EARLY MORNING MUSING!

I woke up way too early this morning, but decided to just go with the flow and get an early start on the day. My husband got an even earlier start and was already gone , but all was not totally quiet. There was the song of very early birds in the air as they greeted the new day with more enthusiasm and joy than I was feeling.

One of the ways I usually start out my day is reading my e-mail that has come in since I went to bed the night before. This always includes a morning devotional e-mail from the Upper Room. Some mornings what they say strike me more than others. Todays was one of those. I would like to share it with any who wander by here as well as journal it here for myself so I can return and find it when I need a reminder. Some thoughts are just too important to loose.

"WHEN WE ADMIT our weaknesses …, we discover one of the greatest secrets of the spiritual journey — that in our weakness lies our strength. This is one of the most powerful spiritual truths that we will ever discover. Rather than rejecting us because of our weaknesses, it opens the door for God to come alongside us and help us overcome what had previously defeated us. God’s strength can lead us beyond our weakness and enable us to grow spiritually strong."

- Trevor Hudson
One Day at a Time: Discovering the Freedom of 12-Step Spirituality

From p. 10 of One Day at a Time by Trevor Hudson. Copyright © 2007 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.

I think one of the hardest things for 21st century people to do is to admit they have any weakness. Everything in our culture tells us we must be strong. We must be able to handle whatever life may throw at us if we are to be worthy. "Chin up", "Buck up", "Just deal with it", "You can do it!".....these are things we hear and say many times over.

Sometimes it may seem like it is hard to find God working in our lives. Is this because we are too busy struggling to make sure we can handle things on our own. Working so hard to gain the approval of the world by showing how strong we are that we leave no room for God? Maybe the most courageous thing we can do is to admit we have no courage. Maybe rather than "You can do it!" we should be saying "Let go and Let God!"

Have wonderful day!

SIGNS OF SPRING!

Since this BLOG is titled "Life out My Window" I thought I would share a bit of what I actually see outside my bedroom window. Things have been changing over the past week.


A week ago this is what I saw when I opened my bedroom curtains in the morning. Our Ornamental Cherry tree was just beginning to show the hints of buds that would eventually burst into full bloom. A Few leaves were also beginning to poke out and show some, but not much green. As you can see out neighbors home a crossed the street is very visible.


Now a week later after some very sunny warm days and some very spring like April showers this is what I was greeted with this morning when I opened the curtains. A profusion of pink cherry blossoms. They are so pretty when they are fresh and new. Now our neighbors home is barely visible through the thick layer of pink petals.


So this truly is what life out my window currently looks like. It is very beautiful. BUT it is even more beautiful when I venture outside my home and get the full view of this wonderful cherry tree. Here it is..........what do you think?

The sad thing is that in another week or so these gorgeous pink petals will begin to fall to the ground. It will be like it is snowing pink flakes. That in and of itself is pretty. But soon after they land on the ground they turn an ugly brown and are layers so thick I consider taking out the snow shovel to get them all up.

The happy part of this though is that after they all fall the tree will then be a lovely shade of green and summer will be soon upon us!

DREAMS AND LIFE

When I was in Lancaster, PA for the Quilter's Heritage show I went to a Tea Room for an early dinner. Painter on one of their walls was this wonderful quote...

"It will cost nothing to dream and everything not to."

I don't know who first said or wrote this quote, but I have thought a lot about it since I first read it. This is a very true statement. We can dream all we wish at no cost. It is out of dreams that so many, if not all, great inventions and advancements have sprung. It is a dream that gives us the desire to to become something to achieve something. Without dreams the world and our lives would become a very staid and bleak place.

Yet all to often we are (I am) afraid to dream. Why is that? Are we so afraid to fail that we fail to dream of what could be? Or have we become such an immediate response and result culture that to dream of what is possible in the future is becoming a forgotten or discarded skill? Have we become so beaten down by realities that we forget to dream of possibilities?

I use we here, but really should be saying I. As a child and a youth, and I think even as a young adult I used to be a great dreamer. Day dreaming out the window during class was one of the things that often got me in trouble in school. But now as an older adult I find it very difficult to dream...how sad....! I get too caught up in perceived reality, in perceived road blocks, in concerns over what another person would think of me if I shared with then a crazy dream I might harbor....how sad!

"It will cost nothing to dream and everything not to."

I need to redevelop this lost skill. I need to remind my self of this short quote. Dreaming costs nothing, but if I don't dream than I can not become what I am meant to be. Not dreaming will cost me the wonderful life that was meant for me and put me in the sad position of just being a place holder in this world. I think ceasing to dream is in some real sense is ceasing to live......

What are your dreams?????

CARDS FOR OUR HEROES!

Last Saturday was Women's Health Day at our church. We put on this program for women of the community, though mainly church members attend, and this year the topic for discussion was Bone Health. Lots of wonderful information on developing AND maintaining strong bones. We even had a team from the local hospital do DEXA scans as a screen for osteoporosis. I was a bit nervous about doing this as I have so many markers for developing this disease, but my T score was well into the normal range. Whew....one less thing to worry about health wise right now.

As part of the program we serve breakfast and lunch. I was in charge of purchasing the food for these meals and having it all ready for the men who come in to set it out, serve it and clean up.

We also do a craft/service project. I was also in charge of this and so we made Mother's Day cards I sent off to Cards For Heroes today. Since most of the women have very little crafting let alone card making experience I made up 4 sample cards and put together kits for each sample. I did all the cutting and stamping and they did the assembly. It was fun to see that after they made one a few of the women got brave and made some minor yet creative changes. We did 45 cards in about a 60 minute time block. Here is a pictuure of the final results of our work.

Every one that worked on the project, probably about 15 women, seemed to really enjoy it. A couple of them made four or more cards.

If you would like more information on several of the individual designs hop over and visit my Stampin' and Kwiltin' Blog tomorrow. Tonight I am now headed to bed. It's been a long busy day. Good night!

BIRTHDAY FLOWERS

I don't get flowers very often so I'm making this picture big so I can come back here and enjoy them often!!!! They are from the Golden Girls (affectionately called the GG's). This is a group of Senior Women who meet for fellowship and lunch at our church once a month. I cook for them and put on the lunch. Their normal meeting day would have been the day right after Easter which is a day many are still busy with family around here so they changed the date to the next Monday which was March 31; my birthday! That didn't bother me. These are a fun group of women and I really enjoy putting on the lunch for them. They surprised me with this bouquet of a dozen roses. They are so pretty and they brighten up our kitchen table especially on this another dreary rainy spring????? day. (The question marks are because it is barley rain rather than snow!)