I AM A SPONGE!!!!

Everyday without realizing it I am a sponge. Now do not laugh because most of us are...think about how we respond to others behavior. I do believe we soak-it-in, and isn't that a sponge. Of course there are parts of being a sponge which will put a smile on our faces and warms our hearts. Loving someone and feeling that love for them...the only thing you want is for them to be happy...to a point...even if that is not with you. I like being a sponge when it comes to those feelings...unconditional love. I have been blessed recently to have those feelings of being a sponge. And for me and perhaps for you isn't true there are moments when you stop and feel this incredible essence inside of you and realize you just soaked-up God's love for you. Maybe there are times we only become aware of those times when other's negative behavior is what we are soaking up and wishing being a sponge is something we could do without....I do not believe I will stop being a sponge...for those times I feel God's love or being able to love unconditionally...weighs out the negative.

I AM BLESSED....

Do you wonder who really has control?  This week I listened to the media how they put a web over everyone in America.  It seemed before long we suddenly were on a time machine that was sending us back about 100 years.  There are times when I feel as though we are puppets for the media.  They move from one incident to another fueling America’s with negative stories…they call “headlines.”    I wonder if the people they are using to get their “headline” feel about their lives being the “eye-catching” story for the world. 

Are our lives so easily controlled by someone or something else?  What happen to the “faith” we so claim we have in America we allow the media to decide how we respond to what they write?  Hasn’t the past showed us what you read is not always the “truth.” 

I was with my parents today.  When I entered, my dad told me he was dressing mom; she spends most of her time in the area where they watch TV.  I sat and watched my dad dress my mom.  He was so patience with putting all the necessary things exactly like she wanted.  And as he did she would ask him the same question, she had asked 10 minutes prior.  His response was like it was the first time she had asked…with caring words.  We exchange words my mom and I about her eyebrows and how they looked.  She told me about the new sweater she got, even though it was 88 degrees outside.    He pulled the wheelchair close to her; she slowly stood, turned and sat in the chair.  And as we were leaving to go to lunch, she asked if she took her medicine, he replied, “yes,” and then; she said, “Did you take yours?”  My parents live everyday with their faith and the truth of loving each other.  I may never have this…in the sense they do…I am blessed for being present in their lives.  Have we forgotten we truly are in this together? 

God's Technology

I have been struggling with trying to figure out my purpose at this time of my life. My conversations with God have been gentle as well as intense. And yet, I have acknowledge my surroundings; from listening to others who express so much anger with life and their hatred toward whoever or whatever culture. And please do not assume I am not grateful for my life this is not the case...I am blessed. I am sure there are times in each of our lives we question...our presents here. It is not that I wish to be known for something incredibly magnificent...just want to know my life had meaning. You would think with all the technology we have God could find a way to get in touch with us.

It was a Thursday, my day started out the same, the usual routine; preparing to go see a client and on my way I was going to stop at Quick trip. I got out of the car and as I was walking to the door I noticed a man running toward me. The upper part of his body it seemed was pulling the rest him; he wore no jacket, and only had stocks on his feet. There was blood streaming down the left side of his face from his eye. I pushed open the door and he ran in the store, falling against the counter. As he lay in a fetal position, the store manager picked up the phone as I told him the man was bleeding. I stepped over him and knelt down next to him. By then the manager was standing next to me conversing with a 911 operator. I ask the man his name; he paused as though he was searching for the answer. Finally he said, "I don't know." I said to him did you fall down some stairs, I am still unsure why I asked him that particular question. He said, "Yes!" I glance to see a man enter the store wearing medical scrubs; he knelt down on the opposite side of the man. I ask him if he was a doctor. He replied, "Yes, heart surgeon." I told him about the man on the floor. The doctor checks his pulse. He expressed the man's pulse was strong. We chatted a moment about how he general is not in this area because he works north of the river. He was pumping gas and saw the man. He said he had to go and then he left. I decided to ask the man on the floor his name again. He replied, "Robert Bass." The store manager was still talking to the 911 operator and gave them his name. As I stood-up with the help of the store manager, another man dressed in white work clothes came in the store. He was standing on the opposite side of the man on the floor. He became irritated when he realized he would have step over the man or going around to the other side of the store to get what he needed. I finally told the store manager I had to leave. As I pushed open the door a man followed me out. He wore a long beard, and had a cup of coffee in his hand, he asked, "Is, he going to be okay?" I replied, "Yes, he fell down some stairs, and they are going to take him to the hospital." He said, "That's good!" I got in my car, sat there for a few minutes with a smile on my face; I realized in 15 minutes God had answered my questions. It is has though He was saying, "Yes, Linda there will always be the person who cares enough to get involved even if the person is not someone they know, and there will always be the person who is angry/irritated for no reason, and then there will be the person who doesn't get involved but does care." As far as my purpose, perhaps just being present with each moment of my life, grasping with awareness of the way God uses His own technology...through life.
God's Technology

