If You're Curious...

Truthfully, blogging started out as curiosity in designing web pages and essentially just playing around.  Stemming from a love of desktop publishing (which I know only a tad bit about and only self-learned), I tried out a template and discovered a wonderful thing...writing thoughts and feelings out on "cloud" paper was liberating and stirred that quickening of spirit to share our Creator in any way I could.  

The urge to write comes in spurts...to deliberately sit down to write eludes me for I have no art, only emptiness when nothing comes from the heart that demands the keyboard to strike.  Every post I believe to be my last, because I have seen my feeble attempts to invent an honorable subject.  

But the love of God and His faithfulness do not leave me stilled. My heart is stirred and the hope that sharing will be beneficial to others in some small way is born.  God's love is contagious!

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6 - ESV)

I confess that in my many years on this earth, I have failed more times than I can remember to reflect His light.  I have passed up many opportunities to share Jesus...being unprepared or afraid of being rebuffed or simply unworthy... none of which is an excuse. 

If I have passed by you in neglect, then I am truly sorry.  The soul is precious and must be nurtured and preserved for His purpose. Every soul is cherished by the Lord.

If by chance any of my words cause your heart to turn toward the loving Father, then a little light has pierced the darkness and the glory of God fills both our souls! 

Caregiver Tears

Just as the waves come rolling onto shore, the pull of the current recedes, vanishing with a few thousand grains of sand.  Some days the sea is calmer, the water clearer, and much less frantic.  Life slows, maintains and rests.  But never to be forgotten, the waves return, erosion is inevitable and damage is calculated by units of measure that go back to the beginning of time.

So it is with dementia.

My sweet Millie

Gradually, dementia's waves erode and destroy, and no matter the effort of stabilization, one's essence is bit by bit scattered, as the sands in the seas. The good days are good but scattered with minutes to hours of vagueness and apathy.

Caregiver, there are no words of comfort to give you, no one to take your place.  For you are on a journey with your loved one you could never imagine.  Normalcy is gone forever.  Another version now and another version later.  

The ups and down of life are for each to traverse, to experience, to find joy or grief.  The one constant in life is the Savior, the Father and Holy Spirit.  For He is always with us, ready to listen and sympathize and give you peace.

Find His peace and find it again.  Stay as long as you can and know Him.  For He alone can give you the assurance of seeing your loved ones again.  He alone loves more than you.

Sure, It's Christmas 2020

Christmas movies are back to back, and are run back to back.  The stories are sweet but difficult, the endings are predictable and happiness prevails!

The tree is beautiful to me, and lights are everything!  Had I been years younger, with lots of energy, every single bush would be afire with the brightest of lights, pushing love and welcoming outward to everyone who passes the house.  It is the season of lights, and the season of joy, love, compassion, hope and forgiveness.

It is laughter, hugs and kisses with family and friends alike.  It is precious and predictable and pleasurable!  With sweet memories of loved ones no longer present, the grandchildren's excitement give us new memories to feast on.

But it is the light, the brilliant or subtle brightness, the sacred whiteness or the joy of color.  Why does lightness beckon us, invite us, heighten our joy and anticipation?

We are hard-wired to search for pureness, for holiness, and for God!  And why not?  He created us, He's guided us for eons, He's always there for us, and all we have to do is search Him out!   

He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live;  also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.  (Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 ESV)