Always

Sometimes, life can get hard.  It can take unexpected turns.  A mountain road looms ahead when we expected the quick free-way.  It can be messy too.  Full of hurts and things that we truly could never happen to us.  Sometimes, things just aren't what they seem or what we wish or how they need to be.
But, for all of those sometimes, there is and Always.  He is always there.  Always awake.  Always loving.  Always willing.  Always gracious.  Always truthful.  Always faithful.  Always kind.   Always comforting.  Always providing. Always.  Not sometimes....
But, it's easy to let the sometimes overtake the Always.  It's easy to forget that he is constant and without fail for us.  Not for what we want, but for us.  Cheering us on.  Encouraging us.  Believing the best about us.  Patient with us.  Willing to stay.  The sometimes will end or change, but the Always never will. 
And that is what means so much to me this Easter.  My Always has overcome my sometimes with His forever overshadowing my right now.
blessings,
rhonda

But once a year.....

Birthdays come but once a year.  And, when I was a child, that seemed like way too infrequently.  I mean, I loved cake.  And presents and parties.  I loved the hoopla.   Although, I have never enjoyed being sang to out in public nor opening gifts in front of people.  That's ok, it was set off by the presents.  Children and birthdays are an amazing thing.  Better than Christmas to a degree because it's ALL yours.  Yep. Being a child was amazing.
However, now that I'm just a wee bit past legal.  Alright, a bit past.  Ok, a ways past double legal.  Since this time of life has come, birthdays are different.  They are a time of being thankful.  For life.  For others.  For being able to live.  They have become more markers of time past than time that I am racing towards.  They are checkpoints of how I am living. 
So, this once a year, I get to stop in my mind and look back over the year and decide whether I have LIVED.  I get to really think about where I am headed.  It is more significant than New Years.  It is MY own personal new year.  I have no resolutions to write....because I am terrible with resolutions.  However, there are places I want to grow.  Places that I want to forgive in myself.  Places that I need to toughen up.  And soften up.  But, once a year, it's a time, no matter where I am or how I am, to simply thank God that I STILL am. 
blessings,
rhonda

Movement

The ocean rolls in and out.  Seemingly without change, but little by little, it forces it's way inward and onto the land.  And then, just as slowly, inch by inch, outward, back to the depths.  And when watching it, it doesn't seem like much is changing.  It doesn't seem to matter.  But every time the tide comes in, it provides water and nourishment for those creatures that live along the coastline.  It drops off the dregs of the sea as well as cleaning off the debris that was left.  Every inch is a bit of progress.  Though, none of us would probably even notice.
It's like that in life.  The most significant types of  "movement" happen little by little with seemingly little change.  And yet, over time, it seems like suddenly something big has occurred.  Like children growing.  It is always amazing when they suddenly overtake their parents.  When, little by little, over the years they have been changing and becoming the adults they will be.  It didn't happen overnight, though it often seems so.
Good things and bad things in our lives happen this way too.  Little by little things can get better and little by little, things can get worse.  It depends upon each little decision.  Each desire.  Each hope.  Each experience.  Each moment of faith.  It depends on whether we care enough.  On whether we are courageous enough.
The thing is that movement, genuine movement, takes time.  Generally, people don't love someone one day and hate them the next (or vice versa).  It takes many acts, many minutes, many choices.  But, over time, it adds up to a whole.  And while each little thing might not seem like much, it contributes to the direction of the movement for all time.  Some people become stagnant, not able to make up their minds and head one direction or the other.  In that case, almost without fail, someone else will eventually act and cause them to move one way or the other.
So, keep your eyes open.  See which way you need to be moving and do the things that head you in that direction.  Whether it's joyous or difficult, there is joy in the journey.  There is contentment in doing what you are meant to do.  Just as the ocean rolls in.  And rolls out.  Doing it's job every day.  I want to do that in life.  If my life were the ocean, sometimes all motion would stop while I would decide what direction to go.......even though it's very clear.  Surrendering to that clarity is often more difficult than it seems.  Look carefully.  But, don't be afraid.  You will do what you need to be doing for this season.  The next season might be entirely different.  Movement is the norm.  Change is constant in the whole world.  Guess we should get used to it.
blessings,
rhonda

