Moving & Evolving!

We are always moving and evolving.  Just as the clouds linger for a while, they too slowly move and sometimes are in an unnoticeable motion.  They never stay for too long.

It is comparable to a guest who we welcome into our homes or into our lives.  We laugh, converse, grow and heal some aspects of ourselves while together.  But at the prescribed time, we move on.   All of us leave the gathering place feeling more hopeful and optimistic about things to come in our futures.

There is a sense of lightness.  There are more perceptions and understanding. Everyone is moving on and evolving into feelings of greater wholeness.  We evolve with higher levels of insight and depth.

Our purposes are clearer and our points of view have been expanded. We have unburdened ourselves to a degree through our fellowship and times of togetherness.  Yet, we know when it is time to keep it moving and we gradually began to move our feet.

We follow the clouds lead and we move on as we surely evolve.  We adhere to the lessons from those all-knowing clouds that temporarily hang just above our heads.

Lynn M.                                                                           October 20, 2018

Meandering Journeys

Life is a meandering journey.  It is quite different from a clear, cut path.  There are often no quick, pat answers, so the journey continually eludes us.  We have to become quick, change artists and alter our courses as life dictates, one day at a time.

We may have to change our plans an infinite number of times as an alternate path may be commanded from on High.  Birds such as falcons, switch their flight plans at a moment’s notice.  Some unforeseen circumstances prompt them to do so and they take heed.  They follow their intuitive leads which usually warn them of some threat.

We have just embarked upon the hurricane season here in the States and the meteorologists are scrambling to predict the paths of each hurricane.   The residents seek to make good choices to guard themselves against danger. Yet, as in life, only Mother Nature knows the direct path of the hurricanes.

So, out of an abundance of caution, it behooves those who could be impacted to make their journey meander. They must roll with the punches and twist and turn their plans if they want to hold on to life.

We all are on a journey.  Our paths are not known to us but if we listen to our whispering angels, we will get where we are supposed to ultimately end regardless of the route.

Listen, take heed and wind on through to those higher places that offer greater reward and blessed safety!

Lynn M.                                                                         September 9, 2017

Timeless Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey.  It is an account of her life as a young governess in two different households.  It is told in the first person and it very much reads like a diary or what we would call a journal today.

I could have written so many notes to put aside as keepsakes because her innermost thoughts and word choices held great meaning for me. Though the work was written 170 years ago (1847), the human experience has not changed.

Due to her proper English background, she had learned to hold her responses to others in check though her feelings ran quite deep.  Today, many people would have spoken these feelings with little hesitation but she had learned to hold them in abeyance.

Here are several scenarios along with the surrounding circumstances taken from the text:

New Boss – “Her company was extremely irksome to me.” (Mrs. Bloomfield)

Job Duties – “The task of instruction was as arduous for the body as the mind.”

Job Stress – “They may crush but they shall not subdue me.”

Self-Talk – “’Be calm, be calm whatever happens,’ I said to myself.”

The Incorrigible Children – “And night and morning, I implored Divine Assistance to the end.”

Applying Parental Advice – “My mother had warned me before to mention them as little as possible to her, for people did not like to be told of their children’s faults and so I concluded I was to keep silence on them altogether.”

After traveling in the snow – “I sat down beside the small, smoldering fire and amused myself with a hearty fit of crying.”

Further prayers – “My prayers, my tears, my wishes, my fears and lamentations were witnessed by myself and heaven alone.”

I really cherished this book by the youngest Bronte sister, Anne.  Haven’t we all had these feelings?  Shouldn’t we pause before we actually voice our deepest sentiments so that we will not offend others?

Lynn M.                                                          August 26, 2017

 

 

Sweltering July!

Sparkly fireworks in the air,
Joyous laughter. Little care.

Vacations here. Time to play,
Enjoy that hot summer day.

Family, friends all around!
Swaying music. Love that sound.

It’s hot sweltering July,
Live each day. Let out a sigh!

Lynn M.                                                                          July 1, 2017

 

 

Characters Choose!

