Who is Looking in the Mirror at the End of a Day? A Human with Vulnerabilities.  All over the world, you will find the majority of people standing before a mirror at the end of a day.  Foam from their toothbrushes pressing the corners of their mouths.

 CEO’s.  Executive of This and That.  Construction Workers.  Mailmen.  The Jobless.

Various Pyjamas or Lack Thereof.  Through Common Ritual, we realize we are in a Common Experience.

Can we Just Stand Toe to Toe for a Moment?

 The Executive of This and That Company is Scared Too.  Just as The Jobless.

The Uncertainty of Life hangs in the Balance for them too.  Inside an executive’s custom suited chest is a Time Ticker.  At any Moment, things can Come to a Close.  A Common Experience is Uncertainty.  CEO’s go to bed on the Hope of Another Day.  That the Sun will be on their face Tomorrow, the Wind on their Back.  Just like the Jobless One on their Plastic Cot under the Charity Blanket at the Mustard Seed.  Hoping against Hope.   Why do we Feel Titles and Bank Accounts and the Trappings of Life make us Less Vulnerable to Fears and Uncertainty?  It Doesn’t.  Look at the Statistics.

Alcoholism and Suicide is Rampant too  in the Upper Crust .

There’s the Common Experience of Hunger.  In its Myriad Forms.

Hunger for Love.  Support.  Kindness.  Warmth.

Everyone  has this Common Need.  At our Core, is a Common Longing to be Understood, Accepted and Adored. It’s an Ache in the Chest when it’s Denied.  A wonderful Satiation fills the Soul when it’s Enjoyed.  A Washington Lobbyist in their Office with Marble Floors and Sky High Views and the Parolee in the Garbage Strewn  Graffiti Adorned Alley behind the Lobbyists’ Office are Equally Needy and Vulnerable to this Common Experience of Hunger.

Our Needs are Basic.  Common. We are all Vulnerable.

 No Bank Account, Title, Education can make us Less Vulnerable to These Things.  We all Rely on Sovereign Grace.  For Granting us Time and Opportunity.  We Also Desperately need Grace from Each Other.  From Humanity.  I Pray we can Show Grace to Each Other.

Kindness.  Love.  Warmth.  Support.

Without it, Society Crumbles.  For it isn’t Strength of the Economy.  Has nothing to do with Bears and Bulls in New York.  Harvard can’t Teach It.  The Greatest Good to our Fragile World is Grace.

Let’s Give Grace to Each Other.  We’re all in This Together.

I Love You.

xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Have Mine. If I just look over your shoulder and copy your answers, I will Surely Fail. My Exam is Tailor Made to the Lessons I’ve Been Learning. After all, My Life Courses were Different. Module One started Different than Yours. I can Guarantee you, my Last Few Modules were different too. Oh Yes, and the ones In Between. So, Your Answers for Your Life are Different from Mine. What works for you won’t necessarily work for me. As much as we are In This Together, we are facing that exam paper Alone. We each have the Master Teacher. He’s tirelessly prepared us for each test. Given us Perfect Counsel. Shown us where and how to Find Success. Not to Just Succeed, but to Flourish and Excel.

Since we ultimately can’t Take Advice from each other, I can Take Courage from your Dedication. Your Humility to Listen to the Teacher. Your Faithfulness to Show Up To Class every day. Basic Class Rules are the Same. Kindness. Love. Forgiveness. Humility. These I’m Inspired to see my classmates Adhere To and Love.

I’m kinda glad it’s just My Paper. To my Teacher, I Pass or Fail. For this, I can Love my Classmates and Remain Autonomous at the Same Time. It’s the Ultimate Freedom.

Good Luck on Your Life Exam, You Got This.

xoxo

Every morning Charlie and I hit the Stairs.  It’s a beautiful ravine behind my house.

We’ve met the Regulars.  Well, we’ve become the Regulars.  I come to anticipate the breathless good mornings, the quickly uttered encouragement as we pass each other on the various ups and downs.  There’s the Trip Step, we call it.  Invariably someone catches their runner on the nail protruding on Step Fifteen.  We all say in various sentences and with varying degrees of embarrassment and humour  “We gotta bring a hammer…!  Next Time!”  There’s the little rocks left at the top in Piles of Ten.  People sporting them in their pockets like peanuts in the mouth of squirrels. All bumpy and protruding out of their lycra gear.   Loving the ritual of placing Another One at the top.  A Victory Stone.

One man in particular is a unique Stair Person.  He’s someone you see at every beach.  He’s the guy who you admire and are a little incredulous of.  He has mastered the art of “Doing You”.  He’s shirtless and shoeless.  He does his yoga and push ups on the first platform.  Charlie and I have to wait behind him both breathless and panting as he finishes his pushups.  Every time he says “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.”  Hmmm…pretty sure you did, my friend.

