Sunday Scribblings - Losing

Found this one today. I know it is a little faster than music I normally listen to on Sunday, but the words really make it worthwhile. It expresses my feelings in the best way.  It speaks to my heart.  It is a piece of music by a group called Tenth Avenue North and is titled, "Losing".

Five Minute Friday - SONG

Got five minutes? Let’s write. Let’s write in shades of real and brave and unscripted.

Let’s just write and not worry if it’s just right or not.

Because:

“Writing is an act of faith, not a trick of grammar.” 

~E. B. White~

1. Write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.
2. Link back over at Lisa Jo's place and invite others to join in.
3. Be generous and leave an encouraging comment for the person who linked up before you. That’s the best part about this community.

Today’s prompt is:

Song….

GO

“Life, he realized, was much like a song. 

In the beginning there is mystery, 

in the end there is confirmation, 

but it's in the middle where all the emotion resides 

to make the whole thing worthwhile.”

~ Nicholas Sparks, The Last Song ~

For me, a good song is more than music pieced together with notes and pen.  For me, it is the words, the story that is told, the beauty of the moment when a lesson is taught and people change.  In the middle where the emotion resides to make the whole thing remembered and worth singing. 
Sometimes, I don't like the emotion.  It can be intense and uncomfortable.  I have felt lost and alone in the song of my life.  I have felt both unneeded and unwanted.  But I have also felt great love, I have felt humor and laughter in the tears.  I have felt small sticky hands and sweet baby kisses wipe away the sorrows of my heart and teach me the words that I need to sing in my song. 
A song is a thing of beauty unfolding, using the black keys as well as the white ones.  Using the sorrows as well as the joys in my life.  Using all the strings and all the notes.  A song is not just about the good things, often the one that touches my heart most and brings about the greatest learning are the notes that remind me I am human.  It is the song in my life that makes me want to change something and be just a little better than I am. 
The songs that I know in my heart are interspersed with sorrow and joy; with mistakes and forgiveness, with longing and love, with loneliness and completion.  The song of my life is not simple, but it is unique.  It whispers to me of who I really am as well as of who I can become. 
The song in my heart plays light melodies and dark discords all blended together to make a masterpiece.  With His song, I become whole, at peace, and most of all, loved.  His song brings me home. 

STOP

Now it is your turn.  What can you write in just five minutes?  Don't forget to go back over at Lisa Jo's and link up with the rest of us.  Hope to see you there.

Who gets the credit?

"It is amazing what you can accomplish 

if you do not care who gets the credit".  

Harry Truman

The quality of writing speaks for itself.  Some books go down for generations.  They are enjoyed time and time again.  In these days of quick rewards, some people like to take credit for themselves for the writing accomplishments of others.   (This is called perjury, by the way). 
Children learn to write their names at the top of every paper.  They are rewarded with a grade for their accomplishments.  Their papers are posted on a board on parents night where everyone can see who wrote it.  The papers are admired and hopefully remembered. 
I am learning that a great poem or story or even blog article should speak for itself.  What an honor it is, as a writer, to have someone want to use your article or poem in something they write.  What a wonderful feeling it is when they seek me out and ask to use my poems or my thoughts in their own writings or talks.
When they speak, I might not get the credit, because they are the ones speaking, but my works are remembered through their love and enjoyment of my writing.
I think the words we write should speak for themselves.  They should be remembered because of the gift they are to others.   Don't get me wrong, I am not saying we should all be guilty of perjury.  I am just saying that we should not worry quite so much about getting the credit each and every time.
I want my poems to have my name, but I also want them to be loved and enjoyed and learned from.  I want credit for my writing, but I don't mind at all sharing it with another person who is speaking.  I think if we know who said something, we should mention them, but we also should share often those things from others that strengthen our testimonies and lighten our burdens.
For me, those good things can be songs, poems, stories or even a simple blog post.  For me, it is amazing that there are so many people out there who have the same thoughts that I have and we each express them in slightly different ways.  And sometimes, together we work miracles, and the credit all goes to HIM, and I am so grateful to be a small part of it.

The Examples in Nature

"Nature is made to conspire with spirit to emancipate us".  

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spring is finally here.  My irises are waving their purple heads in delight.  I am walking every morning for about three miles and really enjoying the sights and sounds.  The birds are chirping all over and the squirrels are chattering in the trees.  Nature is refreshing, full of vision and the promise of things to come.  I love the warmer weather and all the animals that are taking part in the beautiful morning light. 
This past year has been hard for me.  I have gone through a stage of pretty severe depression.  I know it is something that comes off and on in my life, but I really wasn't prepared for it to knock me down like it did.  I found myself having difficulties just getting out of bed in the morning.  I made myself go to work.  I made myself participate.  But my heart wasn't in it.
Sometimes, we just have to put our feet on the floor, get dressed and keep going.  One step at a time, one moment at a time, one day at a time.  Eventually, we start to notice the things around us and to feel content.  I love the feeling of taking a deep breath in and letting it out.  Of letting go of the past and inhaling the future.  I love knowing that change can be good.
It is amazing to me how close to my Heavenly Father I feel when I take myself out into the world around me.  I love the escape of a rich spring day in the forest.  The beauty of the leaves on the trees and the flowers in the meadow.  I love the wind as it whispers in the branches and the sun as it warms my limbs.  I love learning that joy really will come.
Sometimes, the night seems long and dreary, but the morning light will come.  Time does pass, hearts mend, feelings change, happiness blossoms like the first flower of spring, and joy cometh in the morning.

