The State of North Carolina has announced that it will no longer teach cursive writing to its students. Most people are appalled, and so am I. The printing of letters and the alphabet will of course still be taught, but the school system is leaving it in the hands of parents to teach a child how to write his or her name in cursive rather than printing it. Questions and red flags immediately come to mind, first of which is how can someone sign a document, versus printing their name on it? How is one supposed to take notes at a meeting or in a class - print everything? How can a person fill out and sign a check or estate documents? Are we now so dependent on computers/laptops/smart phones that we will have them with us 24/7?
Beyond those simple questions lay more profound ones. People are depending more and more on computers for "communication" but are relying only on the written word, not tone of voice, inflection, facial expressions, and body language. A non-personal screen is trumping personal contact and simply destroying the art of conversation.
E-mails, in the personal world, are not printed out and saved "for posterity." Letters received via the mail service used to be anticipated and cherished, and those are vanishing from the face of the earth and creating a void in the history of people who may one day be a person who changes the world or who invents something that makes life better. Preservation of history is slipping right through the keyboard, and not teaching cursive is hastening its death.
Technology and use of word processing is also destroying the need to spell words correctly. With spell-check, why bother trying to spell something correctly? The computer will fix it for you! And texting has birthed a language of its own in abbreviations and misspellings that are enough to drive an English teacher crazy! I have a problem with texting because I find it difficult to even use the letter "r" for the word "are." Guess I'm old school! So if I do text, which is rare, it takes me a while because I spell everything out and use correct punctuation. Spelling is now creative rather than going by the rules people have obeyed for ages. Where is the sense in that?
Cursive writing is being sacrificed for more time in front of computers for our students in order for them to learn to use the word processing programs. The future for these children looks rather grim to me. Even now, young people are graduating from college, yet they cannot write complete sentences; they cannot think deeply; they do not think beyond themselves to the needs of others (not all, but most); they live for the moment and do not save for the future; they cannot budget or balance a checkbook; they cannot do laundry or cook for themselves - but they have a college degree!
I hope the uproar created by the announcement that cursive will no longer be taught brings it back. It's part of life and always will be needed. Much will be lost if it goes by the wayside.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Our Grocery Stores
Okay, I'll admit that my posts are all over the place - and this is just another example of the diversity in my posts and is something that has concerned me for a long time. Our "grocery" stores in America need to be revamped - in my opinion.
I shop every Thursday night at my favorite store because Thursday's are senior discount day and I can save 5% off my entire bill, which amounts to about $20 - $25 per month in savings. As I was wandering the aisles last evening (I never go without a list, but I walk all the aisles to make sure to get something that I need that's not on my list), I realized how many aisles of the store are devoted to junk food, and I estimated that half of the store is just that - junk food.
I've been changing our diet from good to better during the last two weeks, incorporating whole grains, such as quinoa, barley and couscous, on a daily basis. I'm no longer eating Greek yogurt for lunch every day but am eating instead salads with those grains or with spinach. So shopping for food now includes perusing nutrition labels constsantly. And I've come to a conclusion. We say that the poor can't afford to eat nutritous, healthy foods because of their cost, so they choose the "cheaper" foods, which are highly processed and high in calories, but I no longer think that's true. A box/bag (12 oz.) of quinoa sells for about $4.50 and will make about 8 cups of nutritious filling food while a bag of tortilla chips (16 oz.) is just that, 16 ounces of crunchy chips that are neither good for you nor filling yet cost about the same. Fresh vegetables are cheaper when they're offered as "sale" items, as well as when they're in season. Cooked hot cereals are more nutritous and filling than their dry processed counterparts and, when purchased in large containers, are very cheap. Bread is highly overrated, and I say that with regret because I love to bake and eat homemade bread! I haven't had a slice of bread in about 2 weeks, and the only breads in the house are wholegrain English muffins and pita bread. Sweets are hazardous to my health!
Grocery stores, in my opinion, should have less space designated to fatty, sugary, processed foods and more space designated to whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. There are such stores around, usually called "health food stores," but the sad thing is they tend to charge more for items which can be purchased in regular grocery stores, which is a problem for those on a limited budget. Also, people need to use their dollars for food more wisely, educate themselves on nutrition and healthy eating, and carefully choose foods that offer more bang for their buck.
