What is your Favorite?

When people ask me "What's your favorite ______, (i.e. color, food, place, etc)?" I try to come up with the one and only answer that will truly reflect a discerning mind, offer an accurate picture of the fabulous person I am, and of course be a wise and creative choice. Because of all of the above expectations, a barrage of answers flood my poor anxious brain at once, I choke, and just throw out one of my many many favorites. It happens I like a lot of colors best, chocolate and coffee run a pretty close race for food/drink, and so on.

Today I realized a truly legitimate "favorite" of mine that's stood the test of time in my life as a believer. I'm sharing it with you today not to sound wise, convince you I have a discerning mind, or even show off what a fabulous person I am, but instead to encourage you in the JOY that comes from being QUIET before the Lord in prayer and meditation, which is not natural for me (okay that's enough snickering under your breath thank you), but the effort is well worth it. To just step off the perpetual treadmill now and then.
This morning I found a portion of scripture in Lamentations that I believe shows us it may be one of God's "favorites" too.

"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,
To the soul who seeks Him.
It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
For the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man to bear 
The yoke in his youth.
Let him sit alone and keep silent,
Because God has laid it on him."
        Lamentations 3:25-28

Wow, doesn't that go down like a nice morsel of dark chocolate?  Jeremiah uses the word
GOOD three times in this short passage. He uses WAIT twice.
"Wait for Him...seek Him...hope and wait quietly...sit alone and keep silent."
Please take out time today to wait, to listen, to be quiet before Him.. It is SO good!!!

How to Leave a Comment on Blog Posts

So many of you tell me you read my blog, but you don't know how to leave a comment. It continues to puzzle me so I copied the format that pops up at the bottom of comments after you hit the bar below the post that says: comment.

The first thing you'll see is a weird spelled word to copy in the box below it. I understand that some internet sites put us through that to protect the site from spam. If you can't decipher it and get it wrong the first time, no worries, they give you other chances.

Now if the Google account circle is checked, uncheck it by clicking on it. Next you'll see boxes for signing up for a google account.  If you don't have a g account, or even if you do, you don't have to fill in those boxes--just skip that option, and skip the username/password blocks. Continue to scroll down, and read the final options. If you want your name to show up with your comment, push the button that says: Name/URL. That will bring up two boxes--one to put your name into and the other box says: (optional) which means you don't have to put anything in it, so you don't need a URL or a google account to comment.

Now if you don't want your name floating around cyberspace, make up an alias or mark Anonymous and then, your clever, encouraging comment will be recorded with the others, but your name won't appear.

I hope this explains how to make a comment on a Blogspot Blog.  I'd love to read your reactions to my postings. Try it and see what happens. Thanks for listening...xo hugs to all my buddies out there. (See the format just below the blue words "Choose an identity".

Choose an identity

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OpenID

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Name/URL

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Anonymous

Now, if you missed the blog just before this about The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, you can scroll down and see it too!  This is a two-for-one today.  Good luck.

The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls

My daughter-in-law loaned us Jeanette Wall's memoir in audio to listen to in the car on our trip home from California. It's the unabridged edition (10 CDs) so it took several hours to get through, but sure made 300+ miles go by quickly. Last night we listened to the last chapter. What a delightful HONEST book. It made us and laugh and cry.

Her unique message of survival demonstrates how resiliant the human spirit really is. I'm so inspired by this memoir. I love reading about people who make lemonade lives out of lemon childhoods. She was basically raised by parents who didn't mind being homeless...in abject poverty, but chose to believe she was loved and determined to make a better life for herself and her siblings.

My enthusiasm drove me to google Jeanette Walls and I ran across the following video clip. If you've already read the book, you'll really get it. If you haven't, it may inspire you to pick it up.

Clutter Putter

by Susie Talbot

So much I want to do
but then, I ask Him is it true
is it so much hay and stubble
is it really worth my trouble
something You want me to do?
Am I like a circus clown
bouncing all around
from one thing to another
making others laugh or shudder?
How aimless this all seems sometimes
even when I write these rhymes
but then I tell myself it's true
it all makes sense when serving You.

Been tripping around...

Left Casa Grande early Sunday morning on August 1 and made it to Tonopah, AZ.

We took these photos of each other at a quaint little restaurant called Tonopah Station.

Left Tonopah the next day heading for Susanville and then onto Eagle Lake.

 

Wednesday we made reservations to rent a boat to go fishing. Scott checked us out on the boat and taught us how to THREAD a WORM...never heard of such a thing, but he guaranteed it gave fishermen the edge on catching an Eagle Lake trout. GROSS, GROSS, GROSS...!

Thanks Scott!   (name and photo used with permission)

Heading out to fish at 6 a.m. Thursday morning...beautiful sight...The chill in the air felt wonderful.

Six of us fished, three per boat. Jay, Dean (brother-in-law) and I on one, K family on the other boat. Three and a half hours later, one trout to show for our trip...ah well. As it should be the youngest of the pack snagged the big one! Here's little J. K. with his gorgeous Eagle Lake trout.

PS...he didn't thread his worm!!!!!

Is that a cute picture or what?  Look at that fish will ya?  Barbecued, it was a tasty morsel.

So, that's what we've been doing. The rest of the time, eating and sleeping, enjoying sunrises over the water and evening skies smeared with milky ways and stars. 

Alas, on Saturday it was time to say goodbye to our "rellies and the lake and motor on down to Chico to see our dear friends. This is T and J (buddies since childhood) standing in front of the house they rented together over 45 years ago. It was painted a morbid yellow back then, but otherwise looks pretty much the same. The guys haven't changed that much either! We're doing a little reminiscing. 

Enjoying our trip...Next stop Davis, CA and then on to Coarsegold to see our son and family.