The Stairs wouldn’t be the Same without him.  He’s a Little Extra for sure.  But he adds Flavour.  He gives me a chuckle.  He also lets me fly my Freak Flag a little More Wildly too.  Life is boring if the Only People we have around us are Vanilla Flavoured.

Here’s to all Freak Flag Flyers.  Keep Doing You.

Love Ya All.  Go Get Em.  Onward and Upward.

Xoxo

 

 

 

My Beautiful Friend is sitting here Contemplating New Shores.  Adventures.  The Challenges that Lie Ahead when there are Unchartered Waters.  I’m so Proud of Her.  The Seas that Lie Ahead couldn’t be More Treacherous than the Ones she’s Endured.  She’s Chartered the Worst in the Last Years.  So much Disappointment.  Delusion.  Treachery.

I love getting her Texts these Days.  So Peaceful.  Surrendered.  Grateful.  Most of all, she is Ready.  Ready for a New Wind to Set Her Sail.  When we are Trusting the Journey to our Faithful Heavenly Father, we can trust there will be Provision.  Safe Harbours.  Sustenance.  And Gorgeous Beauty.  Breathtaking Beauty.  Storms will only Secure our Faith in the Safety Within His Will.

As my mama says, “No matter how deep the water, it ne’er shall overflow.”.

Here’s to Her.

Here’s to Wind in all of our Sails.

I Love you Fellow Sailors.

xoxo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memories of  Floating Along the windy roads of Home in the blue Mercury Marquis are flooding my mind this morning. My eye level is just above the chrome rim on the door frame.  I mostly see the tops of the trees and wires and blue sky as we head to our cottage for the weekend.  To my right in the passenger seat is my Dear Mama.  In her Blue Willy sweater.  She spent the day at the Fish Market selling her offerings and working in the office upstairs under its tin ceiling.  Her tired head seems to bob along with the deep Baritone of Roger Whitaker playing on the radio.  He sings so rich and smooth …

Did you ever know that you’re my Hero?  And Everything I’d like to Be?  I can Fly Higher than an Eagle, Because You are the Wind Beneath My Wings

My Mama was Wind to everyone who came into her Sphere.  There are Too Many to Count.  It was Selfless and Pure.  Never once was she Kind to someone and turn around and us children hear a Bad Word.  Never a  Judgment Call.  Just Love and Understanding.

I grew up on Hunter Lake Road.  A Road Aptly Named.  Our Surname is Hunter and many Families of Origin lived on this beautiful winding road along the Lake.  I only knew Harmony.  It wasn’t until I left home and the odd rumour would cross my ear that I ever knew there were the typical struggles in the family homes along the lake.  My dinner table never was a place for gossip or a place to share the pain of others.  We lived in Harmony because of Sovereign Grace and Love in my Mama’s Heart.

These are a Few of my Mamaisms…..

“Jeannine, if you are going to be a sweet old lady, you must be a sweet young lady.”

“Honey, I’ve never walked a mile in his moccasins.”

“If each before his own door swept the village would be clean.”

“Awe poor dear….(said often and regular to others struggles)”

“No matter how deep the waters are, they ne’er shall overflow.” (My eyes overflow as I type this one)

“Kindness and love never leave a bruise.” (Texted it to me today….I’ve heard this from a child)

Our home had a Revolving Door for all.  A Spirit of Optimism and Positivity Resided there even amidst the typical Trials and Tribulations of life.  Every Day my Mama Suited Up.  She put on the Breastplate of Love and Kindness and the Helmet of Humility and the Shield of Faith in her Precious Hands.  For that I am so grateful for.  It’s really all that matters.  In the End it is all that Remains.

Thank You Dear Mama, Happy Birthday.

You Truly are the Wind Beneath My Wings.

I love you

xoxo

 

 

 

 

So our Feet must Rest Somewhere.  What Ground are we Standing On?  Our Security is in the Solid and Secureness of the ground under our feet.  Is it the fleeting sands of Wealth?  Beauty?  Human Love? A downturn in the economy wipes away wealth in a day.  Even a lying tongue speaking untruths can find us with a pink slip in our hands.  Beauty?  Oh my goodness.  What a Fleeting Thing that is.  For one that is in the eye of the beholder.  And sometimes if you’re the one beholding, one is beautiful one day and pitiful the next.  We are our own worst enemy and critic.  Human Love?  A very fickle thing.  Even the best lover gets discontent and disillusioned.  Sickness and Death can rob us of our loved ones in a moment.

So where is Unshakeable Ground?  What Ground can keep our Feet in an Even Place through the Trials and Tribulations of Life?

