Joy

 

Arcaion - Pixabay

As I walked in the light rain after supper, I listened to the birds singing

I paused and identified

Robins

Only Robins

Singing praise for the rain

The air was full or the music

 

Cold breeze

Robins rejoicing

Slow spatter of drops

 

I resumed

Smiled

Breathing deeply I quickened my pace

 

I guess I don't mind being fired.

 

_RHTM_

Die, Blame, Die

ArtRose-Pixabay

 

Who could blame him

I sure wouldn’t blame you if you did

My bad

Mea culpa

“I, I am to blame.”

I didn’t do it, but they blame me

Well, they have to blame someone, otherwise they would feel the guilt of it themselves

 

So much blame in the world

So much vengeful speaking

And all because we don’t like what happened, we don’t want that thing to happen ever again, so if we blame someone we can walk away and leave it there, leave the person, leave the event, leave that moment in time.

 

Thank God that He sent Jesus to take all that blame.

I am forgiven.

Now I can forgive.

 

And when I forgive …

Blame dies

_RHTM_

Check out other writers at FMF

Hurry

12019 - Pixabay

I grew up with hurry.

Hurry up, we’ll be late for church (and, of course, we were).

Hurry up, they’ll be here any minute.

Hurry, you’ll be late for school.

Hurry up, the bus is here.

Hurry up, and eat. We have to leave now.

It seemed as if my life consisted of long periods of lazy, do-what-you-want rest interrupted by short bursts of intense and guilt-ridden rushing.

There was no in-between.

And I had no control over it whatsoever.

There’s not much wrong with hurry, I suppose. Everybody has to do it once in a while. But it stresses me out. It creates drama, hard feelings, and hurtful words. People drop things, trip, bump into each other, forget tasks, make mistakes.

Hurry makes the brain streamline things. Hurry makes my brain all in a jumble.

Hence, why I have tried to make my life an even walk, moving forward, resting only when necessary, planning for the day ahead, week ahead, months ahead.

I have created routines to make sure I remember to do just about everything I need to do, so that when emergencies come, I’m hopefully not drowning in responsibilities.

If I must hurry, or if something unexpected comes up, I am automatically in battle mode. I try to keep calm, but my childhood is strong inside of me. While calm on the outside, the little girl is standing in the middle of the living room waiting for whoever is in charge to tell me what to do.

Or worse, hiding in a closet waiting for it all to end.

I suppose hurry will always be my enemy. I’m grateful God is with me to direct my path when life gets complicated.

With God, even hurry can be calm.

“Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me …” (John 14:1) Jesus said these words right before telling the disciples He was going to get their rooms ready up in heaven. Throughout His life here on earth, I don’t think Jesus hurried. I’m sure he must have felt rushed from time to time, but never intensely guilt-ridden rushed working or sharp words spoken. Thank You, Jesus!

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By the way, there's even a thing called "Hurry Sickness".

Check it out here: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/signs-of-hurry-sickness-how-to-deal_l_6081d78de4b0dff254039874

This article contains lots of links to studies so you can totally go down a rabbit hole if you've never heard of hurry sickness before... You're welcome. :)

_RHTM_

Yes?

 

geralt - Pixabay

Yes

“Yes” doesn’t always mean “yes.”

Sometimes it means, “Yes, I understand, but I don’t agree.”

Sometimes it means acknowledgement that you were heard.

Sometimes it means, “I’ll agree because I’m afraid of you.”

 

Yes is complicated.

I say “yes” too fast, trying to please, not thinking things through, hoping it will all turn out alright, then regret it later. Sometimes I do what I say I will do, pushing through, getting is done. Sometimes I apologize and say, truthfully, I said yes too quickly.

 

I like “yes.”

“Yes” means I get my way.

“Yes” means I’m forgiven.

“Yes” means I have something special to look forward to.

After life has beat me up a little, I know “yes” will always come slowly. If someone walks away before I get a chance to say “yes” then the thing wasn’t meant to be.

But I have found that I can wait a long time before deciding. It’s the people asking that are impatient, manipulative, arrogant.

So, since they won’t give me a chance to think before I say “yes,” then it’s a “no.”

Just “no.”

No.

Why is it wrong?

 

Terimakasih0 - Pixabay

Question

Questions are good. In fact, I just read that the Jewish people in ancient times believed that questions were sacred.

