Friends on the Couch

How many of you love to sit around and enjoy each other’s company? Envision a group of family or friends sitting around and laughing as they tell stories of old. Sometimes they are scary, sometimes they make us laugh and sometimes they make us cry. But being together with friends and loved ones is what makes the stories worthwhile.

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This morning as I read through the Jesus Calling devotional, I remembered many times of the full pleasure this brings us. I recently wrote a book showing how much fun this could be with wonderful groups of friends or family just sitting around telling stories from the past. But we need to remember, there is a very important friend we need to invite that desperately wants to be a part of our group, he wants to join in with our fun, laughter and tears and that would be Jesus. He wants to be a part of every moment of your life.

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He can enrich our fun and turn our dull grayness to wonderful brightness. When we get stuck in the dullness of everyday tasks, we have a tendency to to forget life’s joy and we descend into the unfocused grayness of discouragement. But if we realize this is happening and refocus our minds and hearts back on Him, He will lift us back where we need to be, guiding us back to Him on a wonderful bright path of joy.

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Yes, this sounds a little far fetched and an unreal way of thinking, but I promise it is very real and well worth the try. We were each created for a purpose that only He knows and guides and we are never meant to do it without Him.

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His presence goes with us, wherever we may go. You may not feel His presence, you may even deny He is there, but I promise you He is always there. There is a saying that zips through facebook and other social mediums stating that while we prove to Him many times that we am not worthy of His love, He ignores it and loves us anyway. How can you not want that sitting with you on the sofa.

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So my theory is this, if He is going to be there anyway, then offer Him a seat on the sofa and watch the room begin to glow with His love and presence. And when he reaches over to take your hand, grab it firmly in yours and hold on tightly, it will be a fantastic ride.

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I leave you with this prayer of encouragement. Ask Him to remain close to you and guide your way…He has already said yes.

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And as always remember to be kind. It is the most under rated quality of mankind.

Elephant kindness

More Fun with Macro, SMM-3

In refilling the bird feeder at the church this morning, I took several pictures for FOTD but latched onto the one below for Irene’s Sunshine’s Monday Macro. I call it “Flower and Friend”.

Flower and friend

I think the flower is a type of Coreopsis but not sure about his friend, maybe some type of stick bug?

Friendship is how we survive this world, so remember to be a friend and be kind….but gentle….

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Sorry, in kind of a silly mood today…actually got some sleep last night. Have a great week.

Fun Times For A Year

I worked today so did not get to the computer until this afternoon and I found a surprise…

Congratulations, its your anniversary. Wow, I did not realize I had been blogging now for 1 year. I have talked to so many wonderful people all over the world and I thank you all for making this so much fun.

Thank you to all of the photographers I share such beautiful photographs with; Thank you to all the people who share my Christian beliefs with words of encouragement and profound truths; Thank you to all the people who share the funny stuff that make us all laugh at ourselves because we know we have done what you just talked about; Thank you to all the experienced bloggers who have helped us newbies make this an enjoyable time; And thank you to all who read my words from seriousness to silliness and give me such encouraging comments. May we all use this medium to spread the love and kindness that is meant to be spread across this world.

My favorite(for now) picture I have found shows how kindness can spread like the ripples when a pebble has been tossed in the water, so I challenge all, as I do with every post, to be kind. There is just not enough of it in this world and we need to increase it use so it will spread everywhere. Again, thank you for all your love.

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A Special Rock? Probably Not.

Tuesday’s Photo Challenge by jansenphoto today is an interesting one. I have been looking at this rock on my shelf for over a year now and can’t decide to toss it in the yard or leave it on the shelf. It was given to me by a friend named Lynn. She loved rocks and she said this was a rock she found while rock hunting and that it was a ___ rock, which means I don’t remember what she said and myself, I have no clue. It does have some interesting colors on it. It sat on my desk for several years but when I retired, I didn’t have the guts to throw it back outside because it meant so much to her. Now I am getting ready to spring clean and faced with again…what do I do with the rock. I will probably just put it in the rock bed out front but thought in tribute to Lynn I would post the pictures of it. If indeed it looks like a special type of rock to you, shoot me a line and tell me what I am looking at.

One side looks like maybe a fossil was embedded in it at some time, kind of a snail type shape.

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But my knowledge of rocks or anything of the fossil type would not fill a mother of pearl inlaid thimble or brass thimble with a petit point band or even a tiny much need of polishing silver thimble all of which belong to my mother’s thimble collection. Rocks need humor to go along with them.

