What Healing Looks Like

John 12:35 “Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”

God's Healing Touch

What Healing Looks Like

Often times when people are in the throes of pain and suffering they can’t grasp what the finished product of healing looks like. I remember the day of dire diagnosis when everyone around me wore grim and sad faces, reaching out in sorrow to offer their hand of comfort and prayer during a trying time. I made it perfectly clear from the beginning I was not accepting the diagnosis as the death sentence everyone sees at the announcement of a Big C diagnosis. At this point in my journey, you could walk with me holding my hand or perhaps stand face-to-face in a guiding manner, or behind me drifting with the dust of the earth, your choice.

I saw the diagnosis quite differently and I think my stance took people by surprise, understandably so; I saw it as healing. Yes, you read it right, healing. When I took my daily walks, my mantra that I repeated out loud was, I am HEALED, I am Healthy, I am WELL! When I announced my mantra on Facebook my friends were kind of stunned, “You’re healed, really?” Their voices came through in words, clear, bold and loud.

“Yes, I believe I AM,” was my response very soon after my diagnosis of that dastardly death sentence announcement.

Pss.121:1-2 “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth”

Some people were so aghast that they stepped back and away from me, either thinking I lost my mind or I was in deep denial. To me, they looked like little beacons of light drifting off, holding candles as they slowly floated away from me, off into the night sky. Whatever the case may be, dear friends became people I thought were friends and no longer offered prayer or support in any way. As a few folks stepped away from my inner circle, others entered, droves of people fanned in from out of nowhere, stood up and rained support on me. Not only on Facebook, where my Spiritual family dwells, but my physical family and friends I knew were all in PRAYER for me. They offered the loving prayers in their weekly prayer box at their churches, announcing vocally that they needed prayer for ME, or silently in their inner prayer circle whispered my name asking for healing. Little old me was being healed by prayers!

I understand that not everyone believes in God and I’m okay with that. I do have friends who stayed by me that offered peace and light, and that is a positive I fully accept as a blessing. My healing is not about religion, it is more about FAITH and my faith grew ten sizes in a day through prayer and blessings, in return, I prayed for those souls who backed away from me; they needed my prayer. 

Pss. 103:20 “Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”

I’m wondering if I came off as arrogant in my stance on healing besides people seeing me as if I was in denial. My first step in my healing journey was to stop worrying about what other people thought! Yeah, that’s a tough one for us all, but if it's healing you seek, cleanse yourself of naysayers right up front.

Healing is not about reading the bible more (though it can’t hurt), it’s not about knowing more scripture than the next person, it’s certainly not about dissecting the Word, word for word, and I can say it is truly not about claiming to know God more than someone else. We all own our own faith and beliefs, what you discern from your faith is where the true touch of healing resides. Although your actions are weighed, there is no amount of acts that can inch you closer than the next person to His embrace.

1 Sam. 2:3 “Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.”

Healing is found by touching base with God within you. Healing is not going to be found outside in the corrupt conventional world. Medical doctor’s are aids in healing, not the means. God is the greatest healing physician in our lives. For some reason, we’ve been conditioned to accept and trust that outside of God, we believers can find healing. Funny how that works isn’t it? 

Pss. 121:2 “My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.”

What does healing look like? How do I explain the explosive beauty of healing? Well, for one, you need to dig deep within the core of your being. WITHIN means not outside in a physical manner, DEEP within, in a spiritual manner; God, prayer, meditation etc., whatever the spiritual means to YOU. In that core realm is where God resides and is waiting for you to acknowledge Him and put your faith and trust in Him. That is when we find, touch and SEE the actual healing take place.

Pss. 121:5 “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.”

How do we see within all that we are? You must be humbled by your illness, your trials, and tribulation. You might as well toss pride and dignity in the heap, also. This is not the time to panic or seek outside help. This is the time the prayerful meditative mind can touch, breathe, and be one with the part of God in you that needs to be reached. This might be the hardest part of healing, listening to God, not yourself.

I’ve always seen myself as a vain woman and that was a hindrance I could not release in my healing journey until I was forced to face the intense flaming fires of pain and hell, head on...

I was walking along proudly boasting that I was healed, healthy and well. I stuck my fingers in the breast of my jacket, proudly strutted my protocol, spoke to all about my alternative ways. I was sharing physically and vocally my success of this route that God placed me on. Only when I FREED my pride and dignity, I felt, touched, breathed my true healing. Yes, friends, with the aids of medical science! Go figure! The very science that God used in creation, He was now using to implement my full recovery. My faith, when falling into God’s hands, is what saved me.

Prov. 16: 18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

My vanity, pride, and dignity all got swallowed by a black hole in an instant. When my femur burst out of my leg, in the depths of torments rage, I gave my all to Christ. It was at the very moment as I’m sitting on the side of the bed, pantyless and just a t-shirt that EMT’s had to come and pry me out of the room. Not just one or two, there were about four or five men and two women. They were either tending the gurney, the truck or me, bare and broken.

Pss. 121:8 “The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”

I went blank, got lost in the swirling darkness that surrounded me with a couple of stars and gems in the night sky keeping my focus. I then woke to the reality of my healing on October Fifth, the anniversary of the day that Steven’s dad was released from this earth and went home; also the day that I was released from my torment and went HOME. In the midst of my affliction all of my pride, vanity and dignity were sucked up into a tornadoes vortex, to leave me, humbly picking up the pieces of mirrored glass I called me.

This is when God’s finger reached out and touched me. When I came before Him as Eve, sinful and bare, and begged for mercy. Instead of a soft touch, He embraced me, wrapped his ever loving arms around me shielding me and healed me with the warmth of His love.

Isa. 6:7 “And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”

John 19:35 “And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.”

