Autumn Dreams & Senior Life

It has been a summer of weekend getaways, lost loved ones, new friends, new birth, and great adventures. As I reflect on the summer past, there is much to be thankful for in the seasons of this journey called living.

As I enter the senior years of life and the many colors it brings, I contemplate the intergenerational studies that ask the question- when does family influence take hold. “Do values get transmitted early in the family life cycle, and then persist in children over time, or is transmission lagged such that children adopt their parents’ values and beliefs when they reach middle adulthood? Second, we ask whether values are more powerfully transmitted when intergenerational cohesion is strong in the early years of family life when sensitivity to value adoption is considered to be strong. Third, we ask whether intergenerational transmission is stronger with respect to (1) belief systems that are privately held, such as those associated with religiosity, or (2) social attitudes that are guided by changing public opinion, such as gender role attitudes.”*“Intergenerational transmission of values over the family life course”

It is my hope that our children can embrace the many seasons of family time. The times of walking trails with their father, sitting as a family creating song and poetry, and the simple uncomplicated stories of Peter Rabbit and Winne the Pooh.

In sharing the values of my parents and grandparents, I hope & pray that our family values hold true to system 1, those associated with privately held values associated with faith and the heritage of our Christian journey in Christ. It is my hope in this Autumn season when the colors show bright that our family prepares to settle in for the winter with family memories unencumbered by socialization of a world going awry.

It is the winter months when new life begins and the roots prepare for Spring growth. So, in all the seasons we are blessed to endure…

May we continue to consider and study the Biblical wisdom of Proverbs 22:6- “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Always grateful,

A Weary Soul

This has been a week of fasting and prayer. It has been a week of great beginnings and wavering commitment. So I resubmit, Thrifting for my Sole retitled A Weary Soul as a reminder that in my wavering commitment, the Lord is patient, forgiving, kind, and yet just.

I enjoy the thrill of finding a good deal in a thrift store or auction. There is usually some thing I need for the house, for my wardrobe, or just for fun. Most of the time it is just a want, which makes the joy of thrifting so gratifying.

In my hunt for boots, I walked into one of my favorite thrift stores. I walked each aisle searching for the ideal boot to wear with jeans. There they were, $5.00!!! These are the perfect leather, ideal heel, and perfect tone for jeans.

My hunt was done. I went to the front of the store, paid for my “new” boots, and admired them more once inside the car. I thought, where and when will I step out into the world with these very comfortable foot coverings. The day came when I put on my boots to head into the world. Something strange was happening as I walked around the house. I asked myself, what is that noise? I walked around the house a bit more. The sound was still there.

I went on with day, admiring my bargain found boots that made my jeans look richer in color and style. Little did I know, with each step I took the soles of my perfect boots were breaking apart. Breaking apart under the pressure of my body, breaking apart against the hard concrete, and breaking apart due to dry rot.

So disappointing

The disappointment didn’t last long. I searched for a cobbler in the area. There were 3 with the old age craftsmanship to repair my bargain boots. I was excited to enter the shop and have my boots repaired. The disappointment surfaced when I was told the cost to repair my $5.00 perfect pair of boots. One hundred twenty dollars! Very exciting for the cobbler; very sad for me.

This is yet another reflection for me as I walk this journey of life. My mind has planned, and my body is prepared to do so many acts to make a difference in this world. But there are times when I go out and find my mind hit with hard concrete disappointment, hit with the dry-rot of inconsistent motivation, or the hit with the cost of sacrificing for others.

So, as I contemplate the cost to follow my dreams and the cost to do the Lord’s will, I recall the words of Brandon Lake’s song that pleads-“So come on my soul, oh don’t you get shy on me”.

And more intently, Psalm 43:5 “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior, my God”.

Do you find yourself thrifting or do you pay the full cost to do the Lord’s will?

God gave all in his son Jesus. He paid the full cost so we may live a life with peace in Christ.

Praise the Lord and Hallelujah

I am still growing.

Always grateful,

NBA grace

The idea to Never Be Alone can hit me differently in space and time. There are moments when being alone is peaceful, imaginative, and very creative. There are times when being alone is indescribably anxious and UN-discerning.

It is those moments in the anxious active thought process that the brain journeys to it’s autosave discernment. It’s when my brain jumps to protect me from previous external experiences that have initiated heightened emotion and stress that settles in the gut, and churns and churns and churns.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. There are many anecdotes to capture the external influence that may hinder my well-being. The National Council for Mental Wellbeing offers 5 Ways to Set Healthy Boundaries for Mental Wellbeing.

