Imperfect And Wonderfully Made

Today's blog is for entertainment purposes only!! Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have a timeline like God? God has always existed eternally outside of time and is not subject to its limitations. Colossians 1:17 - "And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."  Psalm 90:2 -- Even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God."  It seems like a lot our pressure in our lives has to do with meeting timelines. We only have so much time to accomplish this or that. Humans were the ones that created time measuring devices. Whether it was the Sumerians, Egyptians, Greeks or Romans who first established calendars or time pieces -- it was established by humans!!! The other day, I received a text from my daughter. She was asking me how old her grandma was this year. I let her know. She said, "Oh good, you have longevity in your genetics." I asked her why she was worrying about longevity. She had told me she had a coworker whose Mom had passed aw...

  This topic is on the forefront of my mind today, because I attended a Celebration of Life today for my dear friends' son. The Pastor and the family did such a wonderful tribute to their beautiful husband and son. A few family members said some lovely words and shared stories. Also the Pastor gave an encouraging word to remind us of God's promise relating to losing a loved one and how there will be a reunion one day when we move to heaven. My dear friends both had wonderful stories to tell, but the one that was special to me was when his mother shared about how she had always asked her son to sing for her all his life, but he never did. It just happened that the night before her son went to be with the Lord, he and his children had spent the night at my friends' home. My dear friend was listening to her son as he got his little girl ready and tucked into bed. For the first time, she heard her beautiful son's voice singing to his little girl. This was the last memory sh...

Disclaimer: This blog might be a little too much information. This week and last week, I had to organize everything to get ready to go traveling for the weekend (Labor Day Weekend). All was well, up until Friday afternoon of last week, when an appointment that had been scheduled for Tuesday was changed to Friday. This appointment had been made two months in advance. That was unfortunate, because when I travel from one home to the other, it is a good 2.5 hour drive and I like to leave precisely by 10:00AM. This affords me the ability to bypass all the traffic spots. Well I had to travel this weekend due to a special event which will take place on Saturday. It is the Labor Day Weekend. So, the appointment was scheduled for 12:30PM. I thought to myself, already 2.5 hours behind schedule. When we got to the appointment today, luckily they took us in early, but actually didn't get started until 12:30PM. However, it was a rapid appointment and we were out by 1:00PM. Then there was the 15...

Remember Underdog? Some or most of you may be too young to remember him. He was a cartoon character who was a superhero. There was even a song about him. Where he was coming to save the day. I used to watch the cartoon as a child. As the show was starting, I used to sing along with the intro song. I think it is clever how the producers of this show named him after what is deemed negative when it comes to humans who are underdogs. Maybe there were some children who considered themselves underdogs that later in life reflected on this positive show. There was also the Toys on Misfit Island in the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer -- they were the forgotten toys, because they didn't function quite the way they should. In the end, they were rescued and distributed to children who could love them. The underdogs are considered a person who has little status in society. It also can mean in competition, the team or person who is considered to be the one to lose the event or title they...

When I hear the word masks these days, I automatically think of the medical masks we own in our home due to the Covid-19 epidemic. There was a time when the word mask represented beautiful ornate eye covers that are used as part of elaborate costumes for masquerade parties. Then of course, there are those hideous plastic masks from the 1960's that transformed us as children into a character for the purpose of collecting candy on Halloween. My personal preference is the eye masks, because then you keep your nose clear to breathe. I feel claustrophobic wearing any mask that covers my nose. That includes the masks that were worn during the heights of Covid. Unfortunately, because I have a compromised immune system, if someone has a cold or is coughing around me, I will pull a mask out of my purse to protect my health. Even with all the vaccines and boosters, I managed to catch Covid once and that was no walk in the park. I was miserable. I can empathize with anyone who has had to endu...

As I attended my various churches in my life, one thing I always emphasized to the leadership of the church was to please find a place for me within the church where I can utilize my gifts and be plugged in. One of my latest churches I attended even has a Connect Space, where church members network, mentor and serve. Having responsibility makes me accountable and keeps bringing me back with enthusiasm. I have a servant's heart -- actually to a fault, as I'm finding out with my latest Bible Study. I actually have been connected in many capacities of church serving even as a preteen and throughout my life and the many stages of living. Community Service has also been a huge component of my life. I had a mentor who actually tuned me into community service when I was 30 and she got me involved with Soroptimist International on a local level. I was a member for years. I also served in the capacity of President for a couple years and other offices where my skills could be utilized. I...

