When did my Future start

Life has been crazy.  But I don't think that I could have it any other way.  Recently there have been more and more moments that have made me realize how close my future is.  I know that sounds stupid, but for the past 16+ years I have been in school and in those years I have been asked what I wanted to do when I grew up.

Well now just 63 days away from the moment when I 'grow up'.  This moment is coming, and luckily have have someone to keep me level headed.  :-)  But now is time to get realistic, now is the time to realize that my forever is starting and now it isn't just something that is in a future date.

I graduate in 63 days! only 63 days! while there are many school projects that I have to get done in those days, that isn't what I want to concentrate upon. I love where my life is going.  and I know that God is going to be the co-writer of my life.  I just know that He has a great story planned for me!

A New Page Turning

I feel like this week is going to be one of those weeks where things are just going to be changing.

I don't know what it really is, because on one hand it is exciting and yet on another it is the unknown.  My next door neighbors are moving to assisted living this week. and that is getting to be one of those inevitable things that I knew would come, but I never totally grasped it.  They have been like second grandparents for me and my sisters while we have grown up.

They would make us cookies, and random cakes.  They would send us birthday cards (when she arthritis wasn't bad she would draw us cards with Disney characters on them).  They had our spare key if we were ever locked out.  and they were always there.  Having them there, it taught me, while growing up, that you don't have to see eye to eye, to find one playing field that you are on an even field.

Over the past few years, they have been both been getting older. Him with diabetes, and her with a stroke that has left he not talking for over a year.  But, while their bodies are beginning to fail them, they are still the same neighbors that have been next door since we moved there before I was born.

My mother last year was helping our neighbor get a birthday gift for her husband.  She did it with my mother so it would be a surprise for him. Over his birthday she ended up being in the hospital again, but yet my mom brought the gift so she would be able to give it  to him.  Here she was a woman who couldn't speak, giving her husband a birthday gift.  My mom expressed the interaction as a strong man in spirit who has never cried much had tears in his eyes as his wife gave him a simple birthday gift.  Something so simple can change everything.

With them moving in the next few days it is making me realize how things will be so drastically different once their house is empty and then when someone else moves in. But I know that they will be better off when there are there.  They will have someone watching over them, and everything will be safer. But things will never be the same.

But that's okay  :-)

because no matter what changes in this world, the sun will rise and set. The coffee will brew in the morning, and the world will keep on spinning.  We are all on a journey our choices that we make in our every day lives will take us forward.  It is up to us (and God) to figure out where that forward will take us.

So Marge and Dave, may God bless you on your next journey and may you never forget your neighbors who will always be here, helping you through. Because you will always be our neighbors. Love always

Sometimes it isn't about where you are

Sometimes it doesn't matter where you are in life, it is more about where you are going to be going.  If you have no future plans, any road will take you there.

It is better to have an idea of where you are going to be wanting to go, then have no plan of where you want to go.  Having goals, and dreams you have something to reach for.  It isn't always about exactly reaching the dream exactly, but it is more about hitting it close.

Have a goal, have a dream.  Think big.  Don't stifle yourself because you don't think that you can, because you can if you put your time, mind and effort into those dreams

I think that one thing that is good to remember, is that you have to be flexible, because dreams can change, and your life can take you down different roads.  You can't just settle for what your dreams were 5 years ago.  You have to keep on dreaming and keep evolving into the person that you are meant to become.

Remember to dream, remember to plan,  but also be prepared to change those dreams into the new dreams that you might change to.

question for the day

So today I was trying to organize my scrapbook stuff and I was going through my old planners.  One one of the days I have this written on it: What would you do if you weren't afraid?

This was written over a year and a half ago, and I think that it is always a great thing to ask yourself. But what is really holding us back from what we want to do with our lives?  Fear is usually what we hold back, we just need to remember that we should not let fear hold us back.

So just remember don't let fear hold us back.  So you would never have to ask yourself what would have you done, if something wasn't holding us back.

Trusting

Trusting is one of those things that we think that we all possess.  But do we really? How often do we spread around a secret? how often do we withhold information so that you don't trust the other person enough to help you carry your own life crosses.

Trust

During my morning prayer today there was a verse from Jeremiah, I believe. "Curse is the man who trusts in human beings, who seeks his strength in flesh.... Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord."

Now I know that this verse is not telling us that we should trust others, and we shouldn't place our trust in others.  But I think that what it is saying is that we can't truly place our trust in others unless we already have placed our trust in God.  We should turn to him first when we are having a bad day.

Who wouldn't want to be given comfort from God? Humans have been exposed to sin, we are imperfect. Even if we strive to do good.  The devil has a mighty hand upon the world.  But God is stronger and he trusts, and loves us enough to give us free will to choose him.

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I could go on, but that would make this really long. Until Next time.

Happy Lent

Handling Adversity

I read this story/lesson at work and I just really wanted to share it with everyone:
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A woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her.  She didn't know how she was going to make it and wanted to five up.  She was tied of fighting and struggling. It seemed just as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second, she placed eggs, and the last she places ground coffee beans.



Her mother let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. She then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," her daughter replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. She then asked her daughter to take an egg and break it.  After pulling off the shell, the daughter observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked her daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted it and smelled its rich aroma.

The daughter then asked, "What is the point, Mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrots went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however.  After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you," she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

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Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength. Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same but on the inside, am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the vary circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets how, it releases the fragrance and the flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate to another level? How do you handle adversity?

Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?