Five Minute Friday: "Loud"

Ecclesiastes 4:10 - "...But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."

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Loud.

Everything was just too loud.  I head a headache most of the time I was in Alabama.

Grief rings loud in my ears. Yet I must remain silent.

The weeping of my family at my mom's graveside is a loud symphony of sorrow.  My stoic strength is what they all needed, yet stifling my loud grief hurt like hell.

The breaking of my heart is as loud as a whole china cabinet full of fine crystal and dishes being dashed to the floor all at once, yet I must remain silent to respect my family's brokenness at saying goodbye to mama.

My family coped by making noise--loud music, loud talking, cussing, and stupid questions about why I'm not married yet, loud behavior, and the loud breath of alcohol, cigarettes, and weed.  So loud that I felt sick and needed to get away--not from my family, but from the loud!

But where could I go?

Even when I got in the car and drove around Anniston, everything still felt too loud.  I got no comfort and no relief.  I was not there for me, but for others. I had to accept that.

When I got back to Colorado, I finally got quiet and my headache went away, yet the loud roar of pain was still there. There is still no comfort, only the loud, hateful noise of sorrow.

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Five Minute Friday: "Mercy"

 

 Proverbs 28:13 (NIV) - Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

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God's loving mercy is amazing.  The fact that He gives us so much that we don't deserve and sent His Son to redeem us from getting what we do deserve is mind boggling.

Micah 6:8 says, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Everyone wants to focus on the first part--acting justly and loving mercy--but neglect the second, and most important part of the passage.  We must walk humbly with our God, which includes receiving his mercy in order to know what true mercy is, and extend it to others.   Without the humility of walking with God, we try to determine what mercy is and who should receive it, which leaves a lot of people caught in the cracks and in need of God's love.

"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48).

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4th and Five: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

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Five years ago this month hubs and I relocated from New Jersey to the Palmetto State. What were you doing five years ago this month?

Five years ago this month, I was in the throws of my new job at the YMCA and continuing to try to get my life and health on track.

What was the last 9-5 job you worked? Tell us about it.

The fact that it is assumed that those of us who answer these questions wouldn't still have a 9-5 job is telling.  My current job is an hourly 9-5 job.  No, I won't be there forever (Lord willing), but I do enjoy my work.

Plead the fifth, high five, take five, it's five o'clock somewhere, or the big 5-0...which number five phrase relates to your life in some way currently? Tell us how.

The big 5-0 is two years away for me.  I'm looking forward to it and trying to add some adventure on the way.  Some of you have probably already seen my 50 for fifty list, but if not, you can take a gander.

During this season of spending so much time at home, what distractions get in the way of being your most productive? Or have you been extra productive since this whole thing started?

Spending so much time at home has been the most distracting to my productivity.

Give us a list here of your top five anything.

Top five YouTube shows I'm watching:
1.  Good Mythical Morning.
2. Dope or Nope.
3. This Southern Girl Can.
4. Get Good Gaming.
5. Moriah Elizabeth.

Insert your own random thought here.

I got some news I didn't want.  My mother went home to be with the Lord today (Tuesday).  She was 87.  I plan to fly out to Alabama this weekend.  This is not how I wanted to go home. 

I believe God was preparing me for this though I didn't expect it (He knows it all, right?).  I have a class project I'm working on that asks us to do a word study on a particular passage of Scripture from a list provided by the instructor.  This is the scripture I chose almost a month ago:

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NIV).

I need these words more than ever.

In case you're interested:

* My latest Simple Woman's Daybook is here

Summer Reading Program: The Simple Woman's Daybook

 If you would like to join in and post your own Daybook, please head on over to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook

 

For Today: Sunday, August 16, 2020

Looking Out My Window ... More beauty from my surroundings.  

 

These are from outside the Women's Imaging Center in Aurora:

 

  

These are from a plant stand at King Soopers:

 

 

These flowers are on the corner of Wadsworth and West Virginia by the Belmar Library every year.  This is the first time the light stayed red long enough for me to get the shot.

 

 

I am Thinking...

