HISTORY

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--HISTORY

Five minutes to free-write about it

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Today I made history. 

For the first time in probably over half a century, I actually followed through on a fitness challenge and a fitness resolution I added to it going into the month. Exercise (other than ballroom dancing, which I can no longer do), has never been my thing. 

For the month of August I joined a fitness challenge to exercise a minimum of 12 times during the month (I actually did 13 times), and the resolution I added to it was to walk a minimum of 2500 steps every day. 

I can't believe I actually managed to do it--especially the steps, since that was a daily commitment with no days off, and there were some days that only the grace of God carried me through.

Some other firsts this week--though I'm not sure they qualify as history. Fungi growing in my indoor dracaena flowerpots. I've never seen such a thing before or even thought it was possible.

 

The other surprise was the discovery that a plant I thought was a weed was not.

The other times I've planted wildflower seeds on my balcony, plants such as this leafy green one were the first to pop up and I thought they were weeds because they never flowered. They just seemed to take over the flower pots they were in and crowd everything else out. 

This year, however, and at the end of summer no less, I was proved wrong.

When I least expected, it started to bud, and now has some pretty yellow flowers.

Good thing I didn't pull it out when I was tempted to.

USUALLY

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--USUALLY

Five minutes to free-write about it

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Usually, the wildflower seeds I plant in the spring that are supposed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds produce little to no flowers.

Usually, the only things that gets attracted to my balcony are hoards of stinkbugs.

Usually, the plants I put out for the summer so they can get pollinated start out doing great, but end up getting destroyed by said stink bugs. 

At the end of very summer, for the last 15 years or so, I've wondered why I bother fighting what seems to be a losing battle and promise myself I won't do it again, but every spring I'm right back at Dollar Tree buying seeds yet again and hoping that this year will be different.

This year, to my great surprise, it was different. The wildflower seeds I planted did actually bloom, and they bloomed profusely. It was exciting to see the variety of colors as they appeared in turn,  and I've spent many happy moments just gazing at them.

This morning, I was greeted by an even greater surprise. A hummingbird. The very first one I've ever seen on my balcony, and it seemed to be really enjoying the little blue flowers.

I rushed for my cell phone, but by the time I was able to get the camera focused, it had flown away. Hopefully it will be back and bring some friends.

That was not my only surprise. Even though it is late in the season, I found three new little green tomatoes on my tomato plant, bringing the total to six, and there are a bunch of flowers on it as well.

Not the usual morning I had expected at all.

Five minutes are up so there's no more time left to share my insights, but God has used my plants time and time again to show me things and if you are interested, a very good example can be found in an old 2010 post I wrote entitled It's Not Over 'Til It's Over (click link to read).

BACK TO SCHOOL DAY

Oliver here. Just popping in to say hi on Great-Granny's blog.

Today is back-to-school day in my neck of the woods and even though I can't go to school with the girls, Mom bought me a backpack too.  Isn't it cool?

I can't wait for the girls to come home and tell me all about everything they learned.

P.S. In case you didn't know, I have my very own book on Amazon. It's called Oliver, the Barking Potato. Click here if you'd like to check it out. 

DEFEAT

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--DEFEAT

Five minutes to free-write about it

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I never used to be one to admit defeat. In fact, when I was young, I thrived on challenges and proving people wrong when they said something could not be done. I remember two experiences in particular. 

One was in high school when my math teacher tried to convince me to wait another year before taking the college entrance exams because if I took them now with the rest of my classmates, I would not pass.

As was my M.O. I set out to prove her wrong. I studied so hard for those exams that even though I soon forgot most of what I'd crammed into my brain, I was not only able to hold onto it long enough to pass, but to do so with high grades.

Another time was in graduate school. 

Back in the day we didn't have career counseling or aptitude testing and I wasn't sure what direction I wanted to take, so I settled on Speech Pathology just because it was a field I had never heard of before and it sounded interesting. The only catch was that the only school in my area that offered a degree in it was a French University and my knowledge of French was limited. I enrolled anyway.

As it turned out, we were an unusually small group of only four students. The other three were French Canadians who spoke little English. They helped me with the lectures, which were in French, and I helped them with the textbooks, which were mostly in English. It turned out to be a win-win for all four of us, and we soon bonded and became a close-knit group.

They told me about a summer camp for handicapped children and adults in the Catskills that employed speech therapists, but nobody from our school had ever been able to get a job there because their English was not considered good enough. I asked them if they would like to go, and when they said they would, I filled out all our application forms and we all got hired.

Now, however, in my very senior years, I seem to have lost my spunk. Even though the Word tells me that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13), and exhorts me to not grow weary or give up (2 Chronicles 15:7; Galatians 6:9), I am weary. Very weary.

Two major issues loom large right now, threatening to defeat me. Even though my faith is in the Lord, and I know how the story ends, there are still moments when I almost believe the lies.

But God! He put this song in my heart this morning, which has provided me with just the little push I need to keep on keeping on.

 

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The above memories are part of my memoir, Sincerely Wrong: An Improbable Journey.

SCENE

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--SCENE

Five minutes to free-write about it

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The scene that unfolds before me, both globally and in my personal life, is an unsettling one.  Words may fail me, but God never does. 

The Lord has been using the wildflowers growing on my balcony to lift my spirits and remind me of His love and His faithfulness, and to assure me that no matter what things are looking like around me, He is in control of the scene.

Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? -- Matthew 6:26-30, NLT

TOLERATE

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--TOLERATE

Five minutes to free-write about it

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My first thought is that I can't tolerate this heat (it has been a scorcher on most days these past few weeks).  But somehow I have, thanks to the blessing of A/C and the Lord who prevented the power from going out in my complex when other neighborhoods had outages.

I have fears about other things I don't think I could tolerate as well. Pain for one. I am a real wimp when it comes to pain. Unlike many people I know who handle it so well and never complain, I have zero pain tolerance and a lot of fear about it. 

Well, in this school called Life. the Lord has allowed some of my greatest fears to come to pass to show me that He is always in control and that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13). 

I used to have a terrible fear of needles, for instance. A fear that turned into my worst nightmare come true almost seven years ago, when I lay in a hospital bed recovering from a near death experience brought on by a combination of congestive heart failure and staph pneumonia. 

Through it all, the Lord was with me, loving me, comforting me, and teaching me many things about His faithfulness, mercy, and grace. (If you are interested in reading about it, it's all in my little book, Oil of Myrrh.)

Following is an excerpt from the chapter entitled Night of a Thousand Needles.

As far back as I can remember, I've had a needle phobia so severe that I almost didn't get married because of the premarital blood test requirement. When I had my babies (back in the day before IV's became routine), I opted to have natural childbirth because the thought of being given a needle was more daunting than the thought of what any labor pain might possibly feel like. And now, here, lying in my hospital bed, I had been jabbed not once, not twice, but such an infinite number of times that most of my veins were either collapsed or unable to yield the required amount of blood. 

Though it was not an experience I would ever want to go through again, it did teach me that no matter what the Lord allows in my life, or wherever He may lead, He will always be with me every step of the way and enable me to tolerate what I never dreamed could be tolerable.