Acts 15:8 “And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;”

Gateway to Health: Meditation

John 15:5, 7, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing … If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (NIV)

Gateway to Health: Meditation

I’ve covered a lot of ground with my Gateway to Health series. While I weave in my illness, it is not the central focus as last year. I was finding my feet for the year and needed to throw the journey out for my spiritual family who is standing behind me with their support. Their support means everything to me as I heal. I’ve shown you how your diet and change all leads to healing not only for me fighting the Big C but for you who might be fighting another form of illness.

Here’s a simple thought for you; if you’re overwhelmed by stress you will NOT lose any weight no matter how hard you try changing your diet and lifestyle. Stress hormones have a nasty habit of programming the body to store fat, especially around your beltline.

According to the statistics floating around out there on the web, chronic stress is the root cause of 90% of your disease and weight gain. Stressing and worry cause us to blindly eat, turning to sweets or alcohol to try and soothe what is in our overactive minds. Anxiety robs our attention from all of the good energy that we used trying to change and makes it so by the end of our busy day that we have nothing left to motivate us into continuing our healthy eating habits.

There is some good news people, you can unleash years of stress with meditation and restore some semblance of peace to the body you overwork with a kaleidoscope of thoughts. Relaxation of the mind will allow you a better nights sleep and essentially allow you to be strong enough to face the changes you're trying so hard to implement into the new you as you embark on the Gateway to Your Health! Meditation has helped me throughout my life and has been an essential part of my healing this current illness.

Put quite simply, meditation is breathing, releasing and focusing. I assume people hear the word meditation and think that it’s not within their belief system as only Buddhist adhere to meditation. You would be 100% wrong in that assumption!

1 Tim. 4:15 “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”

Pss. 119: 99 “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.”

Meditation is a relaxation technique of the mind. It knows no religion or belief system. It takes practice but as you master stress releasing, you’re guaranteed a new way of thinking, a promising way to fall asleep, a comforting woven blanket of protection when you’re cold. 

People often say they don’t have time to learn meditation. That is so ironic to me because they can find hours upon hours to sit on the computer searching news, spewing hate, being a part of a collective conscience of similar minds achieving nothing of quality in their day, yet they have no time to meditate to de-stress their mind? Ironic.

You have time to read your bible right? You have time, maybe an hour or two to read a book on your Kindle? Find time in your day to just release the stress, relax and breathe. Nothing else. No clouding thoughts allowed into this room. You’re emptying the closet of all the unneeded baggage you have piled up. Slowly cleaning out piece by piece each article that holds your attention during any given day.

In a sitting position, back straight, ears plugged as you close your eyes, listening to the sounds streaming in from your earphones, let the days clutter float away. Visually watch the garbage be carried off. No thoughts of bills or what you’re going to do tomorrow, or what’s for dinner, or worry or stress is going to surface. Nope, all those thoughts are not allowed in here. You are going to think of NOTHING for ten, twenty, thirty and eventually forty-five minutes. When you do this as a daily routine, a relaxing habit you will form and look forward to at the end of your busy exhausting day. 

Life WILL change. You can’t give up because meditation didn’t work the first time. You’re going to push on, days into weeks, weeks into months will have you cherishing this one quiet time in your day. You’ll come home after a long hard day at work, settle into the sounds of nothing and wonder why you haven’t done this for years. 

Rom. 8:5 “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”

If you meditate on the word, a change of your perception will take place as your negative thoughts turn into positive. Your pessimism will be shifted into an optimistic approach to life. If you meditate to music with no lyrics, tones, and beats with no instruments, all are part of a meditative technique. Close your eyes, breathe and focus on nothing but the sound coming through your earbuds. Start a short session of twenty minutes until you have them lasting thirty to forty-five minutes. Find parts of yourself you thought you lost in nothingness.

Ezek. 24:25 “Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,”

Find a balance. There are times to worry, times to over think your plans for the future, politics, crime in your state, the craziness of this country. Meditation time is for YOU not for thoughts, not for worries, they’re gone, if only for that one moment in time. Allow yourself a peace you’ve never known before. Allow the window of your conscience to be clearly seen through, not washed over by dirt and debris that has built up over the years. Free your mind of clutter. I can guarantee, as time goes on (not a day or two of trying) TIME goes on, eventually, when you try to fall asleep at night, you’ll remember taking out that rag during your meditation time. You’ll pull out the Windex and begin cleaning up your thoughts of the day, leading you to some form of rest, and eventually a good nights worth of sleep.

I find a nice warm cup of green tea also helps before bed. Alcohol stimulates the brain activity, tea calms it, sugar awakens the sleep you so strategically misplaced along your lifetime. Eliminate alcohol, regulate your sugar intake, know what causes stimulation and save that for morning time, but the nights, they are yours and yours alone, stress and worry are not permitted.

Take the time to take care of you! Your mind is an essential part of any healing that will ever take place from ANY disease that ails you. If you can’t find peace of mind, plan on being sick for a very long time. THAT will be your life. It’s not a picture I see ever and if I’m diagnosed with an illness, I know my MIND played a big part of bringing it to my doorstep; change the mind, change the outcome, point blank!

Isa. 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Lam. 3:21 “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.”

Poetry Sunday~ Illusion

Ecc. 5:8 “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.”

I tried so hard to simply take
A picture that’s real or is it fake?

Cheap camera in hand, I took a shot
The sunshine is real, the horse is not

Here they stand stellar in pose
Like riddles amid well-worded prose

Life sometimes is simply abstract
When digging among lie or fact

A political year wrought with lies
Manifested with a camera’s eyes.