The obesity problem in America is a national problem. People who are overweight think they're of normal weight, clothes sizes have gotten bigger (not the number, but the actual garments), and restaurants are everywhere, offering up huge portions of food for reasonable cost. Few families actually eat at home most of the time, eating out instead to circumvent the work required to cook a meal.
God has created food for our enjoyment, and the foods that grow naturally (fruit, vegetables, grains) are the best for us. I think it's sad that so many people simply destroy their health by eating foods that do them no good other than tantalize their taste buds, which is a momentary pleasure.
I'm planning on stirring up something with some left over turkey and barley for dinner. Good eating needs to return to the home. I think you'll agree.
I shop every Thursday night at my favorite store because Thursday's are senior discount day and I can save 5% off my entire bill, which amounts to about $20 - $25 per month in savings. As I was wandering the aisles last evening (I never go without a list, but I walk all the aisles to make sure to get something that I need that's not on my list), I realized how many aisles of the store are devoted to junk food, and I estimated that half of the store is just that - junk food.
I've been changing our diet from good to better during the last two weeks, incorporating whole grains, such as quinoa, barley and couscous, on a daily basis. I'm no longer eating Greek yogurt for lunch every day but am eating instead salads with those grains or with spinach. So shopping for food now includes perusing nutrition labels constsantly. And I've come to a conclusion. We say that the poor can't afford to eat nutritous, healthy foods because of their cost, so they choose the "cheaper" foods, which are highly processed and high in calories, but I no longer think that's true. A box/bag (12 oz.) of quinoa sells for about $4.50 and will make about 8 cups of nutritious filling food while a bag of tortilla chips (16 oz.) is just that, 16 ounces of crunchy chips that are neither good for you nor filling yet cost about the same. Fresh vegetables are cheaper when they're offered as "sale" items, as well as when they're in season. Cooked hot cereals are more nutritous and filling than their dry processed counterparts and, when purchased in large containers, are very cheap. Bread is highly overrated, and I say that with regret because I love to bake and eat homemade bread! I haven't had a slice of bread in about 2 weeks, and the only breads in the house are wholegrain English muffins and pita bread. Sweets are hazardous to my health!
Grocery stores, in my opinion, should have less space designated to fatty, sugary, processed foods and more space designated to whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables. There are such stores around, usually called "health food stores," but the sad thing is they tend to charge more for items which can be purchased in regular grocery stores, which is a problem for those on a limited budget. Also, people need to use their dollars for food more wisely, educate themselves on nutrition and healthy eating, and carefully choose foods that offer more bang for their buck.
The obesity problem in America is a national problem. People who are overweight think they're of normal weight, clothes sizes have gotten bigger (not the number, but the actual garments), and restaurants are everywhere, offering up huge portions of food for reasonable cost. Few families actually eat at home most of the time, eating out instead to circumvent the work required to cook a meal.
God has created food for our enjoyment, and the foods that grow naturally (fruit, vegetables, grains) are the best for us. I think it's sad that so many people simply destroy their health by eating foods that do them no good other than tantalize their taste buds, which is a momentary pleasure.
I'm planning on stirring up something with some left over turkey and barley for dinner. Good eating needs to return to the home. I think you'll agree.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Time With the Boys
I didn't have to go to work today as it is Martin Luther King Day in honor of the civil rights leader who spurred the movement to racial equality in this country. My daughter-in-law, Bee, had to go to a class she's attending to get her realtor's license, so I was volunteered (and I didn't mind) to take care of my 3 grandsons during that time. This meant leaving the house half an hour earlier than I do when I go to work and driving to my son's house in Raleigh, which takes about 25 minutes.
The 2 older boys were waiting for me and eagerly threw open the door and immediately dragged me up upstairs to their room so I could see the Spider Man decals on the wall. A few minutes later Bee slipped out of the house, and Niland, Benny, Ian (short for Julian) and I went upstairs to the great room over the garage, where they have an indoor play house that is 8' tall and has a ladder, slide (yes, a full-length slide!), and a fire pole which extends from a platform to the floor, constructed by Daddy for the boys. The unit has 2 levels, and the floor level has a large entrance on one side that lets the kids sit under the upper level. It's a nice place to hide.