Déjà Vu

There are very few, Long John Silver’s left in the city.  The last time I had been to one was when I went with my brother and sister.  A friend and I decided to go and eat there one evening.  Some of the fast-food chains have now combined themselves with another fast-food chain.  A & W is now alongside with this Long John Silver’s.  We enter the restaurant and as we walked in I noticed the place was divided into two sections.  I thought one side was for A & W and the other side for Long John Silver’s.  My friend informed we could sit either side.  I could feel myself laughing inside for being naïve even at my age.  We order our food and sat in the section with the most tables empty.  

I was sitting with my friend eating my fish.  And as I looked around at the crowded restaurant at least two people were sitting at the each table or booth.  A mother and her two children were sitting in a booth next the window.  The mother and the youngest was a girl with golden blonde hair sat on one side of the booth.  The boy sat opposite of them.  They were all eating vanilla ice-cream on a cone.  The three of them were sharing their quality time together.  The ice-cream seem to be having a race with golden blonde girl for no matter how fast she tried to eat it still continued to melt and run down her arm.  The young boy seemed to have won the race with ice-cream only leaving behind a mustache of evidence it was even there.  

I notice two men sitting across from each other, both of them reminded me of what would be described as truck drivers; there was a ridge look about them.  They were unshaved and hair uncombed, it was as though they were driving through and stopped to get something to eat before continuing on their journey. Both wore shirts with emblems on the front and their arms were naked as though they had torn the sleeves off of the shirt edges and strings of threads that looked like streamers tangled down on their arms. 

In the corner of the restaurant next to a supply counter, sat a man and woman.  The woman was talking to him and though he was not speaking, he never looked up to indicate or acknowledge he was listening to her in what story she was telling him.  He continued to eat while she continued to talk.  The expression on her face was one of an acceptance of him and something they had developed between themselves over the years….”I am listening even though I am not looking at you.”

Next to us sitting at a small table with two chairs was an elderly couple.  They both had arrived about the same time we did.  She was a petite fragile woman, who could not stand erect and worn black sunglasses that covered most of the upper part of her face from her cheekbones to her brow, the sides of the glasses were wide and thick wrapping around the side of her head.  She worn comfortable slip on pants and had on a light black and white jacket on.  As he went to put in the order at the counter, she chose the small intimate table for two next to us.  He too was unable to stand erect but seemed to be more mobile than her.  He arrived with the food and placed himself next to her.  Even though the atmosphere was not a romantic dining place they embraced the moment together.   There were very few words between them.  And when they finished there dinner, both struggling to stand he looked at me and said, “That was good and cheaper that Red Lobster.”  I smiled and agreed with him. 

The memory of my brother kept appearing in my thoughts as I sat there watching everyone.  I was trying to remember when exactly it was he asked to go to A & W to get a chocolate shake.  My sister, my brother and I went to A & W north of the river.  As I looked across the table at my friend who was sitting there; I smiled for I could see him sitting in front of me it was like déjà vu.