Ironically, I've started a study “It's All Under Control" by Jennifer Dukes Lee. I've only read the intro and first chapter. But it really got me thinking about whether or not I am a "Control Freak". What? Call it what you want OCD, ADHD, Anxiety, Worry, Pride, Ego, Selfishness, etc. You get the point. I was thinking to myself at my ripe old age of 65 years old, am I really still a control freak? And then the realization crept in -- once a control freak, always a control freak. I may not flail my arms as much in frustration as I did when I was in the tumult of raising children, balancing career and attempting relationships through marriage, but as I was evaluating my "retired" life, I have to admit that the feeling of being in control may still be an issue. Let's hope that by the time I finish this well thought out study from an expert, I will find some balance to not be that "controlling" personality of a person. I have routines. As a...

I’m a retiree. I know there are some people who don’t retire until way past the average retirement age. I know that age limit keeps pushing further up. I had always told myself that my goal was to retire by 55 years old. My reasoning was due to health issues and getting tired of people telling me I was driven by money. For the most part of my life, I was the primary wage earner. Quite frankly it was exhausting and frustrating, because I was expected to keep everything going. I retired at 54.5 years old. Throughout my employment days, I lived for weekends and vacations. Mostly because, I had children to enjoy raising them. I loved my family time. I remember when I planned family outings how excited and happy my kids would be. It was always a time when special meals and treats outside the ordinary were planned. It usually involved venturing out of town or state. Although staycations were nice too. I loved the summertime staycations, because BBQ’s and long days were fun. There were years ...

I would think that the majority of people on this earth has a scar of some sort or another. When I think of scars, I can think of the scars I received due to accidents or the scars I bear due to childbirth. There are also the internal scars that are there that no one can see. Sometimes I think the internal kind of scars are worse than the external ones.  I'll start with a scar I received on my left hand and when I was about 17 years old. I've always loved fires in a controlled setting. Starting the fireplaces, campfires and barbecues. I used to just like to light a stick match just to watch it burn down. Well on this particular day, I found a matchbox and decided to light the match to watch it burn. It was so intriguing to watch it burn. I was in an open area in our backyard. Then I got this brilliant idea to light one of my Mom's plant identifier sticks to watch it burn. Burn it did. The colors that came off that plastic were amazing. However, usually half way down the mat...

Have you ever just sat and thought about all the beautiful things you have seen in this life? I'm a person who absolutely loves nature. So the many places I have been in my life, I have found that the most beautiful are actually the ones found in nature. As a youth, there were many times I would go camping with our church youth group. That usually involved long hikes in the mountains of Bishop, CA or Mammoth. Our youth leader would take us high into the altitudes of who knows where. But night time was an amazing wonder. Because it is so pitch black up there, the stars and constellations you could observe were amazingly huge. I remember observing the Milky Way. It was awesome to look at. The number of stars was countless and went on forever. There were often delights such as a star falling. It's during those observations that I always wondered about heaven and how it is beyond a dimension we can't even see.  Being in the middle of the desert is similar, but being higher up j...

You've all heard the phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child."  That phrase actually applies to all facets of our lives. Don't you think it took a village to get us to where we are right at this moment? As I was contemplating and praying what my blog would be about today, thoughts of all the people who have passed through my journey with me just started popping my brain cells. Today as I was gardening in the community garden, I was approached by three of the community garden organizers. They asked if I had received an invitation to an event that is going to be held on Sunday. I told them I hadn't heard about it. They were so welcoming and said that they thought they had my e-mail address and certainly wanted me to join them. So of course, I was more than happy to accept an invitation. As I was watering the plot for which I am responsible for assisting with, a couple of them came up to me and offered me vegetables from their gardens. Of course, I was happy to ...

My first recollection of my first pitter-patter of my heart happened when I was in second grade. There was a cute boy with blue eyes and blonde hair named Curtis. He used to always stare at me and smile. I'd shyly smile back. In second grade our teacher Ms. Whistler used to select students to help her with tasks. As the lucky student to help for the day, by the end of the day I had to choose the next person to perform as teacher's helper for the following day. Ms. Whistler would have us look around the room and select someone. I remember Curtis sitting straight up and doing a heart on his chest to me and of course, his charm captivated me to select him. I remember I had a little crush on him for a little while -- as far as little girl crushes go. As I got older in sixth grade, I had a really strong crush on a boy named Dennis. He liked me too. In fact, sixth grade was the year that boys would select their "girlfriends" to hang out with at recess and during student act...