The Well Is Dry

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” 

– Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

The Well is Dry

After writing yesterday, I prayed about what I wrote and the reason behind why on earth would I share such a pity party post? Well, I know why, because even I have my bad days. People think because I laugh and make them smile that there is nothing wrong in Joni’s world, well let me tell you, there are things wrong in my world! 

Is it possible to focus too much on the Lord, therefore alienating yourself from the rest of the world? Am I to blame for all the angst in my life? I sometimes think I am. 

I’m trying to get back into writing and my well is dry. I woke this morning with a renewed faith when cool air kissed my cheek in the middle of summer. It was 6o degrees and a storm was about to erupt when all of a sudden, a poem came to my mind. The rain began falling, the thunder cheered with lightning displayed across the sky.

Was this God cheering me on? Was He letting me know He was right there and hasn’t left my side? It is as if He was filling my well with water to drink and words to write. The poem I wrote was, God is Crying. I normally write a poem, let it rest a day, then come back to the poem and fix anything that doesn’t work for me. Through the thundering morning and cool rain showers egging me on, I felt the need to post the words right away, so if you see something wrong with the poem, take it up with Him.

Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”

I sometimes wrongfully think I’m in control of my life when I know full well God is in complete control. When I whine of the pain I’m in and cry about the reasons my disability hinders me from doing what *I* want to do, I have to remember who it is I work for first and foremost. If anyone remembers (you have to go back to my posts from 2011-12) my disability hit me after my hubby got his sight back after being blind for two and a half years. The many hours behind the wheel driving to and from Omaha, sometimes two times a week, (6-8 hour trips) took its toll on the lumbar portion of my back.

Had this happened while he was blind, I would have never been able to do the work that I felt God had called me to do and that was to take care of my man. Yes, that was basically the job I signed up for when I met my beau but it was so much more than that. God had His hands in the stew the entire time and he decided to whip it up a bit to see how I handled the situation. 

I’m allowed a day or two to feel sorry for myself, by dagnammit, no one else will or does for that matter so I feel I have to have my bad days or I’ll never rise up and be more than the pain that defines me.

It’s weird how me having a bad day warrants hits on my blog out the gazoo! My happy, joyful posts might get 13-20 hits but my woeful, pained posts near the hundred and over hit mark, how odd is that? When I began this blog, it was all about the writing craft and when I decided to make it about God, I no longer wrote for other people, the hits or the followers, I took on the challenge to write what God wanted me to write and what I felt that He spoke to my heart to say to the world.

I no longer write to satisfy everyone else, I never LIVE to satisfy others; I only live for God, pain and all. I realize that God has me this way because my heavy lifting, hours upon hours of driving, snow shoveling and overworking myself days are over. I would have never stopped so God made sure I stopped, maybe so I wouldn’t further damage myself, after all, He did see ahead of the steps I take, this is His plan and not one of my own selfish making.

Sure I would love to be able to walk normally again, to dance while dusting, to skip while vacuuming, to meditate while mowing the lawn but that is not God’s plan for me. His plan is for me to rest. Maybe he has something big planned or maybe not, maybe the walk in the cornfields is His plan for me. Nah, I know that is not His plan, He told me so. Now you’ll have to tolerate me a little longer!

I’ll end this post on a happy note. While my husband is complaining that the 61 degrees and rain is too cold for the month of July (he LIKES the 100 degree days), I am relishing the dampness of an eight-hour rainfall accompanied by a dark overcast sky with stormy weather erupting every half hour or so. I have washed clothes, dried clothes, and folded them all because my back loves cooler temps and affords me more mobility than normal. Praise be to God.

I have written two blog posts today and all is right with the world…for today. May you look at God’s plan as the master plan for your life and your own plans as selfish fodder. Life is already too short to be giving up when YOU are done, always remember it will last until God is done!

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” 

– Mother Theresa

Quotation Saturday ~ Ego, Vanity, Empathy, Truth

1 Sam. 12:24 “Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.”

EGO

“The biggest challenge after success is shutting up about it.” 
― Criss Jami

“The Ego is a veil between humans and God’.”
“In prayer all are equal.” 
― Rumi

“Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge… is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.” 
― Bill Bullard

“Accomplishments don’t erase shame, hatred, cruelty, silence, ignorance, discrimination, low self-esteem or immorality. It covers it up, with a creative version of pride and ego. Only restitution, forgiving yourself and others, compassion, repentance and living with dignity will ever erase the past.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

VANITY

“The wise do not buy into other people’s perceptions of who they are and what they are capable of. Instead, they bypass a person’s public persona and see who they are in their highest expression. When you see actions taken with integrity, instead of words only, you will then know a soul’s worth.” 
― Shannon L. Alder

“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.” 
― Jane Austen

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures bristling with prejudice and motivated by pride and vanity.” 
― Dale Carnegie

“Do you wish people to think well of you? Don't speak well of yourself.” 
― Blaise Pascal

EMPATHY

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” 
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” 
― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

“Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.” 
― Andrew Boyd

“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.” 
― Daniel Goleman

TRUTH

“The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are. You trade in your reality for a role. You trade in your sense for an act. You give up your ability to feel, and in exchange, put on a mask. There can't be any large-scale revolution until there's a personal revolution, on an individual level. It's got to happen inside first.” 
― Jim Morrison

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” 
― Søren Kierkegaard

“Equality is not a concept. It's not something we should be striving for. It's a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women, and the misogyny that is in every culture is not a true part of the human condition. It is life out of balance, and that imbalance is sucking something out of the soul of every man and woman who's confronted with it. We need equality. Kinda now.” 
― Joss Whedon

“The truth doesn't always set you free; people prefer to believe prettier, neatley wrapped lies” 
― Jodi Picoult

Pss. 51:6 “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.”

