I will post daily from my selections taken personally at the 2012 Grand Rapids Michigan Art Prize. This larger than life bird was created with silverware.

Good smells, good colors, Good God

    You can have your summer pinks and delphinium blues. I love the crimson colors of autumn.
I baked Pecan Caramel Brownies today, and four kinds of squash. Wow the house smells good.
    The colors and the aroma's don't bring the usual tingle. Am I becoming discouraged about these days. The family, the community, the country and the world are discombobulated. It almost turns my insides out at the thought of the hannis crimes of humanity. But in the face of the treachery, Judgement comes, God will judge the next life, later life or today. God will not be mocked. Scripture will be fulfilled. God will have His witnesses. God will have His way. And in the meantime we are called to wait, and scripture demonstrates that in the waiting the people pray.
Note to self: Everything God Plans comes true.
                      Everything God Purposes comes true.
                      Everything that is Is according to God's Providence.
God is the Only always in my life.
God will expose the wicked He has every right to judge sin and He may do it right now!
God's work, God's name, God's Glory will not falter.
We are privileged to speak out His way, His mission, His plan: all indestructible...if he can't count on us he says even the stones will speak, God will find "one" to get His word out. Will it be me? Will it be you?

God loves us, and says love will never fail! Peace to you, peace to me and peace over our planet.

Interesting book to read

..1,200 university presidents and 1,000 CEOs were asked to name the book that had most affected their lives. The Bible was by far the most influential book in this survey of leaders. One in four listed the Bible as the most important book in their lives. The second book on the list - Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities- was named as the most infuluential book by one in twenty-five.




Victor Hugo, author of Les Miserables, observed, "England has two books, the Bible and Shakespeare. England made Shakespeare, but the Bible made England."



Immanuel Kant, one of the world's most influential philosopers, said, "The Bible is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced..A single line in the Bible has consoled me more than all the books I ever read besides."

...

John Quincy Adams treated the Bible as the key education resource in the lives of his children; "So great is my veneration for the Bible that the earlier my children begin to read it, the more confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens to their country and respectable members of society."



Understanding the Bible is daunting just because of its size. More than that, it was written in times and cultures very different from our own.

We are all like the Ethiopian treasurere, riding along in his chariot reading the prophet Isaiah. Philip approached him and asked, "Do you understand what you're reading?" He replied, "How can I..unless someone guides me?" (Acts 8:30-31)



This is from the introduction to yet another resourse I am digging into to assist me to understand the bible...

I hope your bible is not dusty, I hope that you find a copy on your bookshelf, I hope you will open it, open your heart...let it speak to you...find your personal peace and consolation! Life is a journey and I have always believed that no organized religious group has the market cornered on the truth, I believe the Bible is a great launch pad to our truth and collective eternal being...consider reading it. Find guides along your way to understanding..

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The Spirit can show up anywhere!

 Sometimes you just say the craziest things and then there are times that you say nothing and your kind and thoughtful heart is expressed in an unexpected thoughtfulness. Thank you.

Today I sensed a whispering of the Spirit of God around me, in a loving act of kindness. In the Spirit’s presence I become even more aware of the burdens, hurts and fears of those around me. Life is hard and everyone is fighting a hard battle.

I realize my neediness and God’s love for me when I am in His presence. That Godly affection sometimes appears in unsuspected places, maybe even as my desperate face is pasted against the rear passenger window of a Runabouts car.

Today I am posting this thought: I need some happy thoughts to start dancing in my head!
I know my thoughts move like waves in an ocean. Much depends on the thoughts I allow into my thinking and on those thoughts that I meet at the door of my mind with a hearty, "Get Lost"! Today I am happy for: Encouragement from the teachings of Joyce Meyer
                                       God in my Life
                                       The promise of a rhubarb plant turning into a pie
                                      Lauren Everett Finn and her example of taking complex and keeping it free from complexity! aka: keeping it light and airy simply filled with color. She helps me see things outside of my constraints.
                                       Happy faces and thoughtfulness.
                                       The opportunity to say, Thank You to others.

In a stressful inhale, remember the others that also desire some of that oxygen and relaxation.

Exhale slowly to extinguish the flame and inhale purposefully so you leave some light to refresh others.

                                        .

......on being a mom..God provides grace and mercy moment by moment, Satan provides feelings that can't be trusted, I am not always my best self and as a result not always the best mom. I do know what it is to be loved and to love and to be without love, but I have tried to never turn my back to God for long. I pray Mercy for me and moms like me today.

            I Can't tell which is more beautiful God's Rose or God's hand in the lives of His children.

Last night I surprised my parents, (both age 82) to a surprise, I showed up at there door with my suitcase in one hand and a pizza in the other. "I've come to spend the night." It was so swell to sleep upstairs in my family home in my brother's old room in a bed that no one had slept in for more than 10 years. God's hand was in the whole time, letting go of all preconceived notions of my life with my family, I just slipped into a beautiful night and day. What a blessing for me!

May 2012 musings

My heart muscle is in uncharted waters

A bit like my girls’ old Stretch Armstrong doll

When they used to pull him apart, stretching in every direction

And by days’ end he pulled himself back together

I am sad for the Harkness family

I am sad for Linda’s daughter

I am sad for all the JNL Family that have faced loss

I miss you all

I miss Statements

I miss wrestling with beneficiary changes

I miss putting on my socks

I miss holding anything in my left hand, like a pen .

I am filled with gratitude

I had a very close call

My days of recuperation have been thought full

Some of you have been where I have been and will understand this

When I saw the “comfort basket” I was overwhelmed with your kindness

Every single item was perfect for what I needed

Thank you, for your gifts and cards have brought me cheer

“Everyone we meet is fighting a hard battle.”

I am blessed to share in our battles together as a Jackson Family, placed in this place at this time for God’s purpose and plan. Thanks so much, Robin in the Spring of 2011 after receiving the most thought instilling gift basket from workmates following an auto accident. Following this accident a workmates daughter passed and an other's sister was paralyzed as the result of actions of a negligent driver.