When we entered the room, I couldn't believe the mess! Toys were everywhere on the floor! I had to be careful not to trip on them. We played percussion instruments and a guitar, making fun music and a lot of noise. After a brief attempt at picking up one section of the room, snacks followed, and let me tell you these little boys are eating machines, even Ian who is a little guy. I managed to do some cleaning to help Bee out as she's also been carrying a part-time job, and folded some laundry, a never-ending job with 3 little boys. Later, Ian went down for his nap without complaint, which was a real relief!
Having heard how good Benny is at putting puzzles together, we dumped a bag of puzzle pieces onto the coffee table to put them together. To my surprise, there were 4 puzzles in the bag! I had no idea what they looked like, but I did know that they pictured Buzz Lightyear (you should hear Benny say "To infinity and beyond!) and 3 different scenes from Pixar's "Cars." Niland, thankfully, knew where the box was, and once we had that, the puzzles went together a little quicker. Now I like to do puzzles, but Benny blew me away. He was grabbing pieces and putting them together faster than I could! Over and over, he kept finding the right pieces, and soon Buzz Lightyear was almost complete. Benny is not quite 3 1/2 years old, and ever since he's been able to walk, he's placed items in patterns and order; one time he took bottles full of water and laid them on the floor in several perfectly straight rows, one next to the other. These puzzles we were working on are each about 60 pieces, and he can put them together by himself rather quickly.
Lunch time soon rolled around, and Benny wanted only grapes. "They're healthy," he kept telling me despite my attemps to get him to eat anything else. I think he ate too many crackers for his snack. Niland wanted some left over rice, so he got that and some ham slices. He piled the rice on top of the deli ham slices, rolled it up and exclaimed, "Sushi!"
"Do you like sushi?" I asked.
"I'm not allowed to eat it."
"You're not?"
"Well, some kinds I can eat, but that's all. Shrimp is my favorite."
"Yeah, all kids of things are used to make sushi -- cucumbers, avocado, fish . . ."
"And seaweed and rice!"
Where does this 5-year-old kid get so much information?
Before long, Ian woke from his nap, and as he was eating lunch and I was folding clothes, Bee came home from her class. After visiting with her, I returned home to do my own laundry, which I've yet to tackle.
I'm so grateful for the time I can spend with my grandkids when I'm not working; it seems as if there's far too little of it.
When I got home, my daughter Dori called. My granddaughter, Cami, is sick again. John, Dori, Luke and Cami all got sick during their week of vacation at Disney in Florida the week after Christmas, and sickness has kept one of them down since the beginning of November. Dori's getting pretty worn out with all the sickness. John is currently in New Jersey (he travels quite a bit on his job), and it is supposed to snow in New Jersey this evening, so Dori doesn't know if John will make it home or not because of the potential for snow, and she's about at the end of her rope. I wish I could do something to ease her load.
So much more to write about, but this is long already. Oh, just one more thing. A job has opened up, something that I would be privileged to do, something that I feel God is calling me to. I'm to speak to the director of that organization tomorrow. This job would offer the opportunity to use my past to save others from making mistakes in the future. The job is an answer to prayer and a promise I believe I received from God, but I know that the person God wants will get the job. This is one of those times I truly want it to be me. I want God to use me to make a difference.
The 2 older boys were waiting for me and eagerly threw open the door and immediately dragged me up upstairs to their room so I could see the Spider Man decals on the wall. A few minutes later Bee slipped out of the house, and Niland, Benny, Ian (short for Julian) and I went upstairs to the great room over the garage, where they have an indoor play house that is 8' tall and has a ladder, slide (yes, a full-length slide!), and a fire pole which extends from a platform to the floor, constructed by Daddy for the boys. The unit has 2 levels, and the floor level has a large entrance on one side that lets the kids sit under the upper level. It's a nice place to hide.
When we entered the room, I couldn't believe the mess! Toys were everywhere on the floor! I had to be careful not to trip on them. We played percussion instruments and a guitar, making fun music and a lot of noise. After a brief attempt at picking up one section of the room, snacks followed, and let me tell you these little boys are eating machines, even Ian who is a little guy. I managed to do some cleaning to help Bee out as she's also been carrying a part-time job, and folded some laundry, a never-ending job with 3 little boys. Later, Ian went down for his nap without complaint, which was a real relief!