Eyes On Christ

Matt. 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Have you ever woke in the morning and went right to the news of the prior day or morning? Well, the first thing I do is read my morning meditation and that usually means an email from Bible Gateway or an encouraging word from Max Lucado. Then I read a bible verse that wraps around me like a warm blanket and cradles me in the Word of God.

Prayer is also in my morning ritual so that my days start out with my eyes on Christ.

This weeks sermon was about our focus and how we’re very easily led away from Christ wrapping ourselves up in the news and what’s going on out there in the world. If you wake up and think God is leading you to read about the turmoil of killings, wars, hate, mistrust, you are sadly mistaken. You see, we wake up and satan is already there waiting to greet you with all the bad things he’s had a hand in on the prior day or even the very day you awaken feeling refreshed thinking you have a handle on things.

When we place our focus on all the negative things in the world, we have been led right into the hands of satan and he is all the more happier to steer you away from God and Christ. We tend to place our focus on the rights and wrongs of the world, voice our opinion and walk a fine line of the double-edged sword. I do believe it says in the Bible that we cannot serve two masters, so when your focus is swayed from Christ, you are allowing satan to hold your hand and walk you through your day. Toss in a little Christ here and there to appease your mind.

With this being Holy Week, my eyes are very strongly on Christ and yes just as he was tempted by satan, I see all around me people filling their world with him. Christ comes second and that is just the way the world is now-a-days.

My week started off with my man being very sick. It started with a sore throat but by Monday morning he could hardly speak or breathe. His asthma was hitting him hard and yes it’s a place he’s been in quite a few times in his life so we pretty much know what to do when an episode hits. I made chicken noodle soup in hopes it would give him some relief, it did momentarily but by Wednesday we were at the doctors.

Tuesday night I decided to watch The Passion of Christ. Yes I had seen it a few years back and yes it had an impact on our Christian lives and yes, I knew it would impact me yet again. The movie is an extremely powerful movie that makes you think what Jesus was sacrificing on the cross. He became the sacrificial Lamb. He sacrificed Himself so we could be forgiven of our sin.

As I watched the movie it made me think of the ways that satan tries to distract us from God, wandering here and there, watching us suffer with a smile on his face and readily offering us an outlet to our pain.

The movie also made me think of the atheists who don’t understand Christians. They think we believe in a mythical creature in the sky and only believe because of some words written in a book by men. I think if they watched that movie, with an open mind, they would understand why we are so devoted to that man on the cross.

Have you ever heard or witnessed a man running into a burning building to save a life? We hold that man up as a hero, and praise him and honor him. That is exactly what Jesus did for thousands (now billions) of people. He was led into the arms of torture and flaming fire, all for blasphemy of saying He was the Son of God.

While atheists will celebrate Easter with a drink in their hand and food in their face, they won’t even realize that it is because of Jesus that they are allowed to live and breathe in the sweet air of springtime. They will laugh and scoff just like the men who beat Jesus nearly to death only to hang Him on a cross dripping with blood.

After Jesus took His last breath, the soldiers looked up and realized He WAS the Messiah. Guilt filled their heads and even the chief priests wondered what they had done and as you can see with the upheaval in the Middle East nowadays, they are paying dearly for killing an innocent man who lived over 2000 years ago.

So you might say it is a myth. You might like denying Christ. You might even find sanctuary in the arms of satan who is all too eager to carry you away from anything that resembles Jesus. But know in your heart, for this legend to be alive, living and breathing 2000 years later, don’t you feel some kind of truth in His words?

If God wanted the Bible to be backed by scientific data, He could have very well had the elite scientists of the day write His words but instead He chose men, sinners, nobodies to write the truth of His moral compass He gave to us. The Bible was not meant to be scientifically dissected but as you try and scientifically find the answers, you are falling into the trap satan has set for you, to take your eyes off of Christ and the living testimony of real people who had no ulterior motive in bringing God’s word to you lasting thousands of years.

Scientists seek to prove and disprove, satan leads to distract, life goes on as if nothing has changed except the minds of humans. The sermon on our focus was right, the more we’re led away from Christ by exterior means, the more the world becomes consumed by satan. At the end of the day when I sleep a peaceful nights rest I do so knowing that my day was consumed with God. Persecute me as you will, I sleep easier at night knowing Jesus shed His blood for me.

May the Light and Love of God go with you in each and every day. Keep your eyes on Christ. ~ Amen

Matt. 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Insomnia ~ Peace

Pss. 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Peace

I have quite a few friends who suffer from insomnia. Now mind you they are all God loving people, so when they say they have insomnia, I scratch my head. I’m not talking one or two friends either, I’m talking like 10-15 friends all suffering with the inability to sleep and stay there. So if your reading this, I’m not targeting you, I’m trying to understand the condition, the disease.

We live in a world of stress, noises and images that all clog the mind. I used to have disrupted sleep when I was younger but I knew it was from the stress of the day and the long arduous days and nights of simply living as a drug user and alcoholic. But after coming clean, clearing my soul and conscience of the poisons intoxicating my body, I honed in on ways to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Granted I was twenty-one when I came clean and am now nearing 50, I still rest peacefully and comfortably for seven-eight hours a night. Some of my tricks to get me to this point are now conscious forming habits that led me to just keeping still and falling fast asleep.

It all might change again in my later years but for now, I’m relishing the peace that washes over me every single night and I carry it with me throughout my waking days. What are my tips and how do you attain the peace? I don’t know if it will work for you because most are chronic sufferers that have had this struggle since childhood and have tried everything to no avail. You have my sympathy.