Good and Plenty

One day, while at Costco, there was a FIVE pound bag of good and plenty's.  Wow.  And they were really cheap.  I mean, in those boxes you get what, 6 ounces?  So, of course, my friend and I were compelled to buy it.  I mean, we really liked good and plenty's.  A lot.  You can never get enough good and plenty's.  Well, until you buy a five pound bag.  The, about two handfuls in, you've had enough.  You can barely look at the bag, let alone eat anymore.  The smell even seems a tad sickening.  Five pounds of good and plenty's is more than plenty.  It's like...........crazy.  But, it was such a good DEAL. 
So many deals seem good at the time.  Like you can't pass them up.  The kind at the grocery store.  Or the kind in relationships.  But, what something seems is not always how it really is.  Sometimes my mind is blinded by the offer of something big for little money.  Or by not having to do a chore that I don't want to do in return for some favor.  Life is like that.  Good deals.  Making deals. 
But, while deals are good in the grocery store.  Good at the Wal-Mart.  Good when getting a decent buy.  Sometimes, the deal is not good.  It's like the bag of good and plenty's.  It LOOKS good, it sounds tempting, but really, it stinks.  And, when that is the case, it's ok to say, "no thanks."  I'm still learning that.  I don't have to take every deal that comes along.  In any venue.  I get to choose.  So do you.
I chose those good and plenty's and they should have been called horribly too much's........I learned my lesson the hard way.  But I plan on remembering it so as not to waste it. 
blessings,
rhonda

Winter

Sometimes, in the middle of a bright, warm, spring-like day....even a truly Spring day.....Winter can sneak right back in.  Today, in Colorado, it was in the mid-50's this morning.  It was about 80 yesterday.  Sunshiny in that bright blue sky Colorado way.
But, today, this afternoon, snow is blowing and sticking and covering my car.  It is cloudy and the kind of day where you want a blanket and a book.  The kind of day when you wonder if it really, truly IS Spring.
That happens in life too.  At least in my life.  Sometimes, I get through Winter and breathe a sigh of relief that Spring has come.  I begin to relax and feel a sense of warmth.  But, when I don't expect it, sometimes, Winter sneaks back in. 
Everyone here is saying, "we need the moisture."  Maybe in life sometimes I need the moisture of the Wintery storm in the middle of Spring too.  The remembering how to appreciate the warmth.  The knowing that it takes all seasons to cause growth.  Some plants can't even come back without a winter freeze.  And, goodness knows that my grass seed will do better with this nice, thick snow.  And in my life, it is the same.  Though it makes me shake...and grab a blanket....and a book.  Though it makes me tremble.  Still, Spring is still here.  This is just a passing storm.
blessings,
rhonda

At the End of the Day

If at the end of the day, I can see ways in which I benefited others.  If I can see in my mind the people who smiled because I lifted their spirits just a little bit.  If I can remember how it felt to see the sun rise....or set.  If I have  given my best to something important to me.  If I have done some work.  And some play.  And some stillness.  If at the end of the day, I can look in a mirror and feel confident that the day was spent well. If I can stop and remember how much Jesus loves me.   Then, no matter the circumstances, it was a very good day. 
I hope that you had a very good day.
blessings,
rhonda

Get the Dirt

I know a lot of people like to get the dirt.  I do too.  I buy some every year.  I used to get to go to Kmart, but alas, now I am forced to the Super Wal-Mart.  I buy soil.  Manure.  Stinky stuff and fluffy stuff.  I have a nice tall stack out by my front door even as I write.  And I CAN'T wait to use it.  But, first, I've got to prepare the garden, the space.  I have to get it ready to accept the new things. 
My dirt is good and healthy.  Though sometimes smelly. It gives strength and growth to new life. But, the dirt that many people like is not so good and never so healthy for the person that they have "dirt" on.  I like playing in the dirt.  Enjoy the growth it can bring.  But, the kind of dirt some people play in does not bring growth but humiliation and pain.
When choosing which kind of dirt to dig in.....be careful.  Be wise.  Don't bring someone down because you can.  Perhaps spend some time in the other kind of dirt where you will have time to think and reflect.  Getting the dirt on someone is a big responsibility.  Way more so than buying the dirt at the store.  So, don't use it.  Sometimes your friends will need to vent.  Sometimes you will.  But, the best of friends know how to clean up the dirt with us......not spread it around.  The world is full of dirt. MY life is full of dirt.  I treasure those who help me clean it up, not spread it around.  Don't you?
blessings,
rhonda