My Simple Daybook~April 15, 2017

Our lives pass swiftly by!

Remembering and recording the everyday

 moments is a great gift to leave behind.

The big things are important, but it is in the details

that our story is born.

The telling of the ordinary moments

are the Threads from 

which the bigger stories emerge.

These things are important links to the 

outcome of what our posterity will inherit from us.

These Daybook posts are my attempt at it.

Just for today~Saturday, April 15, 2017

Outside My Window...It is 3:00 p.m. and I have been working and playing here at my desk a good part of the day. Outside my window I have been watching a scene from the past.  Jim working on his cars.  He got involved in a car accident a few weeks ago and his car was totaled in the process.  He was not hurt and neither was the other driver, but the car died.  To look at it the damage doesn't look too bad but the frame was bent so it is done.  So what I have been seeing out of my window all day is Jim trading out parts from the old broken car to the just purchased fraternal twin. The white car has replaced the champagne car...otherwise they are the essentially the same.  The new Toyota has a lot more miles on the engine than the older one did, thus the switching of many part including the engine from the one to the other. I personally like the white one better.  There is something very nice about white cars.  It is that they look clean even when they aren't quite.  It did my heart good to see him fixing up his new one and enjoying himself in the process.  

I Am Thankful For...The gift that neither one of the drivers were hurt in anyway.  It made me realize once again how much more important people are than things and hassles and money.  I feel so blessed that Jim has not been hurt and he is all the more precious to me when I think about how differently it could have turned out. A few seconds earlier could have been a disaster.

Spiritual Thoughts...I supposed it is natural that as a person ages they begin to see a lot of things in a different light.  In so many way getting older is a tremendous gift and blessing. 

I think most people come to view everything with new a perspective as our earthly journey gets closer and closer to coming to an end.  Things that were once so important seem trivial and things that seemed like they could wait, no longer can.  

We tend to be a lot more careful when that feeling that we will have all the time in the world begins to wane. To be feeling invincible and cavalier about things comes to a screeching halt all on its own. Especially when it is time to getting real!

What is truly important? What  do I really believe? When what I really need and want are right in front of me, I do sit up and take notice with real intent?  At my age...I do.

For me it is my relationship to God that is the foundation for everything else. It helps me separate the wheat and the chaff and that is why it is such a great time to be alive.  

From The Learning Room...I've learned that it is spirituality, health, family and friends that are the real treasures in life. It's being able to serve and love and help my fellowman, being able to appreciate the beauty of life, the earth, and eternal promises that mean so much to me. 

It is appreciating my husband and partner more than ever. The person who is my person.  The one who has witnessed my life and I his. The person with whom I have built a family and have enjoyed almost everything of importance to me with in the past half century.  That is what matters. The joys and sorrows of life holding hands with him. That matters.  

It is learning that my heart has an infinite amount of space for loving other people.  So much so  that if I follow Jesus Christ's example I can love everyone some day.  It takes work and prayer.

Learning matters.  Academics, as well as, life's vicissitudes teach us.  Though the ups and downs we continue to grow and develop and become more of who we are supposed to be.  Recognition of this is what growing older is all about. 

Repentance, refinement, restoration of the mind, emotions, and the soul.  It's seeing more clearly what has always been there.  And loving all of it.  For better or worse evolves until it is all good.  It's all good because of the experiences we have had and survived, that shape us into better, kinder people. If we did not know hard things and times we would not develop the kind of compassion that makes us love better.

I Am Praying For...time.  Time to get to be the best I can hope for in this life.  I want to learn so many things, do so many things, be so many things that I am working on. Sometimes the progress seems small but the movement forward is what matters most.  Simply trying. Progression not perfection.

Quoting Pinterest...

The most beautiful photo on Pinterest today...

I love this picture it is what I'd love the side of our house to look like that approaches the pond and patio.  Michelle, my plant whisperer, is this possible?

Watching...We have been watching Medici.  It is a series all about the Medici family of bankers that ruled in Florence, Italy for many years.  The show is a more graphic than we like, (being forewarned you can just fast forward during those parts should you choose to watch it) but the story is unbelievably good and is a true story.  I have also been watching Home Fires on PBS.  It is a two season story about WW2 and I have enjoyed it immensely.

Thinking About...how happy we are tonight for our son, Christopher, who has been an associate professor for 8 years and just today he was promoted to being a full professor.  His application was submitted six month ago and was over 300 pages.  Much is required and this is a tremendous accomplishment for him. We are so pleased for him.  He has worked very very hard for this. Melissa, his wife was a huge factor in her supporting him so this could happen.  

Our three kids! Today it's 

Chris' day for a shout out!

So proud of you,Son!

In the Kitchen...As you know I have been eating a lot of salad in the past 18 months.  Today I made a pot roast in the show cooker.  It was warm and comforting and delicious.  This winter weather is getting to me.  I needed this.  Jim too.  It was a nice cozy dinner tonight. I also bought a bunch of veggies for a big pot of soup.  Jim will make it in the morning as I get ready for my class tomorrow at the Library.  Things are good right now in the kitchen!

Loves and Passions...I love visiting new places and learning about life in different cultures and times.  I do not enjoy living out of a suitcase.  I am passionate about history and the older I get the more important it becomes to me. I want to learn about and understand everything now in the last years of my life that I didn't have enough time for in my younger years.  I find it very stimulating in spite of the frustration of having so much to learn every single day.  I enjoy the experiences of other through reading.  All day most days I am either reading or writing in my discretionary time after chores are done.  I love the intellectual stimulation of studying things that are difficult and trying to master them. And remember them.  That is the tough part. I like intellectual challenges.  They keep my mind active and more alert. These are just a few of my loves and passions and favorite things.

Photos I'm sharing...some Easter photos incase you missed them on social media.

Jim's mom at 90 years old, prepared a spectacular brunch for us on Easter morning.  How wonderful is that?  I hope I would be able to do something this elegant at her age.  

We went to church with mom and our great nephew Thomas and his dad Michael.  Her church is quite different than ours and yet in their love of Christ very similar.

Her minister talked about the gift of the resurrection for some time and then turned his thoughts to love.  What is the opposite of love he asked?  It is not hate but rather indifference.  Then he said something I really loved.  He simply said, "Love pays attention".  

To that I am adding...When we love people we look at what they need, we notice the small things and we remember them. We try to make their life better through our love for them.  We empathize, we sympathy, we help, we are affectionate and kind. We listen to what they are not saying. We work at making their time on earth a little more gentle, comfortable and happy.  We support and we serve them. We concentrate on our giving of love and not so much what we get in return.  That takes care of itself.  Love is a verb.  It is what we give.  It is being intentional and thoughtful and focusing on that love to foster it and nourish it and make it grow.  It is living the golden rule. Treating our loved ones the way we'd love to be treated.  Sometime we just make things more complicated when they do not need to be.  

Until next time, be happy, be loving, keep making progress and love the life you live.  It is important and it is fleeting.