Look at the list for symptoms of insomnia:

Difficulty falling asleep

Awakening during the night

Not feeling well rested

Daytime tiredness

Irritability, depression, or anxiety

Difficulty paying attention

Increased errors

Tension headaches

Distress in the stomach

Ongoing worries about sleep

That’s quite a list. Do you see yourself with ANY of these symptoms? One or two probably doesn’t signify chronic insomnia but more than three; you’re a chronic insomniac.

We’re not going to add medications to the list here because the older you get or the more medications you take can be a cause for sleepless nights. But the main cause of insomnia, especially chronic insomnia that which you’ve had since you were a child, is stress and anxiety.

As a sufferer you may fool yourself into believing you don’t have any depression or stress. You may lie over and over again making excuses with it’s the meds, it’s the noise, it’s the ______, you fill in the blank. What lies do you tell yourself? Let’s face it, you’re stressed! Whether it is meeting the standard of what other people see in you, bills you can’t pay, the job you hate, or facing old age, stress is the killer. Yes KILLER! If you’re happy and content with that, then read no further.

The Mayo Clinic reports: “Sleep is as important to your health as a healthy diet and regular exercise. Whatever your reason for sleep loss, insomnia can affect you both mentally and physically. People with insomnia report a lower quality of life compared with people who are sleeping well.” 

Do you remember as a kid our parents told us that if we had trouble sleeping to count sheep? Do you know why? What does sheep have to do with the inability to sleep? Well for starters it’s a way of focusing the mind on something other than your stressful thoughts. It’s a form of meditation.

Meditation is a secret tool I implemented in my early days of clearing my mind of stressful distractions and it has been an essential tool in finding a peace like never before. Some may laugh and scoff claiming it doesn’t work, but you DO know God has placed very simple tools in our hands, like herbs instead of drugs, to help aid us with our diseases and illnesses that take over our bodies. Meditation is a tool from God to use and aid us in stress-filled times.

Pss. 63:6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

Many people listen to audiobooks when they’re trying to fall asleep, this is stimulating your mind and the very reason it doesn’t work for insomniacs. Some listen to music but again this is stirring the mind and doesn’t have long-term effects. To find sleep, one must relax the mind.

What is MY method? I’ll share, but first let me tell you I am not without stress, depression and illnesses so don’t think this is just coming from a happy-all-the-time gal. I have experienced many depths of darkness but I still enjoy seven to eight hours of SLEEP!

Before falling asleep there are things I do first, like pray. Not for myself, not for my situation not for me me me. I like to pray for others in need (there is always time to pray for me). I’ve said my prayers.

The second thing is to have my rainfall cd playing in the background. I love rainfall and thunder and since snow makes no sound, rain is my choice. You might have another comforting sound to focus on but mine is rain.

Begin focusing on the sound. Stress creeping in? Put it in a box, a cardboard box, for safe keeping until tomorrow, right now you need to focus on the drops. Bills, things to do gnawing at you? See the paper of the bill? See the word? Place it in the box. Picture the box floating in the midst of stars, millions of stars, the box looks quite small doesn’t it? You’re placing whatever is stressing you into the box as each distraction tries to get through, place them one by one in the box. If it gets full, start a new box!

The box will get full as you fill it with your worries, y’know. If you don’t have enough self control to focus because of a pain your feeling or the thoughts are too numerous, this box trick might take some time before your nights are filled with rest.

The box or boxes, are floating in the universe. You see them, you know they’re your worries, but the drops of rain make you realize the box can’t get wet. Drip after drip the box moves out into the solar system, you see the paper fluttering from the boxes; worries all stored for another time, you see numerous boxes and all your problems are in there. You’re focusing on the box as it is floating…floating…you sleep.

You’re going to try this night after night. It’s not a one-try deal. Repetition and perseverance is what’s going to make this work. Now if you’d rather think of your worries and focus on them, then you will be maintaining the disease and keeping it alive for years to come. Please don’t tell me you like stress and enjoy restless nights of sleep, it is up to YOU, your mind, your conscience and your very SOUL to be WORTH the change.

God Bless!

Was I missed?

Luke 15: 9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

* or peace which I had lost

Was I missed?

A few days without internet, for ME, was like a time of fasting. You know, when you do without something for a time, things you didn’t see before becomes clearer? That’s what my four days without this virtual world did for me, and I loved the experience.

I didn’t do much on the net on Saturday and by Sunday the net had disappeared not to be seen again until Wednesday afternoon. Was I missed? Would my online friends even know I was gone? Sure I’ve left before but usually I’d give a clue that I’d BE gone for a couple days, but this time I/they had no warning.

Storms are like that you know, they swoop right in sometimes with little warning, shake the trees, rearrange the view, then leaves with a clearer sky than when it all started. Much like life.

Often times we meet storms in our life and we squirm at the thought, Oh no not again. But did you know that if you looked at the storm differently you’d weather it much better?

The storms of the 14^th scared the dickens outta me. The strong winds kept pounding and pounding on the rooftop and windows. I prayed and prayed and prayed some more then I woke up and we found our internet was out of commission. We didn’t call anyone because on Sunday you’d never get an answer so we waited.

Monday came and they said they’d send someone out on Wednesday to take a look at it. I know everyone will think me crazy but I felt no internet was for a reason. You see, any time something happens I believe there is a reason it happened no matter how big or how small, there is always a reason.

Wednesday came and the guy was on the roof for about an hour hooking us up a new cable wire, which apparently was dry-rotted from the sun, and the rain had seeped into the line, thus rendering us with no connection. All fixed right? Wrong.

I went onto facebook and let all my friends know I was still alive because I knew many are weather bugs and keep an eye on crazy weather. Some thought my internet was out, some thought it was due to the storm and they were right. The rain had seeped into the line, so the storm was the cause but was it really? Is that the reason it went out, really?