Having heard how good Benny is at putting puzzles together, we dumped a bag of puzzle pieces onto the coffee table to put them together. To my surprise, there were 4 puzzles in the bag! I had no idea what they looked like, but I did know that they pictured Buzz Lightyear (you should hear Benny say "To infinity and beyond!) and 3 different scenes from Pixar's "Cars." Niland, thankfully, knew where the box was, and once we had that, the puzzles went together a little quicker. Now I like to do puzzles, but Benny blew me away. He was grabbing pieces and putting them together faster than I could! Over and over, he kept finding the right pieces, and soon Buzz Lightyear was almost complete. Benny is not quite 3 1/2 years old, and ever since he's been able to walk, he's placed items in patterns and order; one time he took bottles full of water and laid them on the floor in several perfectly straight rows, one next to the other. These puzzles we were working on are each about 60 pieces, and he can put them together by himself rather quickly.
Lunch time soon rolled around, and Benny wanted only grapes. "They're healthy," he kept telling me despite my attemps to get him to eat anything else. I think he ate too many crackers for his snack. Niland wanted some left over rice, so he got that and some ham slices. He piled the rice on top of the deli ham slices, rolled it up and exclaimed, "Sushi!"
"Do you like sushi?" I asked.
"I'm not allowed to eat it."
"You're not?"
"Well, some kinds I can eat, but that's all. Shrimp is my favorite."
"Yeah, all kids of things are used to make sushi -- cucumbers, avocado, fish . . ."
"And seaweed and rice!"
Where does this 5-year-old kid get so much information?
Before long, Ian woke from his nap, and as he was eating lunch and I was folding clothes, Bee came home from her class. After visiting with her, I returned home to do my own laundry, which I've yet to tackle.
I'm so grateful for the time I can spend with my grandkids when I'm not working; it seems as if there's far too little of it.
When I got home, my daughter Dori called. My granddaughter, Cami, is sick again. John, Dori, Luke and Cami all got sick during their week of vacation at Disney in Florida the week after Christmas, and sickness has kept one of them down since the beginning of November. Dori's getting pretty worn out with all the sickness. John is currently in New Jersey (he travels quite a bit on his job), and it is supposed to snow in New Jersey this evening, so Dori doesn't know if John will make it home or not because of the potential for snow, and she's about at the end of her rope. I wish I could do something to ease her load.
So much more to write about, but this is long already. Oh, just one more thing. A job has opened up, something that I would be privileged to do, something that I feel God is calling me to. I'm to speak to the director of that organization tomorrow. This job would offer the opportunity to use my past to save others from making mistakes in the future. The job is an answer to prayer and a promise I believe I received from God, but I know that the person God wants will get the job. This is one of those times I truly want it to be me. I want God to use me to make a difference.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Life Without God?
Have you ever read or heard something that you find hard to believe? Well, this week I read an article on CNN that made me "spitting mad." A woman blogged and shared it with CNN and titled the blog "Why I Raise My Children Without God." Seriously?!
Because she doesn't believe in God or even in his existence, she is passing a faithless life on to her children. How sad! Sad that she's an atheist and sad that she's encouraging that in her children. These are the subtitles of her paragraphs: God is a bad role model; God is not logical; God is not fair; God does not protect the innocent; God is not present; God does not teach chidlren to be good; and God teaches narcissism. Her entire premise that God is not good presents a huge problem. How does she know what is good and what is bad? Who taught her that? Where did she get such knowledge? Who says what is good and what is bad?
Oddly enough, the world has a universal "moral code" or "ethical code." I haven't heard of any civilization which states that murder is good and which encourages everyone to murder others. Stealing is also something that's bad around the world.
We say, "Play fair," to our kids when they're small. How do we know what's fair? Who puts that knowledge in us? Where does it come from? Why do we have to teach our children to be good? Why do they do "wrong" things and have to be corrected? From where do laws generate other than people's hearts?
God gave human beings free will. We can choose to do anything we want to do. We can steal, murder, lie, cheat, commit adultery (who said that's "wrong"), want what others have, take guns and kill innocent people (or even children), be nasty, mean and spiteful to others -- all because God has given us a free will. Or we can also choose to do good, save others from danger, help people in need, give from our abundance, be honest, nice, and polite to others. The choice is ours.
