The Walk Of Your Life

I need knee replacement surgery, and in an effort to postpone it, have been getting a series of injections in my knee. So that's where this afternoon found me, in the waiting room for today's shot. There's nothing like spending time in the waiting room of a large orthopedic surgical practice to put your problems in perspective. Most of these patients are in wheelchairs, braces, crutches, and worse. At least I had WALKED in! But it got me to thinking about walking. These pictures are of a walk we passed last fall. We asked one of the participants what they were walking for, and they said it was called The Crop Walk. I had not heard of that one. There are quite a few walks in our area. There is a walk for unwed pregnant girls, and several cancer walks. It seems that any cause of note has either a walk or a ribbon. In old Testament times, most people walked everywhere. On a good day, the average person could cover 16 miles a day on foot. Hebrews 12:1 says "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Of course this is an analagy, and I'm glad, because my days of running are long gone. But then let's look at Ecc. 9:11 "The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong." That sounds more like it. Just think how much we would miss if we ran through life! Jesus had so much to do in His short life, but can you ever imagine him running anywhere? He never seemed rushed. So I think that life is not so much a race as a long walk. A walk that is run not by speed, but by faith in letting our maker chart our course, because He can see far ahead of our path. And when we do this, here is how our walk will end. "Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

The Breath Of Life

As I sat in my doctor's waiting room today, I saw a touching sight. A white haired, elderly couple slowly came out of the office. The lady came out first, followed very closely behind by her husband (I'm assuming it was her husband). He followed right on her heels because he was carrying something for her. Unfortunatly it was not her purse. It was her portable oxygen tank. He did not look much healthier than she was, and the tank looked pretty hefty, but he was trying his best to care for her. I thought how he literally had her breath in his hands. Our each and every breath is in God's hands. How often do we even think about our breath? God made us in His image and breathed a bit of Himself into us when He created us. Did you know that God made all the other creatures either by forming them or speaking them into existance. Man is the only one who was filled with the breath of God. God had higher expectations of us than He got, but every day we are given a new chance to put each and every breath to good use and to glorify our maker. And when we do that, our last breath won't be our last, after all. It will be a whole new wonderful beginning. The greatest adventure of our life will truly be out of this world.


"The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Genesis 2:7


"But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding." job 32:8

They Flew Too High

What's that up in the tree?

Let's look a little closer.

Balloons that flew too high

Icarus flew too high, as well. Right to the sun
.

We were driving along yesterday when I spotted these colorful balloons against the blue winter sky. They had somehow gotten loose and floated too high, where they were stuck in the bare branches of a tree. And when I saw them, the first thing that came to mind was the Greek myth of Icarus. Don't ask me why, that's just the way my mind works. You see, Icarus got away and flew too high, too. Icarus and his father were exiled in Crete, and Icarus' father thought of an escape plan. They would simply fly away! He made two pairs of wings out of feathers and wax. Putting a pair on Icarus, he warned his son not to fly too close to the sun or the sea. Icarus took off. But he was soon overcome with the giddiness of flying and with curiosity. He flew too close to the sun and it melted his wings. He still kept flapping, but only with his bare arms. And so he fell into the sea and drowned. The Icarian Sea bears his name. The story of Icarus and the story of Adam and Eve both seem the same to me. None of them listened to their fathers, and death resulted. It just took a little longer for Adam and Eve. It's a story as old as the hills. Icarus was curious and distracted by the beautiful sun, Adam and Eve by the serpent. When God created Satan, he was beautiful, an angel of light, and I believe the serpent must have been beautiful as well. Perhaps nothing like the serpants we know now. It was only later that God cursed him to crawl on his belly. It's usually the beautiful things in this life that distract us and cause us to fall. Over and over again this story repeats itself, and I believe it always will. One of my blog friends, Sandra, has a sympathy and affinity for things ugly or unwanted. She sees the beauty in them. She knows that "All that glitters is not gold", as the saying goes. But some things that don't glitter are gold. And looking for the hidden beauty in them can be pretty rewarding.

"And the Lord God commanded the man "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die." Genesis 2:17

Just Passing Through

This world is not my home, I'm just passing through.

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me from Heaven's open door

And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.