But, I have also found the spiritual self has provided the best method to manage my mental well-being. It begins with prayer in the morning, prayer in the afternoon, prayer in the evening, prayer in the night, and prayer whenever my selfish self begins to react to the external hits that ignite my brain to react in flight, fright, freeze, or fawn.

My journey over the last few months has been a path of listening to God’s word, unfiltered, as I fall asleep and awake to hear the way God loves and God cares. My brain, wired by the thoughts of my mind are weaving a beautiful path to peace. A path that captures almost every thought filtered through the God’s way of being.

I have made it through to the book of Revelation and find my mental well-being in the scriptures that confirms, I am loved, secure, and forgiven by the creator God, through his son, Jesus, and the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 103:8-13 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

Isaiah 43:25  I am the one, I sweep away your transgressions for my own sake and remember your sins no more.

Rev 3:19-20  As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent. See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me

For that, I am Always grateful,

Splankna Time!!!

Life has a way of questioning my existences; maybe questioning yours also. It’s been just over a year when I posted, The Sticky Note Resurfaced- Splankna!

All that is happening in the world has grounded me in the compassion, tenderness, and empathy needed to recognize Splankna once again as the deep seated root of emotions that churn the gut and highlight the internal workings of the bowels. In this day and age, the word may be stress – a word overused in light of the many blessings I experience daily.

There is the blessing of taking a deep breath and releasing it as a bodily tool to regulate my emotions. There is watching the snow fall, and blanket the non aesthetic brown grass, as a gift from heaven to embrace the seasons of life. It is the amazement of the hornets nest that is weathering the stormy winds by swinging from a branch seemingly untouched.

This day to day, moment by moment, way of being is grounding me in the strength of the hornets nest I see outside my window. It is the incredible strength built upon layers and layers of pulp. I am also wonderfully made to withstand the storms of life. The lightweight flexibility that makes the hornets nest so strong is the same multilayered experience of mind, body, and soul that we are all built.

Unlike the home of the hornet, my soul is strengthened by the Lord. The Holy Spirit lives in me to guide me to be compassionate, to be empathetic, to be mindful of the many blessings in the day to day.

Just as the Greeks consider splankna a word to speak of the gut reaction as deep emotions, and the hornets nest a strong yet flexible dwelling place, may I continue to sway from the vine that is the Lord. That in all circumstances, there is a moment of joy, alone with the Lord or together with others.

Joy is in the air. I turn to the right and left and there is a message or word from the book of Philippians. Be it splankna, be it neuroplasticity, be it me self-regulating, I am able to settle the emotions and walk this life journey with perspective of Paul’s final exhortation Phil 4:8 “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.”

May I continue in this world to exist and do all that is praiseworthy.

Always grateful,

Always Grateful

Do you ever wonder, Why Are You Not Dead Yet? This is a question presented in a study that began in a few weeks ago.

In all consideration of the blessings in my life, I am grateful to still be alive to embrace all the joys in my life. The love note I received from one of my children that removed the lingering doubt of Did we do a good job rearing our children. The joyful visit from a friend, by way of Zoom, that traveled from Argentina and spent the New Year weekend with us in-person.

I am a Silhouette at Noon basking in the sun of discovery. I am grateful for everyone that has poured their experiences, their encouragement, their peace into me. All of these spoken moments and the numerous others unspoken remind me that I am not yet dead because I too must be encouraging. I must send love notes, I must travel to others, I must call others, I must seek forgiveness, and I must apologize.

I am grateful to live in a space and time to witness the good that is the undercurrent of a world gone bad. I am grateful for a God that so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that I may live joyously, forgiven, with the promise that I am never dead for eternity.

So, as I continue in the study of Philippians, may I answer the question- Why am I not dead yet? with the response, the Lord is not done with me yet. There are many more obligations to complete in my assignment as a wife, mom, friend, and disciple of Christ.

Lord, may you continue to guide me through the Holy Spirit with the wisdom of discernment, the graciousness of love, and the daily reflection of your word as my path.

As the word is given in Philippians chapter one, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Lord, I thank you for your word, from Genesis through Revelation, that informs me this space and time I live in 2026 is not a new era but the same ole same ole of a world gone bad. I thank you for the undercurrent of the good in knowing Christ as my Lord and Savior.

Always grateful,