God does have a plan for us -- but I don't believe that anyone ever follows his plan perfectly. All of us go astray on occasion; the only one who followed God's plan explicitly was Jesus. He did the will of his Father God.
Suffering, sickness and pain was not part of God's creation until Man disobeyed God. We live in a fallen world, fallen from the ideal plan of God and what he created. His creation will be redeemed one day, but until then, we will see illness and tragedy in this life and will not have answers to the tough questions.
My prayer is that this other blogger (TXBlue08) will find the truth someday. God is not dead; He's alive and well and always will be. Ultimately, each and every person will have to account for their actions, choices and beliefs on this earth. I'm choosing to believe in God. If being "good" gets me to heaven, I'll get there because I'm a "good" person. But if belief in God and in his Son Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, I'll still get there because I'm a believer. Either way, I'm in. Are you willing to take that gamble? I'm not.
Because she doesn't believe in God or even in his existence, she is passing a faithless life on to her children. How sad! Sad that she's an atheist and sad that she's encouraging that in her children. These are the subtitles of her paragraphs: God is a bad role model; God is not logical; God is not fair; God does not protect the innocent; God is not present; God does not teach chidlren to be good; and God teaches narcissism. Her entire premise that God is not good presents a huge problem. How does she know what is good and what is bad? Who taught her that? Where did she get such knowledge? Who says what is good and what is bad?
Oddly enough, the world has a universal "moral code" or "ethical code." I haven't heard of any civilization which states that murder is good and which encourages everyone to murder others. Stealing is also something that's bad around the world.
We say, "Play fair," to our kids when they're small. How do we know what's fair? Who puts that knowledge in us? Where does it come from? Why do we have to teach our children to be good? Why do they do "wrong" things and have to be corrected? From where do laws generate other than people's hearts?
God gave human beings free will. We can choose to do anything we want to do. We can steal, murder, lie, cheat, commit adultery (who said that's "wrong"), want what others have, take guns and kill innocent people (or even children), be nasty, mean and spiteful to others -- all because God has given us a free will. Or we can also choose to do good, save others from danger, help people in need, give from our abundance, be honest, nice, and polite to others. The choice is ours.
God does have a plan for us -- but I don't believe that anyone ever follows his plan perfectly. All of us go astray on occasion; the only one who followed God's plan explicitly was Jesus. He did the will of his Father God.
Suffering, sickness and pain was not part of God's creation until Man disobeyed God. We live in a fallen world, fallen from the ideal plan of God and what he created. His creation will be redeemed one day, but until then, we will see illness and tragedy in this life and will not have answers to the tough questions.
My prayer is that this other blogger (TXBlue08) will find the truth someday. God is not dead; He's alive and well and always will be. Ultimately, each and every person will have to account for their actions, choices and beliefs on this earth. I'm choosing to believe in God. If being "good" gets me to heaven, I'll get there because I'm a "good" person. But if belief in God and in his Son Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, I'll still get there because I'm a believer. Either way, I'm in. Are you willing to take that gamble? I'm not.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Snow in North Carolina!
At the time of this writing, it's snowing like crazy in Durham, North Carolina. It had rained heavily earlier this evening after days of foggy and drizzly weather, and now cold air is rushing in, changing the rain to snow. While it's beautiful, it's also dangerous because the heavy wet snow is sticking to tree branches and bringing down trees, according to the news. We've lost our television signal due to the snow (that's why I'm not happy with satellite television!), but we still have power and thus have the computer. Being from Connecticut, I enjoy it when it snows here because I don't have to shovel it (it's usually not very much), I don't have to scrape it off my car (the car is parked in the garage), and I know it won't last long. The forecast calls for several inches, but only time will tell. I'll have to wait until morning to see!
Last weekend I was supposed to have Niland and Benny overnight Saturday, but Benny opted out at the last minute. I'd rather have him go home with Daddy than be upset and crying when he was supposed to go to sleep. Niland, however, was very happy to stay and proudly exclaimed, "It will be special, Nana, 'cause it's just me!" And he was right!
Before my son took the other two boys home, we put all three of them in the jacuzzi tub in our bathroom. My son declared that he never used to understand the nursery rhyme, "Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub," until he had 3 boys! I'd forgotten how much water kids can splash around, but they loved the water squirting from the jets.