“Character is who and what you are in your essence, after much that is transient and superficial is stripped away.  It includes your inner and outer life but is best revealed in the many things you do -especially those little things that you do without much thinking.”   (The Healing Power of Stories by Daniel Taylor)

When I think of character, I think of Shakespeare’s plays where he lets his characters reveal themselves through their private thoughts and outward actions.  They inevitably show themselves and do as Taylor says, act without thinking.  It shows what is truly in their hearts.

When we, as writers, create characters we show them making decisions which may sometimes be quick or even rash in nature.  From their actions we may deem what type of persons we are dealing with in a variety of situations and under different circumstances.

We ask ourselves a host of questions about a character.  Are they honest?  Are they sincere?  Or are they deceitful or underhanded?  Are they trustworthy?   Do they make sound decisions?  Or do they flip-flop and appear to be wishy-washy?  Is this person a gossip that carries tales? Or does this character protect others’ private information like sacred scrolls? Would we feel safe in this character’s company? Is this a person that we would trust in life-threatening scenarios?

I am currently reading The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah and war has just broken out in France in 1940.  Young Isabella has to quickly decide if she can trust a young convict named Gaetan whom she met on the road.  All of the people are walking and in motion and she has to be a quick judge of character to see if this is a man she can trust.  He subtlety reminds her that if he wanted to do her harm, he had every opportunity to do so.  He offers her food and shows that he is concerned about her safety and she decides to trust him during this time of great peril.

Characters mirror real life and the decisions that they make speak volumes.  There is an old saying that says, “Who you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying.”   More simply put, “Actions do speak louder than words.”

Do you agree?

Lynn M.                                                                                                       May 13, 2017

The Thought!

The true thought behind something makes it either a blessing or a weight like an albatross around the neck.  This thought came to mind the other day when I lost or misplaced an expensive estate ring.  I bought it at Macy’s but the saleswoman told me that it was considered to be an estate ring upon purchase a few years back.

After losing it, I had to work through the process of letting it go.  I wondered whether the original owner would even want me to wear it.  Perhaps I was sporting something that was not indicative of well-wishes.

However, I enjoyed its beauty for a few years; but in all honesty, it had been slipping off my finger quite frequently in the past few weeks.  Like anything else, it was subtly saying that it was time to let it go.

With a little more wisdom, I could quietly release it and ponder the spiritual lesson being taught in this situation.  I thought about the whole notion of gift giving and realized  that if something is given to us in a begrudged fashion or in a sense of indebtedness, it probably will not fare well for long.  Eventually, it may become a source of remorse.

Yet, a child  can give us something as simple as a picture of a flower on a post-it note and that picture can light up the home like a candle.  That is because it was given from the heart and in a spirit of love.  The thought behind a gift can make all the difference in bringing on tears of sorrow or smiles of joy!

Lynn M.                                                                                        May 6, 2017

April Flow!

April makes me think of the color yellow and it means wisdom. Wisdom reminds us that  life moves in cycles.  There are many beginnings and endings during this time.

Winter has drawn to a close. Flowers bloom, dogwood trees show forth their colorful beauty and lawns of green are spread across the earth’s floor. Birds sing sweetly as they coax us out of bed in the morning with their heavenly songs. Woodpeckers tap away on some private project and mourning doves make low, sad woeful sounds. We are made aware of the newness and freshness of life after long periods of silence and dormancy.

April also signals the end of things. There are many memorable dates of passings during this month and both President Lincoln and William Shakespeare immediately come to mind. Their missions were complete and they left a host of footprints in the sand. The pebbles that they threw upon the path make it that much easier for those of us in search of our own individual purposes.

Everything moves in cycles and just like entering into a revolving door, timing is essential. We must learn to synchronize our movements so that we can flow into the right spheres and land in the right place at the right time.

The scriptural verse from Ecclesiastes gently reminds us:

“To everything there is a season,
And a time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted…
A time to weep and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Flow with ease!

Lynn M.                                                                                                      April 22, 2017

Fruits of Our Labor

The other day, I saw my students that I taught a year ago.  I checked the calendar and the classes began exactly a year ago to date.  Time flies and I realized that we had not seen each other in a  year.

