother with your neighbor. What makes someone kin to you? Birth? Blood? Spirit? Relationship? Bonding? Association? Adoption? “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,” according to William Shakespeare.
This word “kin” reminds me about the biblical story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. Boaz became a “kinsman redeemer” when he married Ruth after her husband (Naomi’s son) passed away. A “kinsman redeemer” is the relative who restores or preserves the full community rights of disadvantaged family members. Boaz was not the likely choice, an older man. But Ruth listened to what Naomi told her about Boaz, a good man. Ruth was a blessing to Boaz. Ruth and Boaz would give birth to Obed, who was King David’s grandfather. And King David is a descendent of our Lord Jesus, Who is the ultimate “kinsman redeemer”. With my Savior Jesus, God’s covenant relationship with Israel was completed with the redemption of humanity in Jesus Christ.
Like Boaz was for Ruth, my husband, Dean is for me. Although 3 months younger than I, he is related to a friend, my former supervisor who introduced us. Funny thing as we learned after we met, we were very close to meeting each other in our younger college years right after high school as we attended the same university and knew mutual people. My friend, now sister-in-law told me Dean was a good man, and that he is. And I love him dearly, so very thankful for Dean and the completeness and joy he brings in my life. We have a great relationship, not perfect but work things through. There are differences in how we were raised, and how we raised our children. We differ in opinions on some social and society issues, but come back to our foundation, Christ. Dean redeemed me from emptiness, loneliness, and small living as a divorcee and an older single parent. A late-bloomer, I sought out a new career in my 40’s after raising my two daughters and while my son was still in school. After a rough first marriage I gave up on the thought of marriage for a long time. Then I began to pray for a good forthright Christian man for a couple of years before I met Dean. Perfect timing, jobs, friendships, open hearts, like-minded on important matters, and love that were aligned by God. So happy I ended up with Dean. From what Dean tells me, he feels the same towards me. He calls me his rock, solid foundation. And his queen, not pretentious, his “all natural girl”. “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” ~ Emily Bronte.
Silence
“Cobbles rumble when a wave recedes, and thunders break the air in lightning storms. I call these noises silence …wherever there is stillness there is the still small voice, God’s speaking… the silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega,” writes author, Annie Dillard. We had a few summer storms this past week. In the night, awaken to the pitter-patter of raindrops on the window next to my bedside. Then the thunder claps and echoes in the darkness. And the silence follows. Awaken to pray. Most of the time I know who for and why. Other times I do not, and await to hear the still small voice.
My husband and I have downsized our own living space by moving into a 4-room house. Not sure if to call us “minimalists”, but having a smaller home has slowed us down. We are more focused on our relationship, and that was our intent. More quiet time, more silence than what we have lived the past 4 years while sharing our bigger home with my daughter and her family. No pets in our new space either, we enjoy the neighbors’ pets during our walks. Just the Mr. and I, simple or elaborate meals prepared in-house depending on the mood, less eating out. Projects and chores or snuggling on a love seat watching a classic movie. And the silence. “Slow living … opens up the prospect of slow love, the most sustaining sort of love … a love that comes of unhurried and focused attention to the simplest things, available to all of us, at any time, should we choose to engage: family, friendship, food, music, art, books, our bodies, our minds, our souls, and the life that blooms and buzzes all around us … slow love comes out of the quiet hours, out of learning from the silence that is always there when we want it,” writes Dominique Browning, former editor of a major design/decor publication.
We all need the silence.
History Lessons
Life evolves, perpetually moving. Hopefully, forward. But maybe we would rather live in the past, the good ole’ days? I dream of the whimsy of unhurried days. Summer afternoon napping in a hammock under a willow tree. Leisurely walking the shoreline combing the white sand for a treasured seashell or starfish left behind by the ocean blue waves. Sunday autumn walks spotting the brightest red leaved tree. Hot tea and freshly baked scones for a winter snack gathered with my youngsters. Life is not so easy-going while working full-time hours as a human resources professional. Commuting, family obligations and responsibilities, bills, and then keeping house for our two homes. I am sure it is not easy as a carpenter in the summer heat. Or the 1000 sandwiches prepared for another hungry crowd. Or the school teacher putting together lesson plans and then teaching them to the 100 & 1 needs of the students you are responsible for. The disabled or elderly making doctor appointments and their thinning budgets.
Do we really have it all with our careers, 2000 + square-foot homes, high-ticket sports events and concerts, organic foodie plates at $50 per, high-tech computer programs, phone apps, texting, social media posts, networking breakfasts, and so on & so on? Recent weekends while antiquing for my husband and I’s newly acquired get-away house has prompted history lessons. We ask each other why this piece of furniture or household tool was used back in 1940 or another era. Think back on those less hurried days, many items make sense. I better understand my parents’ and grandparents’ generations. Their tight-fist around the piggy bank, renovated solid wood tables and reupholstered chairs, no big screen TVs but large radios for the living quarters’ entertainment and news, dishes galore because they did not “go out” to eat, and a plethora of tools to fix that broken whatever. Maybe life was unhurried because it could not be with the lengthy meal preparations and length of time to repair or build? Maybe life wasn’t so easy back then. Maybe it just seems that way, because life is not easy now? Pioneer author Laura Ingalls Wilder once wrote, “Sometimes I wonder if telephones and motor cars are altogether blessings … When my neighbor gets into her car, it is almost sure to run for twelve to fifteen miles before she can stop it, and that takes it way down the road past me.” Mrs. Wilder recognized how modernization changed her social connections. I know it affects mine.