The next morning, Niland wanted pancakes, and I thoroughly agreed with him, so we made them from scratch. Niland got to dump all the ingredients into the bowl, and when I added the baking powder, he said, "That's what makes the pancakes fluffy!" Are you kidding me?
As we cooked them, Niland stated, "They're ready to flip when they get bubbles on them!" Niland is only 5 years old, yet I can honestly say he knows more about cooking than does my sweet husband!
After church we played outside in the remarkable warmth of 75 degrees - yes, 75 degrees! Niland was in shorts and a shirt. As he explored the back yard, he found and caught a gecko under a log down the slope. I've never even caught a gecko and haven't really wanted to catch one! Wanting to gather fire wood for our fire pit, Niland proceeded to pick up fallen branches and found one log that was as tall as him that he really wanted to drag up the slope but couldn't because it was too heavy. He then flipped that log end to end, over and over, and got that heavy log up the slope all by himself. Needless to say, he was sweating profusely but was very proud of himself. So was I. Bob has to cut the log in order to use it in the fire pit.
So we've gone from 75 degrees last Sunday to 33 degrees and heavy snow right now. God's creation is magnificent! The snow offers so much beauty, draping the outdoors in silence, the snowflakes making swishing sounds as they hit the ground. In a few weeks, the daffodils will start poking through the soil, soon to adorn the ground with splashes of yellow. Winter doesn't last long here, so I don't mind it when it snows!
Last weekend I was supposed to have Niland and Benny overnight Saturday, but Benny opted out at the last minute. I'd rather have him go home with Daddy than be upset and crying when he was supposed to go to sleep. Niland, however, was very happy to stay and proudly exclaimed, "It will be special, Nana, 'cause it's just me!" And he was right!
Before my son took the other two boys home, we put all three of them in the jacuzzi tub in our bathroom. My son declared that he never used to understand the nursery rhyme, "Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub," until he had 3 boys! I'd forgotten how much water kids can splash around, but they loved the water squirting from the jets.
The next morning, Niland wanted pancakes, and I thoroughly agreed with him, so we made them from scratch. Niland got to dump all the ingredients into the bowl, and when I added the baking powder, he said, "That's what makes the pancakes fluffy!" Are you kidding me?
As we cooked them, Niland stated, "They're ready to flip when they get bubbles on them!" Niland is only 5 years old, yet I can honestly say he knows more about cooking than does my sweet husband!
After church we played outside in the remarkable warmth of 75 degrees - yes, 75 degrees! Niland was in shorts and a shirt. As he explored the back yard, he found and caught a gecko under a log down the slope. I've never even caught a gecko and haven't really wanted to catch one! Wanting to gather fire wood for our fire pit, Niland proceeded to pick up fallen branches and found one log that was as tall as him that he really wanted to drag up the slope but couldn't because it was too heavy. He then flipped that log end to end, over and over, and got that heavy log up the slope all by himself. Needless to say, he was sweating profusely but was very proud of himself. So was I. Bob has to cut the log in order to use it in the fire pit.
So we've gone from 75 degrees last Sunday to 33 degrees and heavy snow right now. God's creation is magnificent! The snow offers so much beauty, draping the outdoors in silence, the snowflakes making swishing sounds as they hit the ground. In a few weeks, the daffodils will start poking through the soil, soon to adorn the ground with splashes of yellow. Winter doesn't last long here, so I don't mind it when it snows!
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Goals
With the calendar flipping over into a new year, I'm setting goals just like most of you, but first on my list is to make a list of goals both for myself and with my husband. This won't be easy, I can assure you, as one of us is more relaxed about the future than the other. Maybe "relaxed" isn't the right word, so I should probably change that to unconcerned.
I had received a gift card to a book store for Christmas, so last evening I went there and purchased 2 books with the intention of actually reading some deep writing, something to make me think deeply and consider the blessings in my life more fully. The two books I bought were "Bonhoeffer" and "The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics" consisting of "Mere Christianity," "The Screwtape Letters" (which I may have read in my younger years, but I'm not sure), "The Abolition of Man," "The Great Divorce," "The Problem of Pain," "Miracles," and "A Grief Observed." Having begun to devour the C.S. Lewis book, I realize that he was a deep thinker who put his thoughts precisely on paper, dissecting them and laying them out in orderly fashion, yet the subjects about which he wrote were often ordinary. Too busy to do this in our day and time, even though we have a great tool in the computer, we rush through our days and give little thought to more than what's for dinner or where we need to take the kids after school. Sadly, our thoughts swim in a shallow pond and don't delve into deep ocean waters that can hold both mysteries and understanding. And so my journey into deeper waters begins with C.S. Lewis.