• I think this has been a week of thinking too much.  It's just one of those times when my mind is racing with so many things--mostly good, but some not so good--that it's hard to concentrate on any one thing.  
  

I am Thankful...

• For real closure on a very painful part of my past.
• For coffee.
• For hugs.  Yes I hugged somebody this week.  FIGHT ME!
• For my church finally being open to limited seating.  Today, I attended services at Colorado Community Church for the first time since early March.  It was glorious.
• For a library that allows adults to participate in the summer reading program. 
  

Hey, we get prizes too.

From the Workshop... 

I'm working on the fifth Dollar Tree Challenge.  I'll let you know when it's finished.  

Last week, I talked about not knowing what baby blanket to make next.  I decided to do a familiar shell pattern.  It should work up quickly.  Maybe by the time I finish, I can chose a new pattern to try that speaks to me.

I had an epiphany when contemplating my next art challenge.  Clara and I were having our monthly Christmas crafting day and I also had a friend come over and join us.  We got to talking about artists and crafters we admire and how they brag about leaving so many projects undone.  Clara said, "I hate to leave so many projects undone."  Laughingly, I said, "I'm going to be a hypocrite and say that I don't either."  Why?  Because since I started crafting again, the ideas have been flying around like mosquitoes at a blood drive.  I've started way too many projects and not finished them. 

Yes, I know, bad Auntie.  

So, my next challenge is going to be finishing all my projects without starting anything new.  No, I haven't thought of a cutesy name for it yet.  I thought about calling it the Get 'er Done Art Challenge.  What do y'all think?

From Auntie's Test Kitchen... Nothing new this week.

I am Reading...
 

Never Give Up by Joyce Meyer

If I Had Lunch With C. S. Lewis by Alister McGrath

Favorite Quote(s) of the Week ...

"Don't stop short of knowing who you are, valuing who you are, and encouraging yourself to be and do everything God intends for you." - Joyce Meyer, Never Give Up, p. 26.

Now For Something Totally Different ...

Five Minute Friday Word of the Week:  Progress.

Rick Bragg explores whether the South will have a football season here.

 

 

Roll Tide!

Stuck in the Middle: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

August 12th is National Middle Child Day...are you a middle child? If not, where in your family do you fall in terms of birth order? Do you hold true to the typical characteristics of oldest-middle-youngest-only child? (a quick list can be found here) Elaborate.

No, I'm not the middle child.  I'm the youngest.  The "traits" of the last born on the website were quite insulting, not to mention inacurate.  Things like:

 

"Lastborns generally aren't the strongest or the smartest in the room..."  How would you feel if some snooty children's magazine writer assumed that you were weak and stupid simply because you were born last? I don't know who Jocelyn Woo (the author of the article) is, but she can kiss my butt!

"Lastborns also learn to use their role as the baby to manipulate others in order to get their way"Are you freaking kidding me?  My parents didn't brook any nonsense, so manipulation was the last thing on my mind.  Trying that mess would have put my rear end in a sling!

These "traits" speak more of bad parenting than bad children.

Yeah, I know this doesn't have anything to do with what I just wrote, but it's cheery. 

 

Tell us about a time you felt like (or you actually were) in the middle of nowhere.

I would consider Salina, Kansas the middle of nowhere.  Actually, I'd consider Kansas the middle of nowhere (no offense to my Kansas peeps).  I ended up breaking down in Salina on my way to Denver from Alabama.  I chronicled the trip and mayhem here.

What's something you're smack in the middle of currently?

I'm right in the middle of a hermeneutics class. Our final project is a huge one and finding appropriate resources has been a booger, so I'm also in the middle of trying to not get a headache.

What's a food you love to eat that has something delicious in the middle?

Hamburgers (well, any sandwich really), hotdogs, tacos, cream horns (though I haven't had one in probably 15 years), peanut butter filled pretzels, and cream filled cookies.  I'm sure there's more, but those were the first ones that came to mind.

Now Miss Joyce has made me hungry.

Share a memory from your middle school days, or junior high if that's what your school dubbed kids somewhere between grades 6-8.

The best memory from that time period is in 8th grade when my English teacher, Mr. Gosdin, introduced the class to the works of Lewis Grizzard.  I continue to read and reread his works even now.  He's a hoot.