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But regardless of my poor knowledge of that information, I am well acquainted with the need for kindness in this world. So always remember to be kind.

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Friendship vs. Companionship, JusJoJan

In looking up the meanings of these terms, they seem to be pretty much the same per Webster. But to me there is a different emotional attachment for companionship. To me companionship requires a heartfelt emotional connection between to bodies. The bodies can be the same specie or different specie. The animal world is forever showing us this emotional connection of companionship in various ways.

People can have many friends but only a few they call true friends or companions that they can share heart felt concerns, fears, joys or tears. We have drinking buddies or ice cream buddies who will hear all of our concerns and just nod at appropriate times to assure us it will be OK. Then they lock away that information and never dare share it. Loyal companions. We all need them. Man has to have someone or something to talk to. Remember the movie with Tom Hanks, Cast Away. He cut his hand and with his blood made a face on a soccer ball and called him Wilson, because that was who made the ball. God made us to have companions.

Mine sits beside me on the sofa as I type, sometime snoring loudly.

But she listens to every word, gets very concerned when my voice get upset then comes and stands protectively across my lap. It makes football very difficult to watch.

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What or whoever is your companion is cherish that companionship. They really are few and far between in our lives and most needed. And companionship requires kindness, sometimes extra kindness, so remember to be kind. While your companion may out of hurt be unkind, do not return in favor. Show your inner strength and be strong and kind.

Today’s prompt from Linda on Just Jot January is being supplied by Di. And the word is companionship. Come join in on the fun.

Patience, Weekly Word Prompt

Patience is a hard to obtain word when you are faced with various challenges. I remember as a young mom praying for patience with my over active ADD child only to open my eyes in time enough to see him sitting in the middle of the dining room table turning the sugar bowl on it side to watch the cascade of sugar spill onto the table.

I learned quickly not to pray for patience but have learned as I have gotten older to appreciate patience in others as well as myself. It is an acquired attribute. In August of last year, most of you know I started a process of corrective bone alignment surgery in my feet. Left foot first, then in November the right foot. Being in your 60’s is not a good time to learn how to walk again but it is what I have had to do with much patience. And slowly we are getting there but I am still using a cane to assure balance. Hopefully by February we can be done with it but I am not going to rush it. Most people are very respectful of a gray haired old lady with a cane and I will patiently plug along until I feel comfortable making a full stride.

So thank you to all those who have cheered me on. By spring I should be able to “have camera will travel” and participate in some of the fun photo challenges I see here on word press. And thanks to gc for the fun word and the great prompt to share.

So in closing as the word prompt says – patience – try to show some and have some. And in all things that you do, try to be KIND. Your kind gesture may the the spark of sunshine someone needs to help them get through the day.

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Grandma’s Fixins, JusJoJan, #SCoS

Linda’s Stream of Conscious Saturday combined with today’s Just Jot January had some interesting vowel twist of sap/sep/sip/sop/sup. So I thought I would play a little with some flash fiction. Come join us for some fun and interest as we try to meet today’s challenge.

The screen door slammed as Jerry entered the kitchen sniffing the air of fresh backing cornbread just coming out of the oven.

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“Sup, grandma. Smells great in here.”

“Sup? All that education you have had and that’s the way you talk.”

“Sorry. Good afternoon Grandmother. How are you this fine evening?” he teased pecking her on the cheek.

“Hmp, now you are just being ridiculous,” she said as she sipped in her tea. “There is sweet tea in the fridge and get out the syrup so it can be warming up a bit.”

Reaching in the fridge, he pulled out the bottle of Georgia Cane Syrup made by Johnson’s farm at the southern part of the state. He poured himself a large glass of tea and came to sit at the table across from his grandmother as she finished slathering butter of the steaming ears of corn. Reading of the bottle of syrup he noted the date on the back label.

“Does syrup get old?” he asked.

“No, why do you ask?” she said.

“It’s got a date on the label.”

“Oh, that’s a best used date, before it starts to separate,” she explained.

“Separate?”

She stopped with her hand on her hips and stared at her grandson. “Have you learned nothing from me and this farm? What is syrup made from?”

A gleam lit in his eyes knowing a good banter was in the making. “Well that depends. You have maple syrup where they pull sap from a tree, boil it down to make syrup.”

He glanced up to see the good natured scowl deepen on her brow.

