SUNDAY SURPRISE

An unexpected glimpse of tonight's moon through my window.

He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set.

How many are your works, O LORD! -- Psalm 104:19, 24a, BSB

SATISFIED

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--SATISFIED

Five minutes to free-write about it

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I was looking forward to participating in this first FMF challenge of the New Year, but the word prompt SATISFIED isn't quite the right word to describe the feelings I wanted to write about. It would take a much stronger word than that.

It started with a bad fall on Christmas Day that left me shocked, bewildered, and frustrated. 

My granddaughter had given me a ride so I wouldn't have to drive home in the dark, and as I got out of her car and went to step up on the curb, I misstepped and landed on my face on the concrete sidewalk instead. 

Why God allowed this to happen, I do not know. What I do know, is that through it all He has revealed Himself to me in tangible, personal ways that I may never have experienced otherwise. 

It was a horrible experience, yes, but He made sure I was not alone when it happened, and also protected me from what could have been much worse. All I sustained were a black eye, fat lip, two chipped teeth, multiple abrasions, and a very bruised and swollen right hand. Nothing was broken, my glasses did not shatter on my face, and no teeth had been knocked out of my mouth, which is what I at first thought had happened when my face hit the ground and I saw all the blood. 

Because of my right hand being out of commission, I was not able to do the things I normally take for granted, like drive, or open a jar, or work, which has been a humbling experience. Day by day, however, He has provided for all of my needs. People have been incredibly kind and not only willing to help me out, but even really wanting to do so. Some have brought meals, others have provided rides, one kind soul even shoveled my car out after it snowed and drove it around for a bit to warm the engine up. 

I was thinking about that today as I read these words in my Daily Wisdom for Women devotional: God knows just what we need. And if we give control over to Him, He'll set everything right in His perfect timing.

When I saw this week's prompt and wondered how I could tie it in to these thoughts, the image that came to mind was of God smiling down at me and saying, "Are you satisfied with how I am providing for your needs? Can you trust me now?

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

THOUGHTS AS I VENTURE INTO A NEW YEAR

 And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,

"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."

And he replied: 

"Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."

(From God Knows by Minnie Louise Haskins)

 

Although there was much to be grateful for, 2024 (from my perspective) did not end on a very good note. It was actually quite bewildering.

 

As I tried to make sense of it all, Lisa Anne Tindal's blog post, The Driver, spoke to my heart. Her words were so timely. Over and over they played in my mind as I stood at the gate leading to 2025, preparing to board a train headed for an unknown destination, and pondering what might lay ahead: "God is driving the train. Only He knows where it will go. We are just riding."

Unlike other years, there were no expectations, no resolutions, no plans to try and turn things around and happen the way I wanted them to. Just an openness to whatever God has in store. Thy will, not mine be done. 

I may not know where this ride will take me or what this journey into the new year will bring, but I choose to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. I choose to put all my hope and trust in Him to guide and uphold me along the way, knowing that He is in control and sees the whole picture, which I do not.

THINGS I AM PONDERING IN MY HEART

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is

God's will for you who belong to Christ

Jesus. -- 1 Thessalonians 5:18, NLT

That verse came to mind on Christmas day after coming home from a special time spent with family, and taking a bad fall onto the concrete sidewalk as I exited my granddaughter's car and went to step up on the curb.

What an unexpected, miserable way to end an otherwise joy-filled day. And what a graphic reminder of how life can change in the blink of an eye.

In my case, it was frustrating and untimely, but hardly tragic. A black eye, fat lip, chipped tooth, multiple abrasions, and a very bruised and swollen right hand. Nothing was broken, my glasses did not shatter on my face, and no teeth had been knocked out of my mouth, which is what I at first thought had happened when my face hit the concrete and I saw all the blood.

