Why are you back here?

Today I woke up to SNOW!  Lots of it.  My mom came over to get me so I could help her do some errands.  She drove up my driveway to get me and then when I jumped in, we found out we were stuck and having trouble getting out.  A neighbor saw our trouble and came over to help!  He finally helped us get out by clearing away some snow and ice for the van to get a little traction and he said "Just go and don't stop! GO GO GO!"  My mom said a few times "I got in here just fine!  I don't know why I'm having all this trouble getting out!"  While alone with nature, later while shoveling a path out of my driveway so I didn't face the same trouble later when I head to my piano lesson,  I thought about what my mom had said.  "I got in here just fine, why is it so much trouble to get back out?"

With the lesson a friend of mine presented in a church service this Sunday still fresh on my mind, these words immediately went to that.  She talked about the story where Jesus had called his Apostles from being fishermen to go out into the world and teach about God.  He trained them and lived among them for 3 years before he was crucified and the Apostles were left alone.  When they were unsure of what to do, they went back to their lives as fishermen.  At this time, Jesus again met them at the water's edge and questioned why they were back here, didn't they realize their work was a lifelong work and nowhere near done?  They had went back to what they knew instead of forging the way Jesus had shown them.  It's so easy to head into areas of trouble or to slide back into what's comfortable.  We won't even sometimes recognize that we are  in or heading toward areas of trouble until we realize where we have gotten to and want to get out!  Then we feel stuck and we may even think "It's so much easier to just give up and stay here where I am, after all, I'm not doing anything THAT bad..."  It could even be that you are walking a path that is effort to not stray from the path and it feels like it would be so much easier to just go back to where you were when you started.

The important thing to remember though, is that anything worth anything is WORTH the effort and struggle Everyone has a purpose, something to accomplish.  The way was never promised to be easy but there is the promise of a God who will help you to make it through.

As another friend said in the church service "Do your best and let God do the rest."  When you are finding your way back closer to God just think in your head "Just go and don't stop! GO GO GO!"

Priority!

So my niece got me interested in this thing called JulNaNoWriMo.  It is that July is National Novel Writing Month.  Last year I stuck with it for about 5 days or so but didn't commit to writing a novel at that time.  I decided instead to write poems each day.  My goal this year is to try this blogging thing... the right way... :/ 

My lifelong goal has been to be an author someday, my favorite line today still is "When I grow up I will be an author."  My nieces and nephews are getting too wise.  Instead of the "Cool!" response I was used to getting I started getting, "You are already grown up..."  Well, I suppose that's true in body, but I am a bit like Peter Pan in that I hope to never grow up!  A child is free!  A child imagines!  A child dreams!  A child goes big or goes home.  Usually crying and bleeding, but at least they attempted something extraordinary!  And guess what, even after a bad experience, a child still has hope and tries something new again.  Why would anyone want to grow up from that?  So it is still my hope to be an author but perhaps I don't have to do it when I grow up.  Perhaps I can do it now!  As a good friend and my favorite Western Music Artist, Mary Kaye said in a song "It's never too late, until it's too late!" 

So this post, if I was doing this right would have been on July 1st but I am only and hour and 14 minutes late.  So it's not too late, yet!  Plus, dear readers, it only means you get to read two in one day.  Oh, maybe I didn't say but the goal of JulNaNoWriMo is to write every day in the month of July and try and write a novel by the end of the month!  Ambitious, but never give up hope...

Disclaimer:  I am saving the novel project until next July if I can develop good writing habits this year.  I already have a novel started so won't have long to go... :)

Compliments

Why are compliments so hard to just accept graciously???

I recently had a friend pay a compliment to my hair, here's how the conversation went...

Friend:  Your hair looks very nice today, you must be growing it out!

Me:  I don't know...I always keep it long.

Friend: Well maybe you're wearing it down and you usually wear it up?

Me: No, I always wear it down.

Friend: Hmmm...

Me:  Well, I curled it today, and blow dried it and stuff.

Friend:  That must be it!  It looks nice.

Me:  Thank you!

I think I should probably be mortified right???  At the time I was just feeling being honest, not difficult, but as I looked back on it, I thought I should have taken the compliment and been happy to receive it.  It didn't need analyzing...

My goal will be to learn how to take a compliment and feel like I deserved it instead of feeling like I didn't...any suggestions on how to do that?  :D

Pruning

I recently went to a tree pruning class at the local community garden and have been anticipating giving it a try.  Well, today was finally the day.  I know, it's probably too late to prune but these trees needed it and probably haven't been pruned in two years.  So I grabbed some Fiskers tools and began pruning.  I mostly tackled dead branches and branches that were really growing wrong.  Pruning is kind of an addictive thing isn't it?  It is peaceful in nature, you can see the progress as the pruning progresses and you have some time to think.