I read non-fiction books and articles to find out who I am or who I want to be (or not be). Marie Kondo encourages us in her book The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up, “the space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past”. Such an easy concept, live the now and look to the future rather than the past. But I would have to challenge those words and their meaning. I agree with the concept of this book, de-cluttering and making your home or office space functional, becoming a better person. But the past is why we are who are now, and this will carry to the future. I rather filter the past, keep the nuggets of wisdom of the past generations, use for guidance. Learn from and not repeat their mistakes, but I will surely make my own. That antique end table or butter dish reminds me of past generations’ input into my life, directly or indirectly. Their legacy, history makes me and you who we are now and what we will become in the days to come. I ask you to think on someone in your past or from your history lessons. What is one sentence this person would say to you right now that can effect your today and tomorrow in a positive manner?
Present Moment
Three or four days of my work week I am able to break away from the St. Louis County benefits office located in the middle of Clayton’s business district where buses, delivery trucks, cars, financial institutions, niche shops, eateries, entrepreneurs, visitors, and government employees blend. These 1-hour get-aways can include lunch in or out, meditation and prayer at the corner church, possibly a catnap in a quiet loveseat down the hall, and almost always a walk. Today I brought lunch from home, egg salad made with white bean hummus (yum!) and whole wheat crackers. Afterwards I took my daily stroll. I chose to leave my cell phone and water bottle behind, my security usually a tote on my constitutionals. It is a brisk 50 degrees this cloudy March Friday. I can survive without H2O for 20 minutes. And the cell phone, what did I do for the first 4-1/2 decades of my life without one?!
I have my Fitbit on, but do not check it during this short walk. Besides I have these Clayton blocks memorized, either 3000, 2000, or 1000 steps depending on what direction, destination, and how far I decide to go. I made a conscious effort to be present moment on today’s walk. Four blocks north of my office and back. The church bells chimed louder. Other pedestrians’ voices and footsteps were clearer. I was aware of how many people waited at each of the traffic lights with me, what shoes and jacket they wore, and the colors of the vehicles that passed through the intersection before the crosswalk signal switched. The birds chirped feverishly. Flowers popped out at me as if I was the sun.
In contrast, I feel the sharp, damp air on my face, hands, and the tops of my feet. My joints ache, but this provokes me to keep moving these arthritic parts, and not stifle what God has created. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I know this clearly.” Along that thought … What have I been created for these later autumn years of my life? I think of the human life span as the seasons. Spring is my childhood. Summer is my young adult up to mid-life years. Autumn is my mid-life up to retirement. And the winter will be retirement and elderly years. See how the cold, moist air on my arthritic joints brought me to thoughts of my future retirement during this walk? It is a challenge for this planner and organizer to stay present moment. Yesterday my heart’s desires bubble up among projects and schedules. A sketch of the next 5 years came to me. I have been asking God what am I to do after employee wellness and benefits at the County. Only 132 weeks until my retirement to be possible. I give tomorrow’s blueprints to God, my Creator.
Back to present moment … thankful … for this moment to walk, breathe, love, and live fully.
Be The Light
“There are two ways of spreading the light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it,” author Edith Wharton is quoted. Edith began to write poems, short stories, and novels as a child in the latter 1800’s. Her first published novel would not be until she reached age 40, as it was not acceptable for a societal woman to be active in writing during this era. Edith’s life reflected her love for humanity during the first World War, brave efforts made for her French friends. Days and years, maybe a dimly lit wick, but she persevered in those humane and writing works. Edith Wharton’s influence is seen in literature and the arts today, and she has been gone from earth since 1937.
“He will not break a broken branch or put out a little fire. He will be faithful to make everything fair,” the Bible verse encourages us in Isaiah 42:3. In today’s world when life seems totally unfair, there is this promise from the Old Testament. Do not put out your own light by living like life is unfair, slanted, short-changed. Stop the envious comparisons to your family member, curtail the jealous plans to out beautify or own more than the Jones, and live your life at peace with yourself , neighbor, and God. Be secure in God. Be thankful. “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine …” Be that candle, and reflect God’s love for you as a mirror to the community you have been placed in.
Words Can Change Lives
“Words. They sing. They teach. They sanctify. They were man’s first, immeasurable feat of magic. Words are living things. For they are filled with breath of life. Words can change lives,” author Kirk Weisler writes. I have hope. I believe people can change for the better. Do you? So choose your words wisely. Speak life, absent of criticism, cynicism, or sarcasm. And pray unceasingly.
At The End Of The Day
Life is too short to sit idle, hate others, be jealous or depressed, and play mind games. With God’s grace, sincerity and a pure heart is what I desire to become. “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” Psalms 51:10. Pure and as sweet as honey. White as snow. No bargains made or motives conjured up. Just live for my Creator. I answer to my God at the end of the day, every day. And every day is a gift. At the end of the day, I take in account how I spent those precious minutes, my God-given talents, supply of resources and energy? Is my time consumed in front of a screen, iphone-size or mega flat screen TV-size? Size of the electronic does not matter, just how did I personally connect to those around today? Did I pick-up my neighbor’s storm-tossed trash scattered across his yard, encourage my co-worker on her new project, smile at that smelly stranger on the street bench, or pick-up the phone to talk to my kin living a few hundred or 2 miles away? Everyone has something they are good at. My energy levels may be up or plummeted down or be sporadic. Did I use whatever today’s strength is to extend God’s love and grace? Did I pray and be a vessel for peace or healing? At the end of the day …
Woman Warrior 