MEDITATION….WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

Meditation is a time to stop and go inside and see ….What are you thinking right now? Have you ever thought about what goes on in your mind? You might not even be aware of what you are telling yourself. Heard it called “mind chatter” one time and that made so much sense to me. It’s those words that go on and on like a tape, some good and some bad. I would hope that most of yours would be affirming, but let me guess, you are saying, “not that often, am I tell myself good things”.

A good practice is to take time out to check what you are telling yourself and start
re-newing your mind. Our friend Paul wrote in Philippians 4:8 a verse I call “my think list”. I like to use it in my time of Meditation. It goes like this, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.".... That will get you back on course right quick!

Take time out to stop, take your journal, your Bible and pen, find a place of peace and quite and do an inventory of the things you are allowing to go through your thoughts are they TRUE? Are they HONEST? Are they JUST? Are they PURE? What about LOVELY, of a GOOD REPORT, VIRTURE, and PRAISE then start replacing your thoughts with these things and believe me it works!!!

I took this picture about this time last year; it’s at a campground near by. It was in the Fall the leaves were displaying their color. You can find me there soon with my book bag going to work on the “here and now” to see what I have been putting in my mind. Find your place of serenity and Think About It …..

APPLE PIE…. FINALLY BAKED MY FIRST ONE…..

Don’t you just love Fall! This happened yesterday the first day of FalL. For some reason, I just never liked to bake. Now do understand, I like to eat someone else’s baked creations. When I was a child, I would arrive home from school to the smell of something baking in the oven but for some reason I didn’t care to tackle such things. I baked my very first Apple Pie, can you believe that!

Well yesterday my friend Kay from Vermont had mailed us our annual shipment of their State’s wonderful Honey Crisp Apples. It amazes me to know on Monday of this week they were picked, packed and shipped to arrive at my door in Georgia on Thursday. They are the best Apple you can put in your mouth, honestly they are better than candy.

In talking with Kay, she discovered the truth about me. I had never made a fresh baked Apple Pie in the 48 years of marriage. She encouraged me to get in my kitchen and “rattle those pots and pans”. I was to surprise my husband with one of his favorite pies. I took her advice and within no time I was taking from the oven this beautiful, great tasting “just like my mother’s” Apple pies! I felt so good about myself I danced around the kitchen. How proud I was to announce to Phil I had a surprise for him. It felt so good as I served him a warm slice and then watched him eat it, bragging about me. It was no trouble to stop and learn how to do such a simple thing….so Paula Deen step aside here I come…..

I’ll put Kay's recipe right here just as she emailed it to me and you can see what I mean. I have to “fest-up” I used a piecrust mix and it worked just fine. Now get started and make one for your family its magic try it! Watch your family’s reaction as you put one in front of them you will enjoy their eyes light up and then giving their praise to you for this gift of love!

KAY’S 9 inch two crust Apple Pie

¾ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of salt
6 cups thinly sliced pared tart apples (about 6 medium)
2 tablespoons butter

I always mix my apples with the flour, sugar, and spices and then I prepare my crust....gives the apple a chance to juice with the spices and sugar...mmmm boy that Phil is going to enjoy this....especially because it's going to be filled with love. I'll look for the chart on apples that I have about which apples are cooking apples and which ones are not....but the Honey crisp are considered an eating apple....not that macs aren't but macs are the best cooking apple. They will give you the best pie possible. Hope you enjoy...oh by the way....fluking a pie....????? Maybe someone's idea of a nice name for pinching the crust shut!!!! The edge cover works well to keep that pinch crust part from burning....it's a wonderful thing!!!
Happy baking....love you my friend....have a blessed week.
Kay

I WISH YOU COULD HAVE BEEN WITH ME…

Got a call from my friend around 8:00am this week telling me the news. Six years ago I told her when they called I wanted to be there for the whole thing. Well, the call came and I did go. It was a call from Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta GA to my friend, ironically while she was in the Dialysis Center, in her town, sitting in her chair she had sat in three time a week for four hours each time. She told me her cell phone rang, she answered and on the other end a lady said, “is this Mrs. Reaves?” and she said “yes”. The lady proceeded to tell her they had a Kidney waiting for her and to get there within four hours.

Hours later Phil and I meet them as they drove in from Alabama we joined them for the wait. Lots had to be done to make the transplant for her New Life! We watched and listened to all the details that would take place by the doctor as he spoke so seriously giving her his plan. As I listened carefully I looked at that young doctor and the thought went through my mind how one day he decided to go off to college and get educated to save lives. He was so helpful in telling my friend how he was going to do the operation and how hopeful he was at her future because this organ was from a young person and her life expectancy was promising. How awesome to think his skillful hands were able to place an organ inside someone that someone decided to donate to another to give them their life.

As I stood there listening to the happiness generating in that hospital room that afternoon I couldn’t help but think somewhere in this town there was a family of a young person planning a funeral. Words were spoken in prayer for this family as my husband stood in the midst of our friends in gratefulness. He ask for peace and comfort for this family in grief as they give their farewell to their loved one.

