What's an Instant

I can't help but thing how this little 7 letter world has changed so much of society as we know it today.  Just the other day I happen to purchase a new pair of pants, and the tag said this "instantly slims you"  Wow, Instantly slimmer?  I need ten pairs not just one pair.  That is magic to be instantly slimmer.  In reality there is no "instant" in being slimmer it takes hard work eating right, exercising and choosing the right foods.  But we want everything instantly. We have become impatient people. 
I started to doodle about how much instant we have become  Here is just a very short list.

 

* Instant Messaging

* Instant Coffee

* Instant Credit

* Instant Replay

* Instant Commissions

* Instant Krazy Klue

* Instant Dry Nails

* E-Books InstantlySynced

*Insant Downloads

* Instant Live Streaming

 

I am sure many of us could had hundreds of "instant" things to our list some necessary and some unnecessary. I remember when Turkey's took hours to cook and yet now you can deep fry them and even thug they are not ready in seconds in less than an hour a turkey is done.  That is just one example of how things have changed. I know for me when I got my implants I had hoped I would instantly hear.  That was not the case and so often those I mentor that are getting CI"s ask how instantly they will hear.  Now seems to be the language every one speaks. 

James 1:9 (niv) says "Understand this my dear brothers and sisters; you must all be quick to listen,slow to speak and slow to get angry.  Jesus didn't say to be instantly listen or instantly speak one even get angry he said to be slow.  Next time you see something flash ahead of you that says instant think twice and see if it's worth having that appear instantly.  

As for the pants well let's just say I can't tell the difference so I was not instantly slimmer...

Until next time

Cathie

To Walk or to Run

t In this week of being thankful I have had a song that has never left my mind and has given me time to think about my life where it was and where it is going.  I seem to listen to more praise and worship music then secular music but the song by Kenny Rogers The Gambler Chorus has been playing over and over in my head.  Just the chorus but it really has a lot to say about life. 

 

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run......
 

 

Often in life we continue to sit at that table and not get up to make a move. We are scared of the unknown what will happen if we walk away. Often we think of our failures and that inhibits us from moving forward because we are to scared to fail again.  Yet God's mercies are bountiful and often once we get up life begins to happen.  Yet, so  often we do know when it is time to walk away and even when it is to Run.  I have sat at many tables had many conversations some good and some bad and often I knew when it was time to get up.  This chorus can apply so much about life and where we are and were we need to be.  I am so glad I chose to get up and walk away and make the choices that God will honor.  (The part of the song about wheelin and dealin are not what I wanted to focus on but the first part of the chorus) :)

 

Life isn't easy but I can tell you that it is easier when you are ready to surrender and give it all to him and let him direct your path.  You do have a choice you can continue to sit at that table or let go and run to a new day a new beginning a new you !!!

 

Blessings

 

Cathie

Month of Gratitude - Day 10

Being thankful for things is often something we do take for-granted in that should we be thankful for every little thing in our lives?  Take the jig saw puzzle. How many of us have done a jig saw puzzle and we get to the very end of the puzzle only to find out it is missing one piece. Or we have a puzzle and one piece just does not fit in anywhere. We can get so agitated and frustrated because we can not get it to work correctly.  We try and fail so we give up.  Not sure why, but we end up throwing that jig saw puzzle in a box and putting it in the closet to maybe some day bring out again and seeing if somehow that puzzle piece magically found it's way home to the correct box. 

In ways that is how I have been for years trying to figure out who I was, what I enjoyed doing and who I actually was. I always felt I was missing a puzzle piece that I could not get my hands on.  Everyone would say I was this type of person, or would tell me what I meant or was feeling it was assumed that they knew.  No one every truly asked how I felt they just always knew.  But most of the time they were never right.  But I was too much of a misfit to say they were wrong. 

Yet I have found that puzzle piece and in finding that puzzle piece I have also found my voice. I can now speak up for myself and say what I think. And if they don't agree that is fine. But I have feelings and great ideas I just have to be able to be who I am and who God wants me to be. I no longer feel like I am missing a puzzle piece, I found it and I now the secret of why I was missing it.  Maybe at some point another piece will go missing, yet this time I know exactly who to ask and how to find it. It's inward looking inside to see what is missing and praying to our awesome father who will light the way. 

Here's a verse to meditate on:

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well"Psalms 139:14 (ESV)

God made us so we are not misfits, we aren't missing any puzzle pieces.  They maybe hidden but God will show them to us in his time not ours.

Blessings

Month of Gratitude - Day 9

 

Today was one of those beautiful mornings that I love to walk thru the farmer's market. The humidity was low, the breeze was blowing softly so there was no chance that I could get too hot. It was a just perfect day.  Living in Florida these days are so rare, in which one actually enjoys getting outside and enjoying it.  I  was just walking by and something caught my eye, a beautiful shade of red and black. I looked again and it was a butterfly.  I love butterflies because they so symbolize me and my journey that I have taken.  I feel like I have found my wings and I am ready to soar.  When I saw this butterfly I felt like asking if I could tag along and fly to where ever he/she was headed. But then I had to think isn't that exactly what I am doing? I am praying and asking for wisdom in where God wants me.  Is it here in Clermont? The Gulf ? Or where?  I am so content here and I feel I have a safety net here in which I feel safe and secure.  But I know God has a plan and I am patiently waiting for him to reveal more of what he wants for me but it is in God's time not my time. So for now these wings are flying close to the ground,  but they are ready to expand a wee bit.  But I am so glad I have left the cocoon stage and I am in some ways spreading my wings. That's the amazing part of this journey <3  Be Blessed Peeps

Blessings

Month of Gratitude ~ Day 8

How is it that something that is free is something we often for get to give others!  I am sure yourshaking your head at that comment what do we hesitate to give right?  What I am talking about is a SMILE.  How often we pass others and we don't take a moment just to acknowledge someone and tell them to have a nice day?  This happened to me today while I was helping afriend and we were at a store a stranger walked past me and no only said hello and Smiled buthe also said to have a blessed day.  It came a right moment a moment that I needed to be remindedat others see what we do and the way we all,talk and act often can make someone'sday or It can tear someone one