Category: Perspective

Perspective – Wednesday Wisdom/Sharing Who You Are

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A friend gave me magnetic frames for my birthday. They are specially made to hold the drawings of children on the refrigerator. Yesterday I asked my oldest grandson to create a Christmas tree for me so that I could fill the frame.

“I don’t know how to make a Christmas tree,” he said.

A quick remembrance came to me of how I drew Christmas trees as a child. “It’s easy,” I told him, “Just draw triangles, top of the paper to bottom, and make each one just a little bit bigger.”

He grasped the concept instantly, and created this sweet Christmas tree. I love it.

Looking back on the moment I feel joy that I was able to share that small creative memory with him. I have been imagining him in his 50’s someday, saying to his small grandchild, “It’s easy…”

I was blessed to have four amazing grandparents, and doubly blessed to have parents who recognized the importance of them in their children’s lives. We spent holidays and summers with our grandparents, and the person I am now is very much influenced by their presence in my life. I thank God today for all the wonderful people, family and friends both, who have shared their lives and experiences with me. God bless us all in this wonderful season of giving.

Perspective – Mike Huckabee on Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting

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I don’t often, if ever, post twice in a day, but Mike Huckabee’s words are powerful and true. I do apologize to those who feel overwhelmed and saturated by all the talking points surrounding this tragedy. I am right there with you. I have turned off all television news concerning the tragedy. I am becoming more and more appalled at the way mainstream media spins and titles tragedy as a form of macabre entertainment. I am making an exception in posting this short clip. I feel Mr. Huckabee says what I feel in my heart about the matter.

Perspective – Christmas “To-Do” Lists

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If you are like me you have more than one piece of paper filled top to bottom with plans you want to accomplish before Christmas. The photo above shows only one of my lists…my homemade decorations and projects. Oh my!

Where am I going to find time to make cookies and visit with loved ones?

I think on this first day of December I need to put things into perspective. I love the following video…a quick and unexpected four minutes of song helps relieve the busyness and stress for these holiday shoppers. A good reminder for all of us of what we are truly celebrating.  Enjoy.

Perspective – Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

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A strange fact crossed my mind a year or two ago. I commented about it to my husband, “Do you realize,” I asked, “The percentage of people who remember the day Kennedy was shot is much less than those who don’t remember?”

This felt like strange territory to me. It was another instance  that gave me pause about the fleeting nature of life. How could this be?  I was just barely six years old on November 22, 1963. I was a first grader at Mount Pleasant Elementary School in Easton, Maryland. My father was the pastor of the Wesleyan Church, known then as the Pilgrim Holiness Church, at 620 Goldsborough Street.  After lunch the principle of the school, Mrs Lyons, slipped into the door of Mrs. Johnson’s first grade room. We were told that President Kennedy had been shot and we all closed our eyes, bowed our head, and prayed for him.

Oh, how times have changed!  In the age we are living in now the truth and calling upon God would not be allowed. How many lawsuits, how many newspapers articles and newscasts would happen if as a school and nation we were (with utter sincerity and purpose and not just as a convenient sound bite and spin) called upon to pray for anything? How we have fallen!

When we were dismissed we found out, from the parents who suddenly drove to pick up their children who always walked home, that our president had died.

As  young as I was I remember the solemn hush that fell like a dark cloud. I remember watching the funeral, the procession on black and white television. I learned a new word I had never heard before in my young life when the commentators spoke of…”the caisson carrying the president.”

Caisson – A horse-drawn vehicle, usually two-wheeled, used to carry artillery ammunition and coffins at military funerals.

I relate my experience of the Kennedy assassination to recommend the book written by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.   The book was very well-written, and I came away from it with a new appreciation for John and Jacqueline Kennedy. The book was not a whitewashed account. Flaws and weaknesses of the president and those around him were honestly revealed, but without being sensationalized.  It is regrettable that his assassination eclipsed so much of the good JFK accomplished while he served his term as president. I’m so glad to have read this honest and factual work. It is a terrific book.

Thursday will mark the forty-ninth year that has passed since JFK was assassinated.