I've heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer but know the barest of facts about him. I probably won't get to that book until the summer, not wanting to just read C.S. Lewis's stories as a butterfly flitting on the wind. I want to get some meat out of them.
With my thoughts tilted toward deeper reading, my heart leans toward a deeper walk with God. Everyday living has a way of sucking the very life from our bones, leaving us dry and withered, unproductive and somewhat hopeless. I've been there and have felt the crush of responsibility robbing me of life's simple pleasures. One of my goals is to live more fully, and if that means dust balls rolling through the house in order for me to spend time with my grandkids, so be it. I'm certainly not getting any younger, and only God knows the number of my days, so I want to laugh more, work less, love more, and work less. More of God; more fun and more laughter; more of family and more of friends. It won't happen unless I change my habits; it won't happen unless I make deliberate choices to make it happen. I'll need to stay focused on my goals and pray that God will help me see things more clearly in light of eternity.
My grandson Niland called me today and invited me to dinner, telling me I could help him fix my favorite dish and I could eat half of it. He told me he loved me and missed me; I last saw him on Christmas Day, and I was thinking about him just before he called. Benny chimed in after Niland, and it broke my heart that work has kept me from them. I saved the precious message on my phone, called back during my break, and arranged for them to spend the night Saturday. That's living more fully! I can't wait to hug them!
I had received a gift card to a book store for Christmas, so last evening I went there and purchased 2 books with the intention of actually reading some deep writing, something to make me think deeply and consider the blessings in my life more fully. The two books I bought were "Bonhoeffer" and "The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics" consisting of "Mere Christianity," "The Screwtape Letters" (which I may have read in my younger years, but I'm not sure), "The Abolition of Man," "The Great Divorce," "The Problem of Pain," "Miracles," and "A Grief Observed." Having begun to devour the C.S. Lewis book, I realize that he was a deep thinker who put his thoughts precisely on paper, dissecting them and laying them out in orderly fashion, yet the subjects about which he wrote were often ordinary. Too busy to do this in our day and time, even though we have a great tool in the computer, we rush through our days and give little thought to more than what's for dinner or where we need to take the kids after school. Sadly, our thoughts swim in a shallow pond and don't delve into deep ocean waters that can hold both mysteries and understanding. And so my journey into deeper waters begins with C.S. Lewis.
I've heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer but know the barest of facts about him. I probably won't get to that book until the summer, not wanting to just read C.S. Lewis's stories as a butterfly flitting on the wind. I want to get some meat out of them.
With my thoughts tilted toward deeper reading, my heart leans toward a deeper walk with God. Everyday living has a way of sucking the very life from our bones, leaving us dry and withered, unproductive and somewhat hopeless. I've been there and have felt the crush of responsibility robbing me of life's simple pleasures. One of my goals is to live more fully, and if that means dust balls rolling through the house in order for me to spend time with my grandkids, so be it. I'm certainly not getting any younger, and only God knows the number of my days, so I want to laugh more, work less, love more, and work less. More of God; more fun and more laughter; more of family and more of friends. It won't happen unless I change my habits; it won't happen unless I make deliberate choices to make it happen. I'll need to stay focused on my goals and pray that God will help me see things more clearly in light of eternity.
My grandson Niland called me today and invited me to dinner, telling me I could help him fix my favorite dish and I could eat half of it. He told me he loved me and missed me; I last saw him on Christmas Day, and I was thinking about him just before he called. Benny chimed in after Niland, and it broke my heart that work has kept me from them. I saved the precious message on my phone, called back during my break, and arranged for them to spend the night Saturday. That's living more fully! I can't wait to hug them!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Back to Living
My husband and I have had to ask what day it is for the last week or so. The process of laying to rest one's mother is never easy. It has exhausted us physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Our trip to and from Huntsville, Alabama, was uneventful, for which we were grateful, and we returned on my husband's birthday, New Year's Eve, to 2 cats who were glad to see us, and life without Mom began.