So I wish you could have been with me ……
So my friend will start her New Beginning as she leaves the hospital next Monday to go back home to Alabama. You know we do take things for granite as we live out each day, talking with her the other afternoon before surgery she said one of the things she wanted to be able to do was to just drink a whole glass of ice water. Well she can now……

FRIENDSHIPS HAVE NO BARRIERS…

Visited with a new friend the other day, a new neighbor from another country, in fact. She was so kind to me along with being so glad to make a new friend, she gave me gifts of jewelry from her country. I have them for you to see right here, couldn’t wait to show them to you. When someone gives you a gift for nothing just because they want to share with you, I like that!!!

My new friend is so interesting. I don’t have any friends that barely speak English. This is a new experience for me. You should have seen me talking with her. Tell me…why do you want to speak louder and use hand jesters when you are trying to converse with someone who doesn’t speak your language? I realized it when she was looking at me strange, and I began to talk lower and made good eye contact. Even with this two-way hindrance, I could still feel the growth of friendship and of kindness taking place.

This has made me want to reach out and help her by getting her acquainted with our town finding her way around, medical assistance, where to shop; getting the children into our culture so they can adjust to their school, and be available as a friend should be.

This is a new adventure for me and I am enjoying it already. I learned today during our visit a little bit of their lifestyle while I shared ours. When friendship develops I am seeing there are no barriers. I am looking forward to seeing her get to know our country and see how she can become accepted as we welcome her into our lives and great country.

HOW NICE IS THAT…

Just sayin’ today what’s on my mind! I have a friend who is excited about her Life in Christ. She was already a live wire, full of joy, likeable, never meets a stranger type and a beautiful girl inside and out, but had hit a wall in her life. Recently, she did some work on her issues from the past that were a hindrance to her moving forward. You see, when we unload those things, “those weights that so easily beset us” as spoken of in the Scriptures in Hebrews 12:1 ”Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”, we are then able to become all we were created to be. We can now live in dependence on God. Free to live the Exchanged Life giving up the life we were “trying to live” and exchanging it for His life that does work. Christ can then live in and through us as a stream of living waters flowing through out with out a “Log jam” of our “stuff” from the past. She did just that and OH! How proud I am of her!

Now, free as a bird, my friend and her husband flew out in their plane yesterday evening. It was to test out her new camera she said, but turned into a collection of a spectacular display of Father’s work. He just “out did Himself” I thought as I viewed her pictures and I said, “How Nice is That!”, looking over the pictures captured. She was able to go up and visit God, so to speak, were my thoughts and He show off for her! That sunset was His best!!! It was like He was sending her a telegram saying, “Baby Girl I am so proud of you this one’s for you!”

I am excited for her, praying for both she and her husband as they leave for Africa in the next few days. They will be giving their time and efforts to carry medical supplies to an orphanage. This is what she does caring for others in her way.

Hum…as I think of my friend, maybe I and you that stop by today, should take inventory of our lives. Let’s look and see what are we doing to step outside of our world to help others. Who do we know today that could use a smile, a helping hand or just a cool cup of water of encouragement? Think about it....

LEARN FROM THE PEARL…

Over the years I have said this, “Learn From the Pearl” sharing with people who have persons in their lives that are an irritation. Those people can be a pain some times, making you want to run from them.

Have you ever studied the forming of a Pearl, how it is formed in the Oyster? It starts with a grain of sand inside an Oyster, it becomes an irritant. It rubs and may even become painful.  It stays there until one day a fine Pearl comes forth. This is a jewel that will be adorn by someone, causing the eyes to look upon a beautiful creation made from something that was difficult to work through.  Oh! but how valuable it is in the end! The results is a pearl that is something so pleasing for the eye to behold.

I read this recently; it caught my attention and has the same connotation. “A Pearl is a beautiful thing that is produced by an injured life. It is the tear that results from the injury of the Oyster. The treasure of our being in this world is also produced by an injured life. If we had not been wounded, if we had not been injured, then we will not produce the pearl.”

Now lets put this in our every day lives. Do you have someone you are getting impatience with that just will not go away? Is this person “in your face”? Could even be an IRRITATION PERSONIFIED? These people could be a Husband or a Wife, one of your Kids (OH my goodness! AND….when that kid becomes a teenager or young adult!!!...Sorry excuse me while I have a sudden emotional out burst here.... HELP!), moving right along……. or a Neighbor, a Boss, Father-in-Law, Mother-in-Law or Daughter-in-Law or yes a Son-in-Law? I could keep naming them on and on but you can fill in the blank with your person/ or pearl here_____________. These people I call my “Sandpaper People”! The Pearl that one-day proves that perfection in you and me.

I hear you; your question is “so what do I do?” First, stop and realize there is a reason for this one in your path of life. Oh yeah! They might be a "REAL PAIN", but we can learn so much from this kind of person. It might be something you can contribute to them.  In more times than not, you're getting more benefits learning life’s lessons in your life.  These encounters can build strong character that "money can’t buy".  

In my One Year Bible reading just this morning I saw so many important statements from Solomon, a wise man.  Read the first three chapters of Ecclesiastes he says so much about Wisdom and Understanding and just about life in general.

Do you see the picture here? When you encounter this situation and you can't escape.  You are getting so irritable, expressing your FLESH.... remember this person is making something VALUABLE in you.  Stop and say, “there is a Pearl in the making here and I am going to see it to the end.”  Many lessons can be learned from that "Grain of Sand" in your path. One day you will see it come forth, Bright with Strong Value….and…I bet if someone ask, “what do you want for that Jewel?” you would say, “It’s NOT for sale!”