Death is for the living. Our loved ones have already moved on to their true state. With the recent deaths of two family members, I’ve been contemplating and reflecting on this final earthly step. Continue reading
Life
Reflections on Life & Death
This past week my mom’s mother passed away. No one else is allowed to die!! Two loved ones in a 2 1/2 week time is too much death.
The Saturday night before she passed, as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, I began to remember how much time I spent with her and my grandfather in my early elementary ages. I went to her house after school almost every day, visited her several times for weeks at a time in other years, and lived with them for two months when I was 14. She also was my inspiration to be become an Esthetician. I remember being about 6 or 7, reaching up to gently touch her face, and asking her how she kept her skin so beautiful. She had the softest, most beautiful skin of anyone I’ve ever met – even on her deathbed! She told me that she had been taking care of her skin since she was a young girl, about 12 years old. She used Pond’s Cream religiously. Continue reading
Thanks for passing it on!
Dad
How do you put into words how much a person means to you; how much they have touched your heart and life? Words don’t seem adequate enough when this special someone leaves a hole in your heart that only they could fill.
My dad, my father-in-law, took me into his heart and family when his son married me 24 years ago. I wish I knew then what I know now – this honorable, generous, loving, funny, sarcastic, stubborn, mostly right, practical joker would be my dad in more than name. He brightened our times together with his quiet, dry humor, which challenged my too-serious perspective. The joy and laughter that I so love in his son started with him, and continues today through his grandchildren, my children, which I get to enjoy every day.
Thanks for passing it on!
Wedding Antics & Personal Victory
My cousin was recently married and my family and I had the pleasure of helping them celebrate. It was a very sweet, lovely wedding filled with family I hadn’t seen in awhile, his family whom I have never met before, and a parcel of their friends. I’m truly happy for my cousin, since she has been waiting diligently for this man to be in her life. They seemed to complement each other, and have a lot going for them – I wish them well! Continue reading
Thanks for passing it on!
Beauty & the Beast and Jesus
Did you watch Disney’s animated “Beauty & The Beast” 1991 film as a child, or perhaps as an adult with, or without, children? Were you swept away, as I was (and am every time I watch it!), into the magical romance of Belle and the Beast?
I didn’t get to watch it until after I married and had our first child, and even then she was around 2 or 3 years old. So roughly 1999 or 2000 was when I saw it for the first time. It has always touched me more than any other princess story that Disney has made to this date. Even more than Frozen or Moana. And I love me some Disney!
The story of redemption is so beautifully told in Beauty & the Beast. The ugly, selfish soul who cares naught for anyone but itself, has everything of value taken away, condemned to live in a miserable state without a choice in the matter. Along comes a light into this misery, a soul who looks beyond the exterior into the heart. Despite their own freedom taken away, this giving, loving soul reaches out to the lost one, slowly showing the way out of that hell hole. At the end, loving self sacrifice redeems all, bringing life back into what was dead. So beautiful how it tells the story of Jesus redeeming all mankind!
I was disappointed in a section of the Christian community when it condemned the movie as sinful, homosexual and unfit for any “right” thinking Christian. How very bullying of them, to be sure! I guess the “leaders” think that people can’t be discerning for themselves. That folks can’t hear from God themselves, and/or can’t be trusted to do what the leaders want them to do. It’s disappointing when people you know, like, and respect decide to not think for themselves, experience for themselves, or make decisions based on facts and personal experience, but instead decide to swallow wholesale what the crowd, led by those in power and “authority”, decide everyone else aught to do and think.
Don’t be like the mainstream! Think for yourself, experience for yourself and decide for yourself! Whatever subject it is, you won’t be disappointed because you have the light of love inside you as your guide.
And go see Disney’s live-action retelling of their original, “Beauty & the Beast”! It’s spectacular!
Thanks for passing it on!
Thankful 2016
What a great year 2016 was for me and my family!
It started off with a bang when we had over 75 people attend our daughter’s engagement party at the first of the year. I didn’t know our home could hold that many people! We felt very honored that so many of our friends came to celebrate with us. The celebrations continued over the next couple of months leading up to their wedding in April.
Thanks for passing it on!
I, Them; We, Us. And the Meaning of Life.
I’m forwarding this well written article by the blogger, gospelmouth. I greatly enjoy their insights into this journey called life.
We’re all on a Journey. And that Journey is called the human experience. In the sense that we’re all having a human experience; we’re all moving in the same direction on this Journey. Imagine this Journey as a diverse landscape. A landscape that includes hills and mountains, streams and rivers. A landscape that includes cold […]
via I, THEM; WE, US. And the meaning of Life. — gospelmouth
Thanks for passing it on!
A Classic Narcissistic Response
About a month or so ago I received a letter from my dad, unexpectedly. His opening paragraph had me chuckling – chuckling in amazement that, once again, he proves my point about his narcissism. Oh, on the surface of it, it seems harmless and as though he truly wants to restore a relationship with me and my family. But read closely. Can you spot the problems? (Please keep in mind that I’ve had no other communication with my parents since their last email, which addressed my 12 page letter to them. And this letter was hand written.)
“Chris and Alexa,
Wow! Can you believe it’s been over twenty years since you two were married. We’ve experienced a lot of life during that time and seen a lot of ups and downs. Stuff like raising kids, financial valleys (for us including shutting down two companies and bankruptcy), moving, building house, marriage of kids and grand babies, spiritual awakenings, and lots of emotions. Life doesn’t slow down and yet we’re always facing forward and choosing to Rejoice in The Lord through it all. Continue reading
Thanks for passing it on!
A Letter to My Parents – Why I’m the Way I Am
Warning: this is a long, extremely personal letter, so get a drink and get comfortable. Also, the next post will give background on why I sent this letter to my parents now.
Mom and Papa, 7-15-2016
I’m writing you so that there will be less chance of miscommunication between us. And, let’s face it, if, or when, we meet in person there is the possibility of emotions getting in the way of actual talking.
You are saying that I’ve been unwilling to come and talk with you. It is true that over the past several years I have had no desire to talk about anything with you. Your standard reply, from about the time I was 11 or so, has been that you don’t know what I’m talking about, I have caused the trouble since I didn’t come to you first (even if you were the cause), I should “check my heart for sin”, and/or I’m confused, wrong, a liar. This is confusing behavior, since you taught me that when someone “has anything against you”, you must listen to them, sincerely apologize, think through what they said and make a change in behavior according to what was done wrongly. I have never observed this happen between us from either of you to me. I distinctly recall me apologizing repeatedly to you both after I brought my grievances to you, which isn’t right, since one doesn’t apologize for what others do or say to one. Continue reading
Thanks for passing it on!
How the Fundamentalist and Patriarchal Teachings Can Create Abusive Atmospheres: Part 3
So, what do Patriarchal teachings consist of, beyond what I’ve already discussed? I think this excerpt from Wikipedia lists it succinctly for us.
*God reveals Himself as masculine, not feminine.
*God ordained distinct gender roles for man and woman as part of the created order.
*A husband and father is the head of his household, a family leader, provider, and protector. Continue reading
lifeofgraceandpeace 