Insert your own random thought here. 

A couple of pretties from my trip to Aurora Monday:

 

In case you're interested:

* My latest Simple Woman's Daybook is here

* My latest Five Minute Friday post is here.  

* My latest Auntie's Workshop post is here.

Nerdy Nummies: Simple Woman's Daybook

If you would like to join in and post your own Daybook, please head on over to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook

 

For Today: Sunday, August 9 , 2020

Looking Out My Window ... More beauty from my surroundings.  These pictures are from the flower beds around the medical building that houses my dentist.  Yes, I found beauty in the midst of a dental appointment.

 

 

I am Thinking...

• I'm pondering the question as to whether people buy art based what the art looks like or what the artist looks like.
• Thoughts of winter are riding me hard.  I want to enjoy summer and fall and deal with winter when it gets here.  I don't want to spend this season in dread.
• I'm thinking about my church.  In trying to follow all the rules and guidelines, our church will resume live meetings next weekend with very limited reserved seating.  As I said in my Wednesday Hodgepodge, I was going to wait until we could come back in full force, but I need the fellowship now.  I'll try it once and see how it goes.  Psalm 122:1 (MSG) - When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.
  

I am Thankful...

• For a brand new week to start over with.
• For friends who care.
• For the gift of creativity God has trusted me with.  May it always bless others and honor His Name.
• For YouTube.
  

From the Workshop... 

Finished my fourth Dollar Tree Challenge.  Read about it here.

I'm thinking about what baby blanket to make next.  I was making patterns I'd saved earlier but never made, but none of the ones I've looked at seemed right or spoke to me.  I may have to make a couple of old favorites before I tackle something new.

From Auntie's Test Kitchen...

 

I bought myself a little something for the kitchen  to cheer myself up.  I enjoy watching Nerdy Nummies on YouTube and thought these were cute, plus they were very inexpensive.  They may not help my cooking any, but I'll smile while using them.

 

I am Reading...

If I Had Lunch With C. S. Lewis by Alister McGrath

Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch by John Webster

Theological Interpretation of Scripture by Stephen Fowl
Christian Apologetics by Douglas Groothuis

Completed volumes since my last Daybook:
The Bluebird and the Sparrow by Janette Oke (a reread)

Favorite Quote(s) of the Week ...

Psalm 119:88 (MSG) - In your great love revive me so I can alertly obey your every word.

Now For Something Totally Different ...

Five Minute Friday Word of the Week:  Progress.

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Five Minute Friday: "Progress"

 

Song of Solomon 2:15 (KJV) - Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

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I've never liked the saying "three steps forward, two steps back."  One of my favorite authors, Chuck Swindoll, even wrote a book with that title, which incidentally, I've never read (and don't plan to).  Who likes the idea of most of his progress being reduced to nothing?  Why should progress take so much regress?

Yet here I am.

I recently celebrated my 12th year of recovery.  We're taught in recovery that relapse is to be avoided at all costs--and it is.  We're also taught to accept imperfect progress.  But what happens when imperfect dominates progress?  What happens when you're made to feel that your imperfect is not welcome, only your progress? 

Like I said last week, we all hurt.  Please respect those who are hurting.  Respect any progress they make.

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Old School Teaching: The Weekly Hodgepodge

Join the fun! 

Come on over to 

From This Side of the Pond 

for the Hodgepodge link-up!

What's happening where you live in terms of schools opening? How do you feel about it?

Heck if I know.  It seems that the school districts send out different information and instructions to the parents daily.  Many of the parents are tired of being jerked around.

How do I feel about it? 

Do you really want to know?

I don't think you do.

I'm not a parent, but I have been a teacher, so I have some experience.  All I'm going to say is that the teachers who are using this situation as some political pool cue or who are just too lazy to want to get back to work ought to be ashamed.  If I were a parent, I'd be pissed at all of the ridiculous, inconsistent behavior of some teachers, administrators, and school boards.

Though I don't agree with everything that is said, this segment from The Rick and Bubba Show sums up my feelings about this.  Yes, this is New York, but I hear this mess everywhere:

What's something you still do 'old school'?