Perspective – Amazing Video and Project

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I’m not sure I can sufficiently explain the idea behind this haunting video, but it seems appropriate to post it now with what is going on in the Middle East. Children are still dying. Wars are still being fought with possible horrific consequences for us all? Does anyone know the answer? Although this video and the butterflies were made in 2010, the purpose behind the project will never end. We should never forget what happened in the Holocaust, we should guard against it happening again.

Here is the link to the author of this video’s blog post: The Butterfly Mandate

Perspective – Baby Bunny

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There are so many rabbits in my neighborhood they run around in packs. I have about four or five who live in or near my yard. My gardens and many of my flowers are personally acquainted with the crunch of rabbit incisors. But…there has been the littlest, sweetest, most adorable baby bunny in my yard for a few weeks. He doesn’t eat my garden plants, at least not too much, he munches on the clover and other yard weeds instead. (This is one of the reasons why I put no fertilizer or weed preventative on the back yard grass) He also is quite friendly and doesn’t run as soon as I come out the back door. I can get quite close before he gets nervous and scampers away.

One day last week I heard a pathetic mewling cry in the back yard. I was sure something had snatched away the baby bunny, a wandering cat, a large hawk. Every time I went outdoors the baby bunny was nowhere to be seen. Oh the joy of it when a day later he once again was in the yard eating clover. I know he will grow up to be a big bothersome bunny who has lots of babies of his own, but for now, he is welcome in my yard.

Plants, Plant Tips and Perspective – Growing Poppies

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Here is a picture of me standing alongside one of my Square Foot Gardens admiring my Bread Seed Poppies. I stand about 5’4″ tall. The poppies are a bit hard to see, they are white and blending into the background. Here is a closer look.

I have written the word poppies in blue right under their petals.

The flowers are gorgeous, and the seedpods are pretty grand too.

I wonder how many hundreds of thousands of seeds I will reap when they are dry.

Plant Tip: Don’t let anyone tell you poppies don’t do well if they are started early and transplanted. I sowed these through the winter in milk jugs, a process known as Winter Sowing. The resulting poppy plants are over four and a half feet tall. I would say my transplanted poppies are thriving. These bread seed poppies are joined by other smaller varieties throughout my garden. All are doing well.

Double Petaled Poppy

Moral of the Story: There are some tried and true ways of doing things in the garden, but always be open to new ideas too.

Perspective – Decimated Dill

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My Dill plant has been doing incredibly well…until…yesterday. The plant is being decimated, and instead of me doing my usual stomping about and muttering about insect and animal pests I am doing a happy dance. Why you may ask?

Because under the umbrella of blossoms I spotted a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar. Oh Happy Day! On closer inspection I found five more, and I am sure there were many more in the surrounding garden that I did not see.

The caterpillars are small, only about an inch long at most, but they are voracious, fast growing, and I am sure in a few weeks I will be seeing many Black Swallowtail Butterflies flitting around my yard. I must have my camera ready at all times. I can’t wait.

Pleasure and Perspective – War Horse

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Finally, almost six months after the release date, I saw the movie “War Horse.”

I wish I had not waited so long. The story was heart-touching, a movie I will never forget. I know I will sit down and watch it again one day.

What I liked most, beyond the amazing storyline, was the way both sides of the conflict in World War I were shown. So often the portrayal of Germany, its soldiers and people, is stereotyped and cliché. In this film the goodness and heart of many of the ordinary German soldiers was shown. I appreciated that. If you haven’t seen it, make sure and rent the DVD. A great film. Hats off to Steven Spielberg for another wonderful story.

Place and Perspective – Jamaica/The Flight Down & Back

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My husband and I have just returned from a week-long stay in Jamaica. I’ll be posting pictures and observations about our stay throughout this coming week.

The flight down and back was uneventful and serene. Taking off and flying are a piece of cake after the long lines and aggravations of getting through the check in and the multitude of screenings and humiliations everyone must go through in order to fly in this age of constant tension and threat. I am in my fifties, and my boarding pass was marked with a code, and out of the party of four people I was flying with, I was the one chosen to have my carry-on, shoes, and person searched and patted down before I could begin my journey home. The screeners were professional, but the entire process still felt like an assault, and though my husband says I managed to keep a smile upon my face and remain polite, I DID NOT LIKE BEING PATTED DOWN WHILE OTHER PASSENGERS OBSERVED THE PROCESS AS THEY ENTERED THE PLANE’S BOARDING LANE.  Anyway, no harm done, and at least the pat down was on the return trip and not the flight down.

