sentimental


This time of year is sentimental for me. It marks a few anniversaries of different events in my life that have impacted me greatly. When I get sentimental I think about the “good old days” when life was very different than it is today. I crave those simpler times although at the time I had no idea how good it was. It is a lot like realizing you were in good physical shape at a time when you thought you were fat (women understand this).

Today, we consider ourselves pretty high tech and advanced; yet, I would hazard a guess that in 20 years we will look back and laugh at ourselves for thinking this way. All my speculation about the past and future reminds that we must appreciate the here and now. I’m sure I’ve written about this before but it is a lesson that requires relearning (for me anyway) on a regular basis. I get caught up in memories or dreams of what is coming when I have so many moments right here, right now that I need to live. The young look to the future, the old look to the past; but what to do we hope to gain by doing so?

This all begs the question, how does one truly live in the present? My suggestion is this; put down your cell phone, back away from your computer and connect with another living being. Look someone in the eyes and listen to her words, encourage him, hug a friend, a child, a partner or a pet. Do not place expectations on a person or event (it will usually lead to disappointment) just allow things to happen and appreciate them (even if it seems nothing is going right). Okay, yes, I’m being sentimental, thinking of those I have lost. Memories and plans have their place in life; they just should not be your life.

So dear reader, at the risk of being sappy, I think you are lovely and I pray God blesses your day with joy-filled, memorable moments!

Luke 12:29-31 “And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”
Posted by

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 27, 2013 at 10:25 AM

    Very, very, well said, Jody. I always enjoy your posts.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How are you?

Image
            When I wake, one of the first things I do is say, “Good morning God!” Some days are more enthusiastic than others. When I greet another human being, I usually follow that greeting with, “how are you?” This morning it occurred to me that I don’t ask God how he is. I have been contemplating this idea, how are you God? Obviously, given his attributes of omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience it is easy to follow the train of thought that he has everything in check. Despite that; I think of him in human terms and I can’t help but feel he is; not mad but disappointed (cringe). When he looks at creation, like a parent gazing on the wreckage of a kid’s toy room, wouldn’t there be disappointment?             As I contemplated that, my meandering mind led me to consider guilt. The guilt that leads to the disappointment of others. Every culture I have known lays claim to guilt; Lutheran guilt, Catholic guilt, Jewish guilt, Italian guilt and so on. Truth be told, we’re all guil
Read more

Out of the Mouth

Image
  Genesis 3:14 “God said to Moses, ‘I AM who I AM.’ This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I Am has sent me to you.”             I feel the need to make a disclaimer statement up front as I can see what I will write in these next few sentences could be misconstrued. This writing is not claiming that man is God although I will say, that if you have claimed the Holy Spirit lives in you, that identifies that God is in you too.             How many times a day do you use the phrase “I am…”? Probably much more than you or I realize. This is how God identified Himself to Moses. “I AM who I AM” We often refer to God as the great I AM, which He is. Going back to how often we use the phrase, for myself those two words are often followed with denigrating words like; so stupid, so foolish, so dumb, so angry, so hurt, so fill in the blank. What if each time we thought about those two words and how we identify ourselves we replaced “I AM” with “God is” most of us (I make this assumptio
Read more

Masterpiece

Image
              As a young person, I was fond of painting, not great at it but reasonable. I set it aside when I fell in love and got married. In these days of isolation I needed to find some other ways to occupy myself other than baking and decided to get back to my paint brushes.   To get used to handling the brushes again I got myself a paint by number,             If you have never tried one of these let me give you a little insight. You receive a canvas with an image divided up into numbered areas and little pots of paint with corresponding numbers. Then you begin a sort of scavenger hunt trying to fill in all the spots of a particular number. Sounds simple enough, however some of these areas are so tiny they are easily overlooked. The tiny spots are important though, they give that little flourish that can draw the eye or round out an object.             Why do I tell you about this? As I dove into this project, a great life analogy was revealed to me and I do love a good word
Read more