We can Plant our Feet on the Ground of Sovereign Love.  It is Eternal and Constant.  It has the Ability to Satisfy when all else Fails.  It has the Ability to Lift.  Steady.  Inspire.  Strengthen.  Comfort.

There’s a lot of Delusion and Trickery out there.  So many including myself have Succumbed by times to It.  Even Just this Morning as a couple Dear Friends can Attest, I Almost Fell for Delusion. It’s a Powerful Thing.  But all the Wealth, Beauty and Love the World holds out for a Moment in Time will eventually Shake.  Tremble.  Slide Through our Fingers like Shifting Sand.

So Today I Plant My Feet.  In Faith.  On Unshakeable Ground.  And Once Again, My Heart Feels Secure.

So Grateful.

xoxo

By Nature, I’m a Ugly Old Pessimist.  By Spirit, an Eternal Optimistic Unicorn.

By Nature, I hold  Giant Grudges.  By Spirit, Hurts are Irrelevant and Happily Forgotten.

By Nature, Fantastically Fearful.  By Spirit, Super Excited for a Challenge.  Bring it On.

By Nature,  Callously Covetous.  By Spirit, Stupidly Happy (in the words of a good friend).

By Nature, Antagonistically Angry.  By Spirit, Provocation is not Easily Provoked.

By Nature, Blind to Beauty.  By Spirit,  Speechless at the Overwhelming Beauties of Each New Day.

This Nature will never Get Life.  It’s only through the Spirit that Life is Truly Lived.  So here’s to Spirit.

 

I Love you!

xoxo

 

My romantic side like to open my windows wide at the first scent of rain.  Long ago I removed my screens because I love the look of my windows thrown wide without any barriers.  Like a french villa I tell myself.   It means the cat escapes every three minutes and must be retrieved as it instantly has remorse finding itself without the comforting walls of its home.  Only to find itself once more with only its haunches clinging to the window sill and once more making a dive for it.  Charlie my wonderful Yellow Lab gets a anticipatory gleam in her eye as she has come to know the Ritual of Rain.  It’s time to Hit the Road Jack.  Rubber boots retrieved, the hood zipped to the chin and the click of her leash on the collar.  A car drives by and I love the happy splash of the tires as it passes.  The cafe down the street is busily putting out its green and white striped awning over its patrons.  The red gleam from the street lights make a pretty design on the wet streets.  The snap of the umbrellas being opened is a happy sound to me as Charlie and I make our way down the street.  I love when we hit a dry spot and her little paws make the most darling prints down the sidewalk.  Her hips happily swaying.  She enjoys the rain as much as I do.  I think it’s a welcome relief to her some days as it is I.  Charlie finds a spot under the awning next to a happy dog lover who enjoys her company as I sneak in for a steaming americano.  I love the quiet chatter and the smell of blueberry scones and lemon tarts that fill the air along with the freshly roasted Fratello coffee beans.  I love how people take time out for the simple pleasures.  A young man in the corner is reading a book, two young girls are enjoying an afternoon chatting over their cappuccinos.  The little chiming bell welcoming each new customer is so charming.  Charlie is still happily engrossed in her newfound friend outside.  We bid adieu and continue on our happy wanderings.  Life is beautiful, rain or shine.  Sometimes we need to allow it to be though don’t we?  It’s the strangest thing, that enjoyment in life takes the discipline to see it.  To take time to even create it.  It’s all waiting for us each day.  So this was yesterday.  Today, the sun is shining.  There’s weeding and car cleaning on the agenda. Laundry.  I will take time today to enjoy these simple tasks.  I refuse to allow them to become just a task, but I am committed for them to be a way to enjoy the Gift of Life.  You with me?

 

I love you.

xoxo

When we stop Acting and Reacting from our own Moral Compass it is Veritable Suicide.  We all should have our own Value System.  Not contingent on the moral compass of the Most Popular Kid in Class so to speak.  The person in your current line of vision who is Scintillating your Senses.  Popularity and who is being Admired in Society changes on a Whim.  Our sense of Who We Are and what we want to bring to the world should be Settled.  Engraved in our Being.  We should act from that Moral Code first in our Thoughts.  The Private Chambers of our Hearts.  It should then first Extend to our Families.  Then outwards into the World.  Then we Know we are being True.  True to Ourselves.  Not taking on the Values of Others.

I’ve had Chapters in Life that left me Rattled.  As I Emulated what I thought Others wanted from me.  What would make me Accepted.  The Initial High of Being Accepted was never worth the Empty Feeling of Betraying Myself.

It’s good for me each day to Center Myself.  Remember Who I Am.  What I Value.  I then ask my Creator for Strength to Be those things.  Then I have Self Confidence.  The TRUE kind that can only come from knowing in my very core that I am being True to Myself.  Then I am Content.  Peaceful.  Satisfied.

I Love You All So Much

xoxo