I wrote a post on my other blog in which I listed many of the things I was thankful for, so I won't repeat them here. But more came to mind after I wrote it, such as frustrations of the day before that turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as well as the ways the Lord used what seemed like a most undesirable event, to soften the heart of a loved one in a way that would not have happened otherwise. 

These are the things that help strengthen my faith and assurance that God is in control and that He is a good and loving God who has a perfect plan for my life (and yours as well), a plan for good and not for evil (Jeremiah 29:11). Even though His ways are not our ways, and may sometimes be hard to understand, we can trust that He sees the whole picture, which we do not. He is the author of our stories, and all the days of our lives were recorded in His book before any of them came to be (Psalm 139:16). 

Typing is still painful, and I may need to take a little rest from blogging until my hand heals up some more, but I wanted to write this post while the thoughts are still fresh in my mind, as well as wish you all the blessings of peace, joy, and good health in the New Year.

NOT THE DAY I HAD PLANNED

Last night before going to bed I turned two of my large plants around that were leaning towards the window. Something I probably should not have waited so long to do.

My plan was to get up early and spend the morning trying to complete a Christmas gift I've been working on for one of my granddaughters and her hubby. My plan was to keep working on it until it was time to go to church for the early Christmas Eve service.

When I walked into the dining area this morning (which is where my project is set up), however, this is the sight that greeted me. My beautiful jade plant which had been leaning too far into the window, and had lost its support when I turned it around, toppled over during the night and many of its leaves had come off and were strewn all over the floor.

Instead of working on my project, I spent the morning going to the store to get soil so I could repot it, and then trying to salvage the plant.

I tried to get it to stand straight, which did not work without a second pair of hands to hold it while I added the soil, but there was no one to help, so I did the best I could and added some more stakes in front of it to try and keep it from toppling over again.

I also stuck all the salvageable leaves in a pot of their own to see if any of them will propagate.

So much for my project. By then it was time to grab a bite and go to church. 

Instead of a gift, granddaughter and hubby will be getting an IOU and a note that their gift is still in the works.

I had also planned to come home after church, relax, and watch some livestreams. However, I was sitting on my bed eating while watching one of them, and spilled gravy on my bedspread which seeped all the way down through my blanket and sheets, and I wound up having to do two loads of laundry and make my bed, which did not make my aching back and shoulder very happy at all.

Despite the frustrations, there were some happy surprises as well.

The neighbors who live across from my building and who are always the first to decorate their patio every year with this display, did not do so this year. I assumed they must have moved, but to my surprise, there it was today. A beautiful reminder of what Christmas Eve is all about.

The other surprise was catching sight of new growth in the aloe pot. I've had that aloe for quite some time, but that's its first baby.

And with that, I will end by wishing you all a very blessed and beautiful Christmas, and peace, joy, and good health in the New Year!

STUFF

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--STUFF

Five minutes to free-write about it

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Despite the many times I have downsized, I still have way too much stuff. There are also growing piles of stuff cluttering my bedroom floor in the form of paperwork that needs to be completed or filed away, newspapers and magazines I've been meaning to read, and projects started but not yet completed.  

Although my intention is to set a timer for a half hour or an hour every day and work on clearing up as much as I can during that time, it hasn't happened. 

Now it's already into December, and as much as I wanted to have some signs of Christmas in my apartment, the thought of one more thing to do seemed overwhelming, as did the thought of then having to take it all down and put it away in a few weeks. So I compromised. 

I just took out a few of my favorite things and kept it super simple this year. A Charlie Brown tree a friend gave me several years ago, a Nativity to remind me of the reason for the season, and a few odds and ends to grace the top of my piano. It looks very peaceful and uncluttered, and I am very happy with the results. 

TRADE

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--TRADE

Five minutes to free-write about it

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This week's prompt made me think of a story I heard a long, long time ago that went something like this:

A young man. was going through a hard time and felt as though he had reached the end of his rope. He cried out to the Lord and told Him he could not go on. His cross was too heavy to bear. So the Lord told the man to put it down, and led him into a room filled with crosses of all kinds. He told him he could trade his cross for any of them he wanted.