I was not raised that way, however. I have found that most of the people I have dealt with professionally were not raised that way either.

As a child I questioned everything. In high school I questioned how my parents raised me and I questioned the leadership at my church. This was met with mixed responses. Yes, I could have been more graceful with my questions, but I was desperate to know and understand differences, at that time, between my friends at school and my family circle.

I learned to be careful asking questions by the time I got to college. Unfortunately, most of my professors were also raised as I was: Don’t ask questions. Just do it.

But I have never been fully squelched of my need to ask questions.

It drives people crazy sometimes.

So, when I started my work as a reporter I was in heaven. I got to ask questions AND write them down! Wonderful!

I met a lot of people who were raised not to ask questions. I knew how to handle them because I had half a lifetime of experience getting information from people.

And I realized that I wasn’t the one at fault. I never was.

I was actually beaten up emotionally for being curious.

So, I raised my children to ask questions and I welcomed questions. It was challenging because sometimes they asked questions I was not prepared to answer. I worked hard not to be offended and practiced, “hold that question, I’ll get back with you.”

And I did.

I truly believe questions are sacred.

We should treat them as such.

 

_RHTM_

Apart

 

NoName_13 - Pixabay

Apart

When we are apart, I miss you.

When we are together, I am calm.

 

I pulled the orange apart and got juice on my shirt.

Never pull fighting cats apart. It does not end well.

 

You’ll have to keep those two apart, she said with the rich words of experience.

They’re friends. Even if you put them on opposite sides of the room, they will still cause trouble.

 

Some relationships are better apart.

 

But not ours.

 

_RHTM_

Water

12019-Pixabay

 

Water

Water, clear, sweet, cool, full of minerals.

Water hydrates us to give us energy, to fight sickness, to get rid of toxic things, to keep us clean.

Water can be boiled to make tea, coffee, hot chocolate.

Water is necessary.

Water is life.

 

Water, fresh every day, clear and precise read right off the page, full of wisdom and knowledge.

Water fills us to give us spiritual energy, fight sin, get rid of bad habits and ugly thoughts, keeps us clean.

Water can be boiled down to its essence for devotions, studies, and prayers.

Water is necessary.

Water is life.

 

_RHTM_

Choose

 

NoName_13 - Pixabay

Choose

Choose today whom you will serve.

Choose the best answer.

I choose you!

You have the right to choose.

I don’t know which to choose. There are so many choices!

God chose me. Therefore, I choose God.

I can’t choose, I say, walking around the house, wondering where to start.

 

“You choose,” he said.

And now I feel dread.

 

_RHTM_

Smile

 

pexels-pixabay

Smile

A smile is a powerful thing. Just using it as you speak to someone sparks a tiny flame of good feeling in that person.

Smiles reflect.

Smiles are contagious.

I am not a natural smiler. I am more of an inappropriate smiler.

I smile when I’m embarrassed. I smile when I’m sad. Sometimes I smile when I’m angry.

I don’t smile while I’m listening and talking to you because I don’t smile when I concentrate. As I listen, I focus hard on understanding what you are saying. As I speak, I focus on using the right words and I watch to see that you understand what I’m saying. I don’t smile when I concentrate.

In fact, as I’m typing this, there’s a scowl on my face.

I know these things, and I know some people are afraid of people who don’t smile.

So, I try to smile more.

Smiling helps my mood. There was that article about that study that I read that if you smile your brain sends messages to your body that you are smiling so it lifts your mood, so the actual act of smiling makes you smile.

Try it. It’s true.

Smile.

 

_RHTM_

Suffer

Darkmoon_Art - Pixabay

Sometimes I hear pastors say that we in this day and age don’t suffer. That the people who were martyred for the sake of their faith in Jesus were the ones that really suffered. Anything we go through is, they say, just whining like a baby.

But I know that our suffering IS suffering. It’s real and we are trained by it through the Holy Spirit.

My suffering is different from yours. I will probably never go through what you went through. But it is still suffering. The suffering Jesus talked about, and Peter, and Paul.

Never belittle someone’s suffering. Do not insult the work of God in their life.

And always pray for them to be strong in the Lord.

 

Thank you, Father, for making sense of our suffering, for redeeming it, and for making it count for something – an eternal something.

_RHTM_