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As Blessings Pour Out (from Liz)
Saturday, August 30, 2008
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As Blessings Pour Out
you don't have to read the whole thing, but i would appreciate it... |
indescribable Rainy Days, High Rivers, and Camp Fires
Judy and I have been taken by the beauty of this land since we set eyes on it. We have contemplated moving up this way for many years and have come to the conclusion that we will in fact do so some day soon. The attraction first started based on the beauty of the mountains and as we read the history of the area we found we had an almost spiritual connection with it. When we hike in the mountains and sit in the quiet of a high mountain summit we hear God more clearly. We find piece, contentment and encouragement in the kindness, candor, and simple views on life that so many locals seem to feel up here. It seems that only the transients, tourists, and visitors who take their rushed and all too self important lives with them when they come here disrupt the natural order of things in these parts. If only they could leave all that behind...
The question we ponder at length is how we might move into the mountains and not become just another outsider. How do we become apart of what we admire so much in the land and the people who call the mountains home. And so, we seek to understand its history and character, it's geography and geology, its people and their ways. To read the history of our current home or other places of interest is always enriching and helps as the saying goes to avoid repeating the things of the past that ought to be avoided. But, when we read the history of the mountains we find ourselves transported in time and caught up in the moment. To be interrupted from that reading or come to the end of a passage and look up is an almost disturbing experience being pulled violently into present day chaos.
So it is that we find ourselves convinced that we were born where we were so that we could receive the upbringing and rich blessings that we have in order to have a depth of knowledge and understanding that would allow us the heart and intellect to appreciation that which we now seek. First and foremost to be one with God and second, with his blessing, to do so in the not to distant future, amoung the people and happenings of the White Mountains.
Upright and Breathing, Everything Else is a Bonus.
I can't speak for other religions but for Christians what if we actually believed in the words of the Gospels... I'm not saying that we dispute any of them, but do we fully live them? Do we really give thanks to God for all that we have for all that is? Do we celebrate Christ's Love for us each and every day? Or, do we hit our first obstacle of the day and latch on to some anger or bitterness about it and pour great energy into berating a person or complaining about the situation.
Studies have been done that have shown that many people actually don't feel satisfied or content unless they have something to complain about. I think we have all felt that way at one time or another but who wants to love that way. We have so much in our lives to be grateful for, we live in a time where we have so many conveiniences at our disposal that it's hard to be realistic about it and still feel down.
That's not to say that situations won't come along and make us feel down but we learn to move past them, overcome them, or lean on our friends to help us do so. As long as we are still taking in nourishment and have enough of our senses intact to experience the world around us then we are blessed. If we have more than that then we should celebrate the abundance of the blessings we have received.
Take the time after you read this to take inventory of all that is good in your life, all that brings you joy, all that excites you, all who love you, and... realize that if none of that where there and all you had was your life and God's presence you would still be blessed and loved.
So, now comes the hard part. I need to live up to the words of my favorite saying. Yes, I am Upright and Breathing, and Everything Else is Truly a Bonus, actually more than that a Blessing!!!
Why don't they put the lid on the bottom of the Spaghetti-O's Can?
With the advent of aluminum cans and the new and improved pull tab lid they have thrown a wrench in the works... If you set the can on the shelf upright the pull tab lid is in the top and there's no way to open it upside down. If you put the can on the shelf upside down sometimes they don't sit right because the pull tab isn't tight to the lid. And, of course, someone who never cares to neaten the pantry any other time inevitably decides to turn the cans over.
This is a dilemma of epic proportion. I think it's time to ask the company to label the cans upside down and make sure the pull tab sits tight against the lid.
Spaghetti-O eaters Unite!
Deval Patrick will be abstaining from Abstinence education Funding
Your help is again urgently needed on the abstinence education front, calls to the Governor’s office must be made as soon as possible to save funding for abstinence education in Massachusetts. The Governor’s contact information is at the end of this message.
Unless persuaded otherwise, Governor Deval Patrick is turning down funds from the federal government for abstinence education for kids in middle school. Administration officials and Planned Parenthood complain that the funds come with strict guidelines that fail to promote contraceptives. They also point to a recent report (called the Mathematica study) purporting to show that abstinence education doesn’t work.
These common-sense objectives conflict with the politically correct view that kids are just really incapable of understanding the meaning of “no” and the beauty of waiting until marriage. But that’s not what Healthy Futures, the program in Massachusetts that has used the federal grants to teach abstinence to thousands of students in the Commonwealth, has witnessed. See their website at http://www.healthy-futures.org/ to get the real scoop on what happens when the moral capabilities of children are taken seriously.
The National Abstinence Education Association (NEAE) (http://www.abstinenceassociation.org/) has an informative review of the study, the sudy focused on only four education projects out of the many that are funded by the federal government, did not have a representative sample of students, and failed to compare abstinence only programs with “comprehensive” sex education programs which promote supposedly “safe” sex outside of marriage.
Call Governor Patrick today at (617) 725-4000.
Labor Day Weekend
On Saturday we got a lot of work done around the house and, as do many home projects, it involved a run to Home Depot where we spent far more than we planned to. You can never have enough tools you know. We did some house cleaning but not enough to get too stressed about it :-o We also put up a door casing and painted a little. It was enough to wipe out Saturday, but it was good stuff to get done.
Sunday after church we went to a friends house for a cookout. They invited family and several mutual friends. We had some great food and caught up with all the happenings. We did the usual "Wow, I can't believe how much they've grown" thing that proves you don't get to see friends near as often as you'd like to. The kids had a blast playing together and it gave the adults time to relax and chat. Everyone pitched in on the food and like any good cookout we ate far more than we should have. We had burgers and dogs, and potato salad, and chicken, and desserts, and chips... everything except the corn on the cob that our hosts promised and didn't deliver on :-o
Monday morning we headed off to Mystic Seaport with friends for a day trip. It's a 20 acre recreation of a historic 19th century seaport village that shows the history of the maritime industry along the coast of CT. They have several ships docked there on display that you can board and tour along with dozens of buildings. Their pride and joy is an 1841 whaler called the Charles W. Morgan. It's the oldest wooden whaling ship that's still afloat. We had a great time, and learned a lot. It's always fascinating to see how people lived back then. In many ways a much simpler but much harder life.
Normal is just a setting on the washing machine...
If you decide to keep up with this blog and find that we seem rather normal to you please don't tell us. To find out we're actually normal after all these years would be a real let down. On the other hand, if you find us to be normal, maybe, just maybe, you're as strange as we are.
Anyway, we don't know how often we'll update the blog. We'll just have to see what happens.
Enjoy!
Tom & Judy