I am an observer by nature. Always watching and processing. Sometimes my processor takes me in the wrong direction. No worries. Just makes life interesting when I jump to wrong conclusions. Sometimes though, I see enough to pick up a pattern. And a few times out of those sometimes, I learn a thing or two. Here are a couple of things I noticed along the way.
Continue readinglife lessons
Like riding a bike…
My niece’s daughter recently showed me her new skill of riding a two-wheel, grown-up bike. It was quite the feat for her as it was a new skill. Another in a checklist of to-do’s as she grows up. As I looked at her squiggly tire tracks in the dirt I thought there were a few lessons for us in this experience as well.
Continue readingHiding Behind
I like taking pictures of trees. If you have ever perused my instagram account you will know this to be true. Something about a tree set against a sky background appeals to me. Especially when the trees are bare, in hibernation, waiting for life to take hold again. I think they are beautiful then and I think we can relate to them a bit. For example, we all tend to grow leaves to hide our branches. In our case, our souls are our branches and we hide them behind leafy green images of ourselves in order to make us seem more beautiful. But what are our leaves? While there are many things we tend to hide behind I’m only going to discuss three. Because, as you know and I have mentioned previously, I am not an expert. This is only my own observation.
Words of encouragement
If I could visit my younger self – the girl in the midst of the refiner’s fire – I would give her words of encouragement. And, since I know that girl all too well, I’d know exactly what to say.
Continue readingWhat to bring to a meeting
When I worked with the youth in church I constantly told them whenever they went to a meeting they should always bring paper and a pen to take notes. I’d like to elaborate on that and share the three things to always bring to a meeting.
Continue readingThree games of Solitaire
I have one of those old-fashioned, handheld electronic Solitaire games. It helps me relax without all the hassle of having to shuffle and deal cards. Well, it sort of helps me relax. If I win. If I don’t win my compulsive nature kicks in and I usually have to play until I do win. Recently, I played three games and I thought there were a few lessons to learn those specific games. So, naturally I had to write about my thoughts. That’s just what I do.
Continue readingLessons of the river
A river seemingly at rest lacks what? Rocks, depth, and velocity change the nature of a river from peaceful to rapids. So what can we learn from a river? What is the difference between a lazy, peaceful river and rapids?
Continue readingKeep Driving
Plan B
I am by no means an expert in this thing called life. I just thought I should start with that disclaimer and get it out in the open. So take this for what you will but I think I have discovered at least one key to life. I guarantee there is probably more than one but from personal observation I have gleaned at least this one key component. Here it is: life is all about plan B.
Continue readingBroken Table and Broken Dreams
I finally conceded I needed to give the table away. It is a big (by today’s standards) kitchen table probably built in the 1940’s. All wood, it is heavy and cumbersome. Not really designed for today’s compact modern world. But for me giving it away was a difficult decision because it represented a dream unfulfilled. Although I have lived long enough to know the importance of plan B’s in my life, giving up on a long held dream is not an easy thing to do. I took comfort in the fact that the table not only represented a plan B in my life, but it must have also been similar for my grandma nearly 55 years earlier. We are connected with this broken table and broken dreams. At least, that’s what I tell myself.
ck's days 