By Wednesday night it was gone again. Not totally gone just splotchy. You can get to Yahoo but it takes a long time to get to mail and even longer if you try opening different tabs. By Saturday when Steven got home, he was back on the phone because we had had some interesting storms the night before, again.

The tech guy had mentioned that the tree (which fell months ago in high winds that the landlord has never removed) was blocking the connection. Remove that limb there and you’ll get better reception.

Steven, determined as ever to get the internet back, decided to go out, hook the tree limb up to his truck and PULL the limb off. The entire tree moved and the limb was repositioned, but still, shotty internet connection.

Sunday’s sermon kind of had me thinking of the REASON we were getting no internet. It really became clearer for me.

1)     You really tend to see who your REAL friends are.

2)     You now have time to focus on better and more important things. (God)

3)     You now have time to Glorify God!

That’s it! Sometimes we put too much time into the net. Sure we justify it by: “But there is a lot of good.” Or “It isn’t all that bad.” Or “I’m using it for good.” Yup, justifying your actions. Let me ask, are you glorifying God in all your actions?

For ME, being away meant refocusing on more important things in the physical world. My friends will always be there, but my physical world, it is going to go one day and there are real things that need tending to AWAY from the internet, climbing inside my mind, I’m finding the REASON there is no internet.

My God given talent is poetry and writing. Whenever I veer from those two things, the internet seems to blank out. I can do a few facebook posts but veer away from the intended posts, poof, it disappears MAKING me focus on HIM!

So yes, I was missed and I missed my friends, but really what I needed was time, time away from the net to focus on life, on my reality, and that is truly what I’m getting from the lack of internet reception. I wonder if Steven and Adam are learning the same thing about their over indulgence in YouTube? Probably not. But 'I' AM growing and learning and I praise the Lord for that! AMEN!

Are You There God?

James 2: 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Are you there God?

I put a call out to God. Does He hear me? Does He know what’s going on down here? With all of the overused technology today, you’d think God would just answer his cell phone when I call on Him.

We’re in an era of overuse of technological gadgets. Our food cooks quicker, our phones need no land lines, our TV is much clearer and rarely do you ever get a rolling screen, we wash and dry clothes in machines and we sit on computers to spend hours of our precious time. It isn’t only the insane who have turned their back on God we sane folk are just as guilty.

Did you ever wonder why with all this technology God doesn’t use a cell phone? Like when I pray, why can’t I just dial Him up and have Him answer? Why? Because as much as WE’VE changed, God has NOT changed. He doesn’t need YouTube to reach you, He doesn’t need mechanical skills to wave His hand to have you prosper, all He needs is YOU, to turn your attention on Him. That’s it.

Since mass shootings are occurring more frequently, we tend to get the feeling God has turned His back on us and left us to dangle here without any help. It’s not true. God is here. The only way we hear Him is through SHOCK to our technological nation. You see, we’re so wrapped up in instant gratification, having everything here and now, we don’t have the patience NEEDED to wait on God, we don’t HEAR God’s calling out to us.

I asked God, “Are you here?” Ironically, He didn’t take days to answer just mere seconds. I HEARD even through all the humming coming from behind me through the computer, even with all the *dings* of notifications, the beep of the microwave, the churning of the washer; I HEARD!

I have an innate way of turning off the world. I didn’t have techno gadgets distracting me all my life so I knew what I was listening for. I had a phone with a cord that didn’t reach very far. I had a TV with a few stations, not hundreds, I hung clothes on the line and we used the stove to actually cook. Things like that is what keeps one focused on the here and now. I didn’t get my first computer and cell phone until eleven years ago, so really I have NOT allowed technology to taint me like it has so many millions of people.

There’s a video on YouTube (another idol distraction to the world). It shows kids seeing a corded phone for the first time. They only know texting and cells so this phone was so foreign they didn’t know what it was. When told, they laughed, “No way! You had to PAY to make a long distance call? No way!” They were kind of shocked. They couldn’t imagine living life this way.

Kids are so spoiled by technology they didn’t even know what dial-up was. When they were showed, they became confused. But when given their iPad, iPod, cell, laptop; they knew right away how to text and use the silly gadgets and how to easily get to the instantaneous internet.

Steven texted me one day and I didn’t even know that the odd ring on my phone MEANT a text call. What do I do? Respond? HOW? I see letters next to the numbers so I hit “k”. REPLY, wow, I did it. And suddenly I felt like throwing my phone out the window!

While Steven has been a techno freak for twenty-five years or so, I myself to this day can not fathom the fascination. I wrapped myself up so much with God, I didn’t see technology rising around me. I saw it as a distraction FROM God not a way to get CLOSER to God.

Now people can hand me the malarkey that technology, or better yet, the internet has a lot of GOOD in it, I tend to agree, to an extent. But within a good thing, there dwells evil always one step ahead ready to sway you away from the good. You CAN become addicted to the net no different than being addicted to alcohol. It will eat you alive, trust me I know, I’m still waiting for it to spit a few people I know back out.

So again, I ask, “Are you there God?” And quite quickly He responds,

“Yes, I kiss the earth every morning with the rising of the sun. I tuck it into bed with the setting of the sun. I sing to you daily in the chiming of the birds. I whisper to you softly with the breath of winds words. I wrap my arms tightly around you in your time of need. I fill you with abundance when it’s time to feed. I’m there right beside you in the simplest of tasks. I’m waiting for your response to everything I ask. Am I there in devastation, when no one thinks to care? I’m with you always, if you look, I’M RIGHT THERE!”

Wow! Who knew God was a poet? Me. How did I know? Because I use all six of my God given senses: I SEE Him. I HEAR Him. I TASTE Him. I SMELL Him. I TOUCH Him. And most importantly, I FEEL Him, because He’s been here inside, ALL ALONG!