“We don’t grow maple trees here in the south. We grow cane. Your grandpa had 2 full acres ever year before he passed. The sugar cane juice, sap, is boiled down as the cane is crushed. If you let it sit too long on the shelf it will turn to sugar crystals – separate. Here, take your plate and grab you some field peas and greens from the stove. Pork chops, corn and cornbread are already here on the table. How big a piece of cornbread do you want?”

“Normal size for now,” he said. “Then I will get a bigger slice to sop up remaining juices on my place before I add the syrup.”

“Yea, that’s the best part of the meal,” agreed Grandma as they settled in to a warm enjoyable meal.

Growing up in the late 1900’s gave a different meaning to the family meal. It was a time for fun shared over good food, teasing to help you grow with lots of assurance of love and togetherness. We seem to have lost that as we are rushing to the next battle to conquer. A lot of the encouragement has been lost and we find ourselves at times not knowing exactly what the next step needs to be. So I challenge you this year to try to regain some of that back. Love on you family members and friends and encourage each other. And as always…remember to be kind. Even when drawing a hard line if needed, it cane be done with love, encouragement and KINDNESS.

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Enigmatic Equals Mystery, #JusJoJan

Linda’s guest prompter today, Virgobeauty, gave us a word prompt of enigmatic. Such an interesting word reminiscent of times gone by with its amount of use for today but still an interesting word. Come join in on the fun of Just Jot January and say hey to everyone. It promises to be an enigmatically good time.

ENIGMATIC DAWN

The early light sneaks in, etching out shadows of night before

With mystifying stealth, where no man had trod before

With unfathomable skill she stares on open untouched land

Making sure she touched places where no one alone can stand

With brightness she increases, making the impenetrable darkness flee

The valley below eyes twinkle in hopes of the newness it may see

The enigmatic dawn flits quickly by as the brightness of the day begins

Leaving the question behind for all of “Who today will win?”

– Anita Neal –

May the brightness of your life shine as the start of a brand new day. We get the opportunity to start fresh each day, leaving the woes and dramas of previous days behind. Remember God shines His light on you so that you can shine it on others. Always remember to be kind. Kindness is a love gift from above. Let your drop of kindness flow outward creating ripples of joy across the waters of life.

For The Love of…#JusJoJan

What an interesting thing Linda has challenged us with today with her prompt of Why do you do what you do…in blogging. I made sure I add the part “in blogging” because then we would be trying to find the answers to “why do you try to get out of the car with you seat belt still attached” or “why are you looking all over the house for your glasses when you have them pushed up on your head”.

Some questions of why we do what we do really have no answers. But why do I blog, I can answer. I retired in February, not by choice as I enjoyed working but I was 66 and the new plant manager was a beast to say it lightly. So I said enough. Now what. I know, I will finish the book I started last year which was really a backwards way to write my memories so my children would have an idea as to “why I did what I did”. So as I sat down in February I got back to the book but it took on a life of its own and became more fiction that truth then it changed again to become a backwards way to tell others about Christ. Then I wondered if I could ever get this published so I joined the local writers guild and one of the guest speakers asked me what my platform was. Well she could tell from my “deer in headlights look” that I had no clue what she was talking about – still don’t but she did tell me if I ever wanted to be serious about writing I needed to have a blog. So in August, not having a clue as to what I am doing, I started a blog. The theme was sort of tied around the book but as the book has evolved, so did the blog. I use “For the Love of” to show anyone who reads my blog to know there is still a lot of love left in this crazy, chaotic and sometimes cruel world. I explore the beauty in nature, the beauty in people and I have become very fond of all the bloggers who are photographers. The beauty in this world that they show is enough to keep anyone blogging. It’s inspiring. I also enjoy all the friends I have met around this blue marble. At my age, it is still amazing I can talk to someone with a computer from countries I have never been to or never will get to. To see their world from their eyes and their heart is amazing.

With the tag line of “anitashope” I hope that to at least one person on any given day I have brought a smile, some encouragement, some love and have been able to reflect the light of Christ as he has asked us to.

Do I still want to get published, sure. Beside the book I have written several short stories, some flash fiction and now playing with poetry. But my style is not for everyone so finding that market is going to be tough.

And of course my end to all of my blogs remind all of us to be kind. Being kind is so easy some days and very hard some days but those are days when you will be blessed the most when you in turn are kind. Kindness is truly a gift to be shared with man and animal alike. So as always I encourage you to be kind.

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