Beauty really does come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. It all depends on your perspective and angel.
Viewing a brilliant mountain sunset can be all about the incline or all about the glowing orb in the sky. It can be all about the painted sky.
Or it can be about the tiny patch of flowers at your feet that will be trampled if you take another step.
Viewing an enormous crisis can be all about the chaos of sights and sounds or about the multiple dilemmas that have just been added. It can be all about the loss of time, money and energy.
Or it can be about the tiny hand grasping yours that is desperate for reassurance and comfort.
It all depends upon your vantage point.
So, what do you see?
Where is your focus?
Beauty is all around you if you can only open your eyes to see.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
Proverbs 4:18-19
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
The best piece of advice would actually be two statements given by different people, but the statements work together:
It takes 1,000 tiny miracles to make a marriage work.
Marriage will only last best when Christ is at the center.
These might sound a bit cliche, and if you don’t have a relationship with Christ; then, it might not even make sense to you. Or if you’ve “been a Christian but everything went wrong in my marriage/in life,” then, it might be a difficult concept for you to accept.
Let me say this loud and clear and long:
Just because the statement did not/does not ring true in your own life, does not make the statement untrue.
That’s why these two statements work so well together. It truly takes a 1,000 tiny miracles to get the right two people together, at the right time, in the right location, under the right circumstances, and in the right context, in the right season for each.
Much more is it tiny miracles that keep those two love birds together over time. After all, he is marrying a woman. And she is marrying a man. Imagine that. Lol. They think differently, act differently, speak differently, react differently, even feel differently. How in the world can that work?
And that’s where God comes in. He is the Creator of our very lives. He designed every part of us and breathed breath into our lungs. How could He not be the miracles working within our lives? But there’s one caveat. He allows us to have the freewill of choice.
You heard me right. He’s the Almighty, great Creator of heaven and earth and all that we see. He is the Master Designer of all creation and of the intricate, complex beings called humans. He is the Alpha Omega, the Beginning and the End, meaning He can create and finish life and everything in it and around it.
Yet, He in His ultimate design, He gives us the ability to choose. We can choose Him or not. We can choose love or hate. We can choose life or death. We get the beautiful freedom of choice.
And what we do with that choice will determine the beautiful finality of those 1,000 tiny miracles that it takes to make a marriage work. What we do in choosing determines where we end up in life and who we end up with. What we do with the choices determines how we think, how we speak, how we act, interact and react, and it determines how we live our lives.
Every. Single. Day.
Every. Single. Minute of that Day.
Every. Single. Second of that Minute of that Day.
These choices don’t automatically make us somehow perfect. They don’t make us sinless. But if we’re daily choosing Christ and the things of Him, it will make us seek perfection, and it will make us sin less. And if two people are seeking, choosing, sacrificing and loving in these ways, it surely helps to support and strengthen a healthy union.
So, what will you choose?
Or better yet, WHO will you choose?
And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Honestly, I don’t run at all. It’s actually not a good choice over the long haul. I know. I know. All the runners out there are scoffing right now. I’m sorry. I’ve read too much about the detrimental effect running has on your knees and all of your joints.
And I have watched personally a man in our community who proudly proclaims how much he runs (minimum 5miles) every day. I’ve seen him run in our community for the last 22 years, and he doesn’t look healthier. He looks older, more bent over, and stiff. Now, I know he’s only one example, and I’m sure you could give me a list of runners who are not so.
But I also have a troublesome knee that won’t let me run much. We did a running program a few years ago, and I was so excited to pick up my long forgotten running record from high school and try it again. To give a little background, in HS, we’d always have to do those fitness tests twice a year (yes. I know I’m that old. Lol), and we’d run all year long. So, I’d leave the girls behind and run with the guys. I usually would finish 4th to 5th place running anywhere from 5.30-6min miles. Once, I completed a 4.55minute mile, but I think I could’ve died that day. Haha.
Anyway, that’s nothing to brag about. There were three other guys who were lightening speed in comparison, and I’m sure some could read this and think that’s rather slow. Regardless, that’s not the point to this post…
So, I do try to walk, but I’m not consistent to do it everyday, and I certainly don’t walk as much as I probably should or even could. I read post by a good blogging friend, Linda Schuab over at Walkin’ Writin’, Wit & Whimsy, and I find goals I’d like to meet in my walking routines.
So, my goal is to just get out and do it! I am shooting for 3-5 days a week right now. And this week, I’ve got three days down and hope fully, I’ll have a chance to walk this evening; so, that would give me a four day week.
Here’s to walking and making a point to walk some more! ☺️
How about you? Are you a walker or a runner? What do you like about it, and what is a pain about it? I’d love to know!
My ideal week seemed to have happened this past summer. We spent some time out West in the beautiful scenery of The Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. And it simply took my breath away. Again.
It wasn’t my first time. We went last year, and I went when I was in High School, and we may very well go again next summer. We love it that much.
I read an article or a Fb post recently that described exactly how I felt about it: “Why do you love it? … Because it’s wild. … Imagine a place where you gaze from horizon to horizon and don’t see the hand of man, only God’s.” Yes. This. That’s one of the many reason it is the land that I love. It calls to me.
So, my ideal week was spent living in a cute little home on the other side of the mountains, in a little town in Idaho. We’d drive through the mountains to get to the parks, or we’d drive north to enter the park from the other side. We’d go watch a rodeo down the road or tool on over and go to the zoo in Idaho Falls. We’d walk in downtown Jackson to enjoy the sights, the sounds, and of course, the beautiful antler arches on the square.
We’d go find a hike with a waterfall or an alpine lake, and I’d enjoy the sidelines while my husband snorkeled that crystal clear, frigid, c-o-l-d lake. We’d get up early and drive into town to enjoy a hot, homemade breakfast or come back from our afternoon adventures to enjoy a huckleberry shake at the local emporium.
It was a glorious (almost) two weeks, and we didn’t want to come home! It’s a place to explore, to relax, and simply to breathe.
Yeah. I’m ready for my ideal week already. Let’s go again! And until then, if you catch me napping, I might just be dreaming of my ideal week…
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.
If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?
I’m not sure I use the word regularly, but it’s a word that gets on my nerves if I hear it a lot. If I find myself using it, I work hard to change it because it seems I’m using it as a sentence filler or a pause in the moment because I’m distracted.
I notice it most when I’m listening to someone speak publicly it on a video or something, and they say Umm too much. It can become like a “tic” or routine in someone’s speech that they don’t even realize until they begin to listen back to their conversations and recognize the bad habit.
My journey didn’t stop with mere time travel or writing; it led me to become one of the most sought-after empaths, a soulful psychic who reads the hidden depths of the human spirit. I’ve been blessed—or perhaps burdened—with an ability that allows me to feel the emotions of people from every corner of time.
I am a licensed psychologist based in Greece. My love for housekeeping has inspired me to create this blog about home management and family relationships. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing!
Dedicated to movie nerdom, nostalgia, and soul invigoration. In the late 90s, I worked at Blockbuster Video where they let me take home two free movies a day. I caught up on the classics and reviewed theatrical releases for Denver 'burbs newspapers and magazines. Today, while raising two young, beautiful daughters with my amazing wife, I look forward to anything rated R and not Bluey. Comments and dialogue encouraged!