A tree that's been left to grow wild for two years is a lot like a life.  Sometimes you get so busy and drop into a comfortable zone where nothing changes for a while and when you wake up and start noticing what's around you, you may find a bunch of dead "branches" that need to be cut free from your life.  People that bring you down, routines and practices that are not really a part of your best self and obstacles you haven't taken the initiative to break through.  The realization hits you that it's time for some pruning in the tree of your life!

Just like the tree looks healthier, happier and free from useless dead branches twining all around it and draining life from the tree, so you can feel all these things as you begin the journey of pruning unhealthy things from your own life.  It is not without effort!  (I bet my arms will be sore tomorrow...) But anything worth doing isn't always easy but the rewards are immeasurable!

Finding Beauty in Every Day

You woke up late, barely have enough time to shower and get dressed before you have to leave to get to where you're going on time.  You know what that means...have to brush your hair and teeth in the car! 

You don't get to do the thing you've been wanting to do because something that you need to do comes up.

Everyone around you is in a bad mood; fighting, mean and nasty.

Horrible days can happen in so many ways and just ruin the whole entire day! 

But guess what?  If you step back, evaluate where you are, calm down and slow down and just look around you can find a sliver of beauty just waiting to be absorbed by your soul and it can turn your whole day around.

A smile from a friend you haven't seen for a while.

A song that takes you back.

A shock of green grass in a wide field of yellow.

A sunbeam escaping from behind a cloud.

What was the sliver of beauty that brightened your day today?

What I've Learned About Mean People

Mean People:  People whose only goal is to make other people feel bad, especially when they don't deserve it!

I've somehow often become the target for so called "mean people."  I've come to the conclusion that if you look sweet and seem nice then you are fair game-- because those being mean to you do not think you will stick up for yourself!  And it's no wonder, that is usually exactly how it happens...until it doesn't.

I remember the turning point in my own life.  I was in High School.  On the school bus there was  a mean little girl, and I do mean little girl.  She was probably only about 10 years old, was named Marie, and would sit behind me and whisper mean things about me to the other girls in her seat.  Now this really hurt, but only because the girls in her seat were little girls that lived down the road from me; my mom had been their preschool teacher and I felt they respected me and my family.  How could they listen and laugh with this mean little girl about me?  They didn't know how to stick up for themselves or stand up for what is right... So this went on for a while, I even stooped so low as to tell her to "shut-up" before I devised a better plan!

The next morning Marie got on the bus.  "Good morning, Marie!  How are you today?" I said with a big friendly smile.  No response...

As she got off the bus to go to school I said, "Bye Marie, Have a great day at school!"  Again, no response.

After school, she had already gotten on the bus before me but before I took my seat I looked her in the eyes with a smile and said"Hi Marie!  So good to see you again!"   And I sat down, got out my book and began reading.

I did this only for one or two more days before IT happened.

After getting on the bus after school on this day, I said my greeting to Marie and sat down in my seat.  As I was pulling out my book I saw Marie was looking at me, wanting to say something so I looked at her.

"Why are you being so nice to me!?!" She said.  She knew she didn't deserve any kindness whatsoever from me, and because she was a child her innocence let her guard down enough for me to see through her.  I answered her.

"Because I like you, Marie."  Again with a smile.

I remember this because it was remarkable.  Marie wasn't nice to me after that but she was no longer mean either.  She stopped talking about me, stopped making faces at me.  Just stopped.

I  had killed her "meanness" with kindness!

I've used this technique numerous times since then with the same results.

The boy who made fun of my weight (a friend from elementary school, I might add)  who one day dropped his giant wad of money right in front of me and I immediately called out to him: "Brian!" and pointed to his money.  He looked at me, thanked me, and never said a mean thing about me again.

Another boy who wasn't nice to me in Art class, who I ignored until the day I told him his art was really good!  Never again was he "mean".

The co-workers who took it upon themselves to tell me all the things I did wrong...well I added to the technique for that one... ;)  Firmly looked them in the eye, used a stern voice to tell them how and why they were mistaken...but ended with a smile...always that darned smile...

Lesson Learned:
There will always be someone ready to tear you down just to make themselves feel better than you.  They've chosen you as the target because they perceive you as someone who will let them.  Don't let them!  Stick up for yourself with dignity, calmness and yes! even a smile but let them know in no uncertain terms that you will not be treated in any way you do not deserve.   Don't resort to the same tactics because as a very dear friend reminded me of recently is the fact that whatever you put out there into the world is what you always get back.  Wouldn't you much rather get forgiveness and kindness back?

Besides, who knows, maybe your kindness will be the one that kills someone's "meanness."