Luke 2: 40And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

Lent: Day Twenty-four ~ Distractions

1 Cor. 7: 35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.

Distractions

Distractions, distractions, distractions. It is so easy to be caught up in distractions. I don’t want you all to think I’m exempt from distractions. These posts have not been the easiest things I’ve done and there are days where I just either don’t feel like writing or am at a loss for as what to write. God has placed all of these posts on my heart and that is the only solidarity keeping me from the distractions going on around me.

We had a death in the family, my mother and I had a birthday, we had some excitement in thinking we’d see each other via Skype that fell through, a pretty big tree collapsed in my yard and I’ve been having some doubts where my relationship is concerned. Now I know all of these are normal distractions (not) but as I try to remain focused on God and all that he has done and is doing for me, the mastermind of all distractions is pulling out some mighty heavy punches.

While the master of deceit is pulling his own strings in keeping Steven distracted by stupid crud, I’m the one who is being hurt in the process and that’s the goal all along, isn’t it? Satan is pretty peeved that I might be making people think about God. I’m not MAKING them think about God, they ARE their own persons who can decide for themselves where their loyalty lay. But I am spreading a word every day, not just any word, THEE Word that God wanted us all to hear from the very beginning of time!

I am about almost twenty posts away from completion and there is quite a lot of road to cover that mister mastermind doesn’t want you to know or be a part of and as he’s working, my life is on stony footing. I will continue no matter what the cost and will not be sidetracked by distractions.

While good people walk the good path remember there is always something trying to throws coals in the fire hoping you get burned. I’m not oblivious to his machinations too, actually, I am quite aware.

Is there anything distracting you? Facebook, YouTube, Twitter where you spend more of your time in socializing and viewing and being all you can be for whoever is out there grabbing your every word? Are you focusing on the Lord at this time or are you distracted?

Sure, it begins all well and good, you’re focused on God topics but then there in the sidebar you see something funny and just HAVE to click and then keep clicking until you’re fixated on funny/humorous/chic/kitty/dog posts and pulled away from the intended viewing of God posts.

My social media time is limited. I despise YouTube, Twitter is not all it is cracked up to be and facebook is not much different than my school days, I laugh, I chat, I mingle but in doing such, I’m distracted from the One Mighty Lord who called me to this Earth.

Keep this in mind folks satan is a clever one. He knows what you INTEND to do and that is why he throws things he KNOWS you like viewing in your face to distract you. Master of mischievousness, just when you think you’ve gotten him under control, he slings another surprise at you.

Be armored! Be prepared. Don’t fall into the trap of, ‘he can’t tempt me!’ Because that thought alone triggers him to tempt you.

Job 13:1 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.

Matt. 6:22-23 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Focus

For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.' - Proverbs 3:12 (KJV)

Focus

When skin is brittle and broken

We tend to see the scar

Why does man linger there

When we’ve tried to come so far.

To mend a tattered fence

Leaves room for shattered lives

Be still and try transforming

Awaiting the day He arrives.

Be still and know full clarity

Of a life that’s been reborn

Try not to complicate yourself

While you focus on the torn.

Looking at all the wrongs

Never makes the world aright

The action that you take to change

Helps peace rule the night.

Write On!

If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away?
Lord Chesterfield
***

The world of writing is all about writing. Trying so hard to over please people, clicking the LIKE button one hundred times a day, does not make people LIKE YOU more it makes you pitied more. I have joined a couple of new writing sites where a like button is obscure. And the one site that does have a like button I haven’t seen anyone going down the board clicking like to something as simple as “my dog died”. You know these people don’t even read what they are clicking like to, they just want to BE liked and are over compensating while looking a little foolish.

No this isn’t at facebook that I’m speaking of, this is just my observance elsewhere on the net. A site that I no longer promote because honestly, its an embarrassment and I would not refer a professional, only for them to lose money because that is what they sought, a professional writing atmosphere.

Writing takes focus, writing takes commitment, writing is the breath of you and there will come a time when you can like your way into peoples lives, and some will buy it, but professionals won’t. A professional writing site is focused on your writing, your creativity, your story and structure, they don’t need the like button because everyone is equal!

That is what I seek in my writing journey, like minded people, who are creating and crafting stories, willing to give honest feedback, and are a comfort to wake up to, not a big scare. I laid my dream on the line, now I’m going after it without all the idle distractions of the day.

What will you do this new year to make your writing dream come true? Will you waste it trying to be liked? Or are you going to write, snag that keyboard by the keys and begin tapping ‘til your fingers bleed? You betcha!

Things to get you focused on WRITING:

1. Open your MS word, or whatever program you use, and begin with...”The clouds swept over the house...” or something to that affect. I notice if I open with an action line, many other words start to flow that I didn’t even know I was sitting down to write!

2. Disconnect from the internet! That is one of the main distractions to writing and that is the internet, looming in your browser, if it is open, you are more tempted to be distracted from it!

3. Focus on writing AT LEAST 500 words at one sitting. When you take away the distractions, more times than not, you can produce more than 500 words at a sitting.

4. Open the internet but only for research reasons! We may have written a 1500 word short story and need to do a reference check or something. Be strong, and focus on RESEARCH!!!

5. Have confidence in yourself. You DO NOT need a Social Scene to boost your moral, or to get you writing. If you honestly go there to boost your writing, then why all the LIKES? You are not focusing on writing, you’re more focused on being accepted, popular and LIKED. In the WRITING world, focus on WRITING!!!


So there you have it, all the tools TO WRITE! Writing software, focus, NO INTERNET, research tools, and most importantly, confidence in yourSELF! Now WRITE ON!!!

What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself.
Hecato, Greek philosopher

Charlie in the Box

"When we feel love and kindness towards others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it also helps us to develop inner happiness and peace." 