We spent New Year's Eve at our friends Steve and Martha's house, relaxing with food and the warmth and company of good friends, in which we basked as if soaking up warm rays of sun. New Year's day was spent catching our breath as we took down Christmas decorations, yet the daze of unreality enveloped us like fog, and we continued to grieve Mom's passing as we celebrated the fact that she had not suffered and was now in the arms of her Heavenly Father.
Humor managed to pierce our grief. Flowers were awaiting our return home, and we recognized the name of one family but not of the other, so we e-mailed the familiar family and thanked them for their thoughtfulness and asked them to enlighten us on the identity of the other family. We're old now, you know! When I returned to work, I realized the unrecognized family on the flower card was actually one of my bosses! I had to e-mail the recognized family and tell them that the mystery had been solved! Why the mixup? Because we know 2 families with the exact same spelling of the last name but with entirely different pronounciations of it, one friends from church and the other an attorney for whom I work! With no first names, I naturally went to our church friends as the sender of the flowers. We've had a good laugh over this!
So now it's back to reality. A new year is here, and we'll be doing everything without Bob's mother for the first time. We're extremely grateful for the wonderful days we had with her over the long Christmas weekend and extremely grateful that we had time to say goodbye in the hospital before life support was disconnected and Mom slid into eternity. We're grateful for the cards, phone calls, flowers, and prayers of our friends. We're grateful for loving family who surrounded us even as we surrounded them. We're most grateful for the fact that Mom was a believer, and we know where she is and we know that we'll see her again. What a blessed hope!
Bob has already felt the piercing reality that things have changed. He always picked up things that Mom needed while he was in Sam's Club, and he realized the other day that he doesn't need to do that any more. And that's the way it will be for all of us who loved her. We'll do something ordinary and be reminded of Mom, what she liked, or the way she did something. She now lives on in our hearts.
We've just learned that Bob's oldest daughter, Ellen, who is expecting her second child on June 1, will be having another boy. When he arrives, that will be our 8th grandchild and our 7th grandson. Cami is still the only granddaughter. New life to look forward to even as we mourn Mom's passing.
And so life goes on.
We spent New Year's Eve at our friends Steve and Martha's house, relaxing with food and the warmth and company of good friends, in which we basked as if soaking up warm rays of sun. New Year's day was spent catching our breath as we took down Christmas decorations, yet the daze of unreality enveloped us like fog, and we continued to grieve Mom's passing as we celebrated the fact that she had not suffered and was now in the arms of her Heavenly Father.
Humor managed to pierce our grief. Flowers were awaiting our return home, and we recognized the name of one family but not of the other, so we e-mailed the familiar family and thanked them for their thoughtfulness and asked them to enlighten us on the identity of the other family. We're old now, you know! When I returned to work, I realized the unrecognized family on the flower card was actually one of my bosses! I had to e-mail the recognized family and tell them that the mystery had been solved! Why the mixup? Because we know 2 families with the exact same spelling of the last name but with entirely different pronounciations of it, one friends from church and the other an attorney for whom I work! With no first names, I naturally went to our church friends as the sender of the flowers. We've had a good laugh over this!
So now it's back to reality. A new year is here, and we'll be doing everything without Bob's mother for the first time. We're extremely grateful for the wonderful days we had with her over the long Christmas weekend and extremely grateful that we had time to say goodbye in the hospital before life support was disconnected and Mom slid into eternity. We're grateful for the cards, phone calls, flowers, and prayers of our friends. We're grateful for loving family who surrounded us even as we surrounded them. We're most grateful for the fact that Mom was a believer, and we know where she is and we know that we'll see her again. What a blessed hope!
Bob has already felt the piercing reality that things have changed. He always picked up things that Mom needed while he was in Sam's Club, and he realized the other day that he doesn't need to do that any more. And that's the way it will be for all of us who loved her. We'll do something ordinary and be reminded of Mom, what she liked, or the way she did something. She now lives on in our hearts.
We've just learned that Bob's oldest daughter, Ellen, who is expecting her second child on June 1, will be having another boy. When he arrives, that will be our 8th grandchild and our 7th grandson. Cami is still the only granddaughter. New life to look forward to even as we mourn Mom's passing.
And so life goes on.
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