Psalms 30:2, 5
2. O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.
5. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Finding Peace

“There is no need to go to India 

or anywhere else 

to find peace. 

You will find that deep place of silence

in your room, 

your garden, 

or even your bathtub.”

~ Elisabeth Kubler-Ross~

I loved this one.  I am finding it to be so true.  A couple of weeks ago, I was privileged to go with two of my daughters to a Time Out For Women event.  It was amazing, inspiring and most of all, fun.  I found peace in a room with 1500 other women.  I found peace in the learning and in my time with my beautiful girls.  

Spending time with adult children is so amazing.  I have been blessed to watch them grow and have children of their own.  I get to see their joys and their trials and their overcoming of the hard parts of life.  

I love being a grandmother to their children, and I love the relationship I have with them now that they are grown.  I have found friendship and advice and love in this opportunity to get to know the adults they have become.

I spent so many years of my life wishing for things to happen.  Wishing that different things would hurry up and come, and that others would hurry up and be over.  I wanted the infant to be older so that I could, at last, get a full nights sleep.  I wanted my first daughter to go to school.  I wanted my son to play football.  I wanted them to hurry through the terrible two's and the treacherous three's.  I wanted them to grow faster, and than to not grow so fast after all.  

Mostly, I wanted them to need me and love me and understand me.  

Now, many years later, I understand the need to enjoy whatever part of life you are in.  Babies do grow, children do change.  The teen years really don't last forever (even though it feels like it!)  When it is over, you look back and it seems to have taken mere moments to pass.  You can't go back and hold your new baby again.  Now they are grown taller than you.  

For me, finding peace is learning to live, forgive, and love right now.  Peace is in knowing if I died today, I would not regret what I did or what I said.  Peace is relying on my Savior in ever single part of my life.  

I am seeking that peace.  Somedays, I even find it.  

Matthew 11:28-3028.  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:  and ye shall find rest unto your souls.30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

God-Given Friends

"I didn't find my friends; 

the good Lord gave them to me."  

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This year has taught me many things.  Probably one of the most important is that He knows exactly what I need and when I need it most.  When my best friend decided that she did not want to have anything to do with me any more, I felt so lost and alone.  I did not have any other friends.  For me, making friends is difficult.  I love people, I have lots of acquaintances,  I care for people and I want to help them, but I don't really have many people that I go to when my heart is aching.  I didn't have anyone else in my life that lived close to me that I could share my thoughts, my dreams, and my girl time with.  

I was so lonely for a while.  I didn't even know how to start to find new friends.  Then, really in ways I still don't understand, they came to me.  Now I am surrounded.  I am so blessed with friends.  People who know my story.  People who are there for me.  Women who care.  I am overwhelmed with the love and support that have come to me through these amazing women in my life.  

I know that I didn't have anything to do with finding new friends.  The Lord sent them to me when I needed them most.  He let them know that I needed them.  It has been an amazing experience.  I am learning that real friends know that sometimes you give and sometimes you receive and that is OK.  Sometimes, they know what I need without me asking.  

One of my friends is a doctor who knows I get migraines.  One week, after a particularly nasty one that wouldn't go away, she saw me at church and asked if I was alright.  I told her that I still had a headache, but was going to go home and go to bed.  As soon as church was over, she showed up at my door, shot in hand to take away the pain.  

I suppose the best thing that I have learned from all this, the most sacred part, is that we need to lay our grief at the Lord's feet and trust Him that He will help us through.  We need to pour our hearts out to Him when we are needing and let Him decide what we really need to get us through.  I have learned that I am never alone.  That He is always by me.  I have learned that those who He sends stand with me through the hard times and support me no matter how difficult those times are.  

I cherish the great gift of friendship that is sent by Him.    

Sabbath Day Scribblings - Fail to Try

“It matters not if you try and fail and try and fail again. 

It matters much if you try and fail and fail to try again.”

“Because I Have a Father”

PAUL H. DUNN

You remember that the Duke of Wellington was talking of the Battle of Waterloo when he said that it was not that the British soldiers were braver than the French soldiers. It was just that they were brave five minutes longer.  And in our struggles sometimes that’s all it takes—to be brave five minutes longer, to try just a little harder, to not give up on ourselves when everything seems to beg for our defeat.

But the record of Christ’s life on earth certainly shows that he was not above caring for the human-size needs or fears of his earthly companions. Do you remember when Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, died? Both sisters rushed to meet Christ to tell him of their sorrow and find comfort. And as they met him, they said in turn, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died”  (John 11:21, 32). Now, who would know better than Jesus Christ that there was to be a resurrection so that Lazarus would live again? He didn’t just say to them, “Chin up, ladies. It’s only a few years before you see your brother again.” Instead the scriptures tell us, “Jesus wept”  (John 11:35), wept in pure compassion for the pain and lack of understanding of his two friends. Then he hurried to the tomb and raised Lazarus from the dead.

Well, our frustrations and disappointments may be just pinpricks in the eternal scheme of things, but since they do not seem that way to us, they do not seem that way to the Lord. Quit thinking that tomorrow your problems will go away and life will begin in earnest. The Lord is waiting to help you cope today if you will lay your human-size needs at his divine feet. Pray in specifics about the problems, little or big, that impede your progress and dull your best dreams. Knock, seek, and you shall find the answer to your prayers. That I promise you because you really are his child. He will give you the comfort and the counsel that you need, the courage to lift up your head and face your todays with faith and hope.