- Dalai Lama

Nobody wants to play with a Charlie in the box.  I love that line in Rudolph when Rudy tries to guess his name, “I know, it’s Jack.” and the reply  “No, my name is Charlie,” the sad crying box goes on to say. So why was Charlie on the Island of Misfit Toys? Because, all together now, “Nobody wants to play with a Charlie in the box.”

As a writer, you will sometimes feel this way as you write things no one wants to hear about themselves in your words. You’ve hit a nerve, and with that you get tossed out onto the Island of Misfits. They don’t mean to, but in their anger, they put up a shield of protection against your words and can not see you there. Either they are justifying their actions, turning a blinds eye, shutting you out completely, or running in FEAR of the truth. They remain at a distance, pretending to care, but really they are the ones that put you on the Island. You are now a misfit.

Nobody wants to play with a ‘Charlie in the box’!

It is okay to be on the Island with other misfit toys, because you have reached into your reader and touched them so much that they hurt, are angered, hate or just want nothing more to do with you, yet they keep on reading your words. You become Charlie; alone, in isolation on the Island, but there, you don’t feel the warmth of being loved and appreciated in life. Or do you? I’m okay with that because I have a mission. I’m not here to please all of the people all of the time, I’m here to strike a nerve within you, as a writer! I am not here waving my arms, flagging down a passing sleigh trying to get someone's attention. I’m not a people pleaser and I’m not an overactive drama queen (or king). I will not conform to a way that others have conformed to because God created me to be more in life. The one thing writers do in life is get easily side-tracked and distracted. You can ask any of them

Why do you think there are so many writing posts on GOALS and FOCUS? It’s because we as writers find the pretty colors and images of the day distracting so we stop writing and put our fingertip in the pool of colors and play. We finger-paint our way through, we play and enjoy what is offered to basically anyone, and you all make sure you put Charlie in his place, and isolate him from Santa’s workshop where all the happening elves are making merry.

Sure why not, as long as you don’t have to write.  You’ll do anything to be distracted from it. Go ahead play all you like, but one day you’re gonna say, “Where did all that writing time go?” Well go look in the sand, there is some words there, oops it’s all washed up, which is what you are, if your not sitting at home, writing the story or novel of your dreams! FOCUS people!

I think I’ve went and isolated a few people with my writings about how addicted everyone is to facebook. Some could care less what I wrote and shrug off my posts. They are the ones confident with who they are, not embarrassed or ashamed at all! They actually HAVE lives. But others have climbed into their closet of guilt. It is theirs, so I let them embrace it for a spell. Me? I’m visiting King Moonracer today and asking him if he has plans to upgrade this place. “Yes, Charlie. You will be our bearer of news to the writing community who tells all the boys and girls about us!” Can you just imagine an isolated writer? :)

 It’s okay, I still have you, all my followers and the new writing sites I’m joining will have new friends too. I might get picked up by Santa after all and put in a nice little home! I’m looking forward to it!

Job 4:16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

Putting it in Perspective

The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose. ~Richard Grant
***

The week in review....

We’ve had Procrastination, Prioritizing, Networking and Focus and a culmination of the four days leads to this post.

Monday - As a writer, the Procrastination post was about where we discussed putting things off. We allow things to jumble and cloud our day so much so we miss our quiet writing time. Playing around and goofing off also keeps you distracted enough so you get no writing done and I had to make sure you saw if you were on that path. Some are on it, some like it, some could care less. Me? I’m in the mood for change.

Tuesday - This was a day where I pinpointed Prioritizing. You know, where you put the playing around on hold and make something other than ‘games and fun’ a priority, like writing?
This was also the day that an Earthquake rattled the east coast. While the local news here in Nebraska didn’t even give the story a second of its time, World news found it vital to report. All of my family is back east, in Maryland, and yes, they felt it. My 73 year old parents were quite shaken, literally. Since my mothers stroke and my dads survival of cancer, they moved to a retirement condo and they live on the eighth floor.
So while everyone made jokes about  the quake, being far from home during a panicky situation made me miss them all the more.
Perfect day for a Prioritizing post, made me SEE where my priorities lie, and what *I* need to do.

Wednesday - This was the day my Networking post went up. I went to place it on Twitter, and it is already part of a newsfeed! Yay! My Networking with fellow writers is working. I’m not just an airplane cruising through facebook happily prancing and playing and woohooing and weeHeeing, I’m actually putting into ACTION, all of this weeks posts! Wow! I think it is called follow-thru? I’m not just preaching words and going on my merry way, doing my own thing and not acting on them. I’m actually taking my own advice! Now, there’s a change I like!

Thursday - This FOCUS/Discouraged post was a way of helping me to see the err of my ways. I recently touched base with a friend I had lost. It wasn’t via facebook and doubt that we’ll EVER be friends on facebook again. You see, facebook may be a social wall, it may be a place to Network, but sometimes you see things in people, that you wish you had never seen. You see them in a whole different perspective, and maybe if you wouldn’t hang out with that kind of person in real life, maybe you shouldn’t be faking your LIKE to them on facebook. I am not one who is false and that is why my friends list is at a minimum. I actually LIKE you all if you’re on my list.


Friday - The culmination of an enlightening week. This week has been full of insights that I’ve shared with you, that I’ve learned along the path in the writing world. I give off some negatives but hopefully run over all that with the positives.

As Irene heads to the coast, as natural disasters head to the earth in a meteor shower raining down on us, as the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy approaches, maybe what we all need to be doing is reflecting and not joking about it. Humor is good in the right place, but false humor appears as fear. Don’t fear impending doom, if it is your time, embrace it. You ARE ready, right?