• Double spacing when I touch type. New formatting codes require single spacing now.  I can't break the habit...and don't really want to.
• Preferring print books to electronic ones.  I will read books on an e-reader, but it's not my first choice.  I retain information from a paper book or an audio book better.
• Send handwritten cards and letters.
• Hand wash my dishes.  I do use my dishwasher, but my default is hand washing.
• Use the King James version of the Bible.  I read and study from other translations, but good 'ole King Jimmy is still my favorite.
• Use a paper calendar. 
  

August 4th is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Will you/did you celebrate by baking a batch? Eating a batch? Nuts or no nuts? Homemade or store bought? Soft and chewy or do you prefer your cookie to snap when you bite into it?

No. Chocolate chip aren't my favorite cookie.  I don't hate them, but will only eat them only if there's not another dessert available.

What are you starved for?

• Church fellowship.
• Physical touch.
• Sleep - I'm battling insomnia lately.
• An outing. Not a vacation necessarily, but a fun reason to leave the house, not just something utilitarian like going to the store.
• Emotional stability.
  

Anything new and interesting on your August calendar? What is one thing you're looking forward to this month?

Not really.

Insert your own random thought here. 

I got this from Diana.  I usually save these for my Daybook, but this was too funny not to go ahead and share.

In case you're interested:

* My latest Auntie's Workshop post is here.

* My latest Five Minute Friday post is here.

* My latest Simple Woman's Daybook is here.

Cupcake Pants: The Simple Woman's Daybook

If you would like to join in and post your own Daybook, please head on over to visit Peggy at The Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today: Sunday, August 2, 2020

Looking Out My Window...This weeks beauties.  These are from flower beds in a parking lot just down from our offices.

I am Thinking...

• I'm thinking about the theme for my next reading challenge.  Yes, I know it's not until 2021, but it's on my mind.
• My church is going to begin live services with limited seating on the weekend of August 15-16.  Of course, we'll have to social distance, wear masks, and avoid physical contact.  I had said before that I most likely wouldn't attend again until we could do it right, but I really miss my church family.  I think I'm going to try attending once and see if I can stand it.  This may be worse for my psyche than staying home watching it on the internet.
  

I am Thankful...

• I got my PAID IN FULL letter from one of my creditors this week.  I'm done with Discover Card forever! That's #6 on my 50 for Fifty list.

Celebrating 12 years of working on it.

From the Workshop... 

Made another mesh wreath.

Finished another baby afghan for Colorado Family Life Center.

From Auntie's Test Kitchen...

A couple of upgrades:

Finally bought a real flour sifter.
Now my sieve can go back to being a sieve.

Here's my upgraded solution to my muffins sticking
to the pan no matter how well I grease it.

I am Reading...

If I Had Lunch With C. S. Lewis by Alister McGrath

Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch by John Webster

Theological Interpretation of Scripture by Stephen Fowl
Christian Apologetics by Douglas Groothuis

Completed volumes since my last Daybook:
Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson

Breaking Free by Beth Moore

Tactics by Gregory Koukl

The Story of Christianity, Volume 2 by Justo Gonzalez

Favorite Quote(s) of the Week ...

"I didn't like Hacky Sack 'cuz I never smoked dope." - Rick Burgess, Rick and Bubba Show, July 30, 2020.

"Global," however is more than a geographical matter.  Our new global narrative must include those who have traditionally been excluded, no matter where they live.  The new narrative must be global both in its horizontal, geographic dimension--acknowledging the faith, the lives, and the struggles of those whose story is too often excluded from the wider narrative.  This includes women in most parts of the world--and certainly in most branches of the church--the poor, the uneducated, ethnic and cultural minorities, and any others who for whatever reason are considered less worthy of attention. - Justo L. Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity, Volume 2, p. 529.

Psalm 69:6 (MSG) - Don't let those who look to you in hope be discouraged by what happens to me, Dear Lord!  God of the armies!  Don't let others out looking for you come to a dead end by following me--Please, dear God of Israel!

Now For Something Totally Different ...

Five Minute Friday Word of the Week:  Respect.