The man looked around at all the crosses in the room. There were crosses of all sizes. Some were so big they reached the ceiling, some looked very heavy, and then he spotted a tiny cross all the way in a corner at the back of the room. He told the Lord that was the one he wanted. The Lord turned the little cross over to show him the name on the back of it, and it was the man's own cross, the one he had wanted to trade. 

Sometimes I feel like that man. I get weary, and the grass seems a lot greener on the other side of the fence. But that thought lasts only for a moment. No matter what I've gone through, even when it has felt like the pits, and even when I wished things were different, I have never wanted to trade my life for anyone else's.   

God made us all unique. We are one-of-a-kind Divine originals created for a special purpose and plan that only we can fulfill. He knows what we can and cannot handle, and has equipped us accordingly. Although He does not expect us to do it in our own strength, neither has He equipped us to live out the story He designed someone else to live.

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For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unfomed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. -- Psalm 139:13-16, NIV 

FIGHT

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--FIGHT

Five minutes to free-write about it

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First thoughts were 1 Timothy 6:12 (Fight the good fight...) and the image of this tree.  Unlike the mostly bare trees surrounding it, it has managed to hold on to quite a few of its colorful leaves--despite the winds and the rain. 

I wonder what my fight looks like. Not that great, I'm sure. 

Despite all the exhortations, words of encouragement, promises, and tools (like the armor of God) that are to be found in the Word of God, I falter, lose my cool, and get exasperated. I forget to take a deep breath, say the Serenity Prayer, and remember this is all just a test.

Right now my patience is being sorely tested. It has been for several days, causing me no end of frustration over all the time being wasted trying to connect to the right people over the phone.

There were things I needed to do today that I had to put off in order to wait for a delivery that never arrived. To make things worse, when I called the company, I was on the phone for over three hours--most of it on hold (with no option to leave my number and get a call back) and trying to get the robots that answer the phone to put me through to a live person. 

I could feel the pressure rising--until I remembered all the things I should never have forgot. As I got a grip of myself, took that deep breath, and reminded myself that this was just a test, not only did a great calm settle over me, but the issue was quickly resolved by a new person who came on the line.

There is a lot more I could write about the things I could have been doing instead of stewing while I was on hold, but my five minutes are up.

THOUGHTS ABOUT VOIDS

Friday's FMF word prompt was the word VOID. 

As I pondered what to write about, many thoughts of things that can leave a void crossed my mind. The death of a friend or loved one, the absence of what used to be familiar, or even just a feeling of something missing in your life that you can't quite put your finger on. The God shaped void within us that can only be filled by Him. 

I thought about these things as I read through the posts people had written, until I was stopped by a sonnet a dear FMF friend wrote as his comment to one of them.

My friend--our friend--Andrew Budek-Schmeiser, has been gifted with an amazing gift of words. Though he suffers from a terminal illness that leaves him depleted and in unimagineable pain, he continues to unselfishly bless us with his writing. I don't know how he does it.

His sonnets run the gamut from encouraging to humorous to deeply thought-provoking. The one he left as a comment on someone's response to the prompt was not only beautiful, but led me to look at that Divine void within us from a very different perspective--one I had never considered before. I hope he does not mind me sharing it. I don't think he will.

There's a God-shaped hole inside of me,

and I think this may sound odd,

but could perhaps might there just be

a me-shaped hole in God?

A spare that only I can fill,

a missing puzzle-part,

that requires my free will

to give Him my whole heart,

and if I choose to hold it back,

to stand aloof and proud,

there's something He will always lack,

even with a holy crowd,

for I am not just anyone;

I'm His well-loved adopted son. 

A friend I shared it with added another beautiful thought. Perhaps the same is true of every person God ordains for us to meet in this life. Perhaps He intended for us to provide to each other a gift that only we can give?