The trip in itself was amazing and perfect, but the process to arrive and depart is a nightmare. I am old enough to remember when flying meant being pampered. Now the airlines act as if they are doing you a favor to let you aboard their aircraft. When my son asked the attendant what kind of beverages they had, her reply to him was, “The same things we had on your flight down.” And there I will rest my case.

Proverbs and Perspective – Lists

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For as long as I have been self-aware of myself as a person, I have also been aware of the personhood and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have my parents and grandparents to thank for instilling within me an understanding and love for Jesus. What they did for me is priceless and has stayed with me all through my life. At my worst, as a teenager in the 70’s, through several years of bad decisions and actions, the best in me was that I never lost my love for Jesus.

Because I am a firm believer that even a very small child can have a correct concept of the Lord Jesus, and love him with a purity adults often lack, I talk to my young grandsons about the Lord now and again. Lately, I’ve been talking to my middle grandson about Jesus. Derek is three, and as all three year olds tend to be, he is very honest. Last week we were driving somewhere in the car, and I said to him, “Derek, do you love Jesus?”

Derek answered, “No.”

This is not new. I’ve asked him about Jesus other times and he has been resistant to “loving” Jesus.

“Why not?” I asked.

“No, don’t love Jesus.” he said. I let it drop, but prayed that God would find a way for Derek to realize Jesus loved him.

Later on in the week we were together once again. I’ve noticed children love to group things into lists, and out of the blue, with no prompting, Derek said to me, “I love Mommy. I love Daddy. I love Nanny….” and then, he spoke the words that caused me to swing him up, hug him to me and praise God. “I love Jesus.”

Oh the joy those words brought me. All on his own Derek added Jesus to the list of those he loves. My prayer was answered. I feel such peace that Derek has a concept of Jesus as a person. I am thrilled he grouped Jesus together with those he loves. He might have said it only to please me, but it is a start, and I will continue to build on it, as will his parents, his Sunday School teachers, and those spiritual touchstones he will come in contact with throughout his life. I rejoice that Jesus is on Derek’s list of those he loves. Is he on yours? Is your name listed in the Lamb’s Book of Life?

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. John 6:47

Perspective – Finding the Good

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“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

I’ve always been fascinated with the larger moth species. I have read about them to the point where I can recognize certain species. Problem is they are night flyers, so I have seen one only if it has become trapped in a screened in porch or is no longer alive.

I have found perfectly dried specimens in the woods and fields near my home. On a hike I almost stepped on a perfectly preserved Polyphemus Moth, and on another occasion an Imperial Moth.

Many moths use the leaves of trees as part of their cocoons. They are much easier to spot in the winter months when the branches are bare. In the past I have found many empty cocoons scattered upon the ground, but yesterday I found a cocoon that was still intact and housing an occupant.

I am re-inspired, and maybe this spring I will brave the other night insects, mosquitoes, slugs and other “icky” bugs, and sit outdoors in the dark with a white sheet and flashlight.  Perhaps I’ll get lucky and find a Luna Moth, a large green moth with feather-like antennae.

Yesterday I found the cocoon because I knew what I was looking for. It is the same with the good things in life…if you know what you are looking for, and search diligently, you will find it.

“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29

Pleasures, Peculiarities and Perspective – Aurora Borealis

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“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good.” Genesis 1:3-4 (NIV)

I enjoy placing glass near windows. The beautiful swathe of color above was created quite by chance, the result of God’s sun shining through a glass shelf and reflecting up onto the expanse of my ceiling. I always feel a bit blessed to sit beneath a shimmer of sun-painted colors. When I see a sunset, sunrise, rainbow or even a momentary blaze of color through common glass, I am reminded of one of the wonders of the world, the Aurora Borealis. Below I have embedded a gorgeous two minute video of the Aurora Borealis, beautifully highlighted with the Soundtrack of one of my favorite movies, “Gladiator.” Enjoy!

Youtube video by: TESOPHOTOGRAPHY

Somehow all anxiety slips away when you dwell for a moment on who holds the future in his hand.

” ‘I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.’ ”  Revelation 21:6-7 (NIV)