Their reactions ranged from OMG to I miss you.  They were happy to see me and I was equally happy to see them.  The reunions were brief and in passing, we said our Hello’s and How are you’s?

I heard a couple of them tell others, “She gave me an A.”  I silently thought, “No.  You earned an A.  You followed my directions and you fulfilled the bill.  You adhered to the guidelines as you walked the walk and talked the talk, so to speak.  You stayed the course and you crossed your t’s and dotted your i’s.”

But I just smiled in acknowledgement as they discovered their own potential and self-worth.  They had followed my lead and as an educator, I can inaudibly sigh, “Mission Accomplished.”

When we are given a task to do, we often have private feelings of uncertainty as well.   We educators also get butterflies in our stomachs the night before we meet a new group of students.  We hope that we can successfully usher the train of students into that final stop which is the end of the term.

Once, we have all safely arrived, will those that have been transported be filled with resentment?  Will they hate to see the conductor coming? Or will they disembark and leave the train platform filled with joyous memories?

Fortunately for me, I saw waves and smiles which symbolized fond remembrances.  I was warmed as I celebrated the fruits of my labor.

I then saw the teacher who had been out on maternity leave. She had entrusted her students to me last year and when she told me that her daughter is now a year old, all I could say was, “My, my, my.”

Lynn M.                                                                                     April 15, 2017

Digital Marketing

The other day, I further stepped into the 21^st century by using another facet of digital marketing for my books.  I had joined Twitter, obtained an author website and regularly blog through Word Press but I had not figured out how to use the popular site You Tube.

So, I finally did a little research on how to make a video with my limited equipment.  I saw that I could use the camera and microphone on my Smartphone or tablet. Then, I sat up a display showing the cover of the book.  I propped it up and used some fabric as a backdrop.

The biggest challenge was holding the phone or tablet focusing on the cover and speaking into the microphone.  Then, I had to use the other hand to hold the book from which I was reading.

I felt like The Cat in the Hat when he was riding a bike, balancing a fish bowl and an umbrella.  He finally fell but I was fortunate enough to balance it all as I made seven audio readings.

They are not perfect but life is not either.  So, I accept the imperfections and it is a start in the use of You Tube. It is the beginning of my use of another form of media that is wildly popular today. Baby steps, baby steps, I reminded myself.

After recording, there was the task of uploading.  I looked up a how-to video and my teacher was probably about ten, but she gave good instructions.  Even though each reading is about two minutes, it took about two hours to upload one video.

Yet, each was well worth the wait.  It was rewarding to hear myself read my own works.  Only the author knows exactly how certain conversations were intended to sound.

There are no perfections, shortcuts nor pat answers in life. It’s just one brush stroke at a time like a painter takes until there is a finished product.

Push play and listen to my reading from A Golden Leaf in Time Revised– the first in a series of five about Tyre and Phoenix.

 

Lynn M.                                                         April 8, 2017

Stay Upon the Wall

Have you ever found yourself running your race with such a sense of purpose that you lost track of the miles?  Perhaps you were so busy laying down the tracks that you did not realize what you were accomplishing.

And then you reached a destination or a pit stop and you paused and turned around and said to yourself, “Wow!”   You could not believe the body of work you produced nor the abundant fruits of your toil and labor.

It reminds me of a children’s book called  Anansi the Spider.  Anansi often got into trouble and  his seven sons would go to his rescue.  Each had a unique gift and they combined their efforts to save him on several occasions.  The son Road Builder comes to mind because he had to build the road so that they could travel to help their father.

Review some of those pet projects and you too may find yourself saying, ‘Aha.’  Pause and take a look at what you have already done. Whether it is painting, writing, carpentry, speaking or teaching, to name a few, you should never totally rest on your laurels. However, it never hurts to give yourself a pat on the back and acknowledge what you have been able to get done.

Like Nehemiah in the Bible, you should stay upon the wall because there is too much work to do.  You don’t have time to lose focus and come down and hang out with the naysayers.  Keep your tempo, pace yourself and run your race like no one else.  Create what you can and leave those footprints in the sand by staying upon the wall!

“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12: 1

Lynn M.                                                                                                       April 1, 2017