We pass by the local cemetary a lot, because it is just a couple blocks away. And yesterday, I saw something that got my attention. Several of the graves had little Christmas trees on them, along with flags, poinsettas, and other Christmas things. I was rather stunned at first. These images of sorrow, hope, and joy seemed to symbolize the entire spectrum of humanity's struggle, all in this small graveyard. The people who visited here were forever linked by learning to deal with their own haunting memories. They decorated the resting places of their loved ones as if for a party, but of course no one could come.

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Cor. 2:9

Do You Have A Resolution?

My pictures are the New Year's Ball coming down in Times Square and the crowd there celebrating. They fixed up the ball this year so it has different flashing colors, a pretty sight. No, I was not there. I was on my couch with my feet up under a cozy afghan, taking these pictures on my flat screen T.V. A senior New Year. As usual, the crowd was huge, with people who had come from many states away. Standing in the rain and dark. One lady who was interviewed said she and her friends had been there for about 12 hours, standing up and with no bathroom breaks. I shivered in my cozy bathrobe. I don't understand people doing this, but I am old and my bones creak now. Perhaps if I was young again... Do you make New Year's resolutions, or have you given up by now? What are your thoughts on them? Here are mine for this year:

1. NO DUSTING-Let sleeping dust lay, I say. Stirring up dust makes it airborne and you sneeze a lot. Bad for your sinuses.

2.EAT OUT MORE-Cooking at home is bad for your health, as you have to taste frequently for seasoning, making you gain weight.

3.WATCH MORE T.V.-Intellectual stimulation, staying informed on current events.

4. SLEEP MORE-Sleeping helps you lose weight because you can't eat while you're sleeping.

5. TALK ON THE PHONE MORE-Again, good for losing weight because it's hard to eat while talking on the phone.

6. NO MOPPING THE FLOORS-This can kill you because you can slip and fall on the wet floor. The dirtier the floor, the better traction.

Now these are some resolutions that I should have no problem keeping! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Christmas Reflections

Taking a picture of my friend and I in this round silver mirror at The Omni Hotel

Snapping my husband and I in a mirror at the Paramount Theatre

Husband, me and friend at theatre display lobby

Snapping me and my husband over a lighted Christmas train under a mirror

Eating at The Olive Garden, I spotted this large mirror reflecting pretty hanging lights

I love taking pictures of reflections, and there's no better time for this than at Christmas. Here are some from the last month or so.

"As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." Proverbs 27:19

Atheists At Christmas

My friend Melinda asked me if I would write a post on Atheists at Christmas time, so Melinda, this one's for you. Atheist definition: 1. Someone who denies the existance of God. 2. The position that deities do not exist.

Christmas is a tough time for atheists. They are left out of all the merrymaking, as most activities revolve around the church. But I'll remind you that it's not only atheists who don't celebrate Christmas. Among others who don't are our Jewish friends and Jehovah's Witnesses. Christmas can be hard for these people, because they feel left out of everything and sometimes even shunned, but they cannot force themselves to celebrate something they don't believe in. Some send Christmas cards, but find ones without a Christian message. Most atheists believe in a yearly celebration with pagan roots that is near the winter solstice. It celebrates the point where days start getting longer again and the return of the sun. Before Christianity, many cultures would celebrate this with a festival of light that included parties, gifts, and yes, even trees in their homes. Sacred trees are an ancient custom. They are pretty, smell good, and are part of nature. Some atheists claim that Christians stole the tree idea from them. My picture shows atheist activist Val Woelfel decorating her winter solstice tree in St. Paul, Minnesota. So they do have their own winter celebration. Many atheists join in on their families Christmas celebrations to some extent, because they like to get together with families and have fun as much as anyone. But when it comes time to go to church or pray, they stay behind or are silent. I read an interview with one atheist who said that after death, the best he could hope for was just complete non existance, like before he was born. I imagine it is hard to live with no hope in or of anything, especially as one gets older. To think that all we are or all we have is here and now. No light at the end of the tunnel, just dark. But I do believe that if we search for the truth with a sincere heart, it will be shown to us. We live in a wonderful and fearful world filled with many things we cannot understand. To me, to believe in things we cannot see takes a kind of magical thinking. So for these ones, I wish for the true answers to their questions, for peace, and to believe in magic once again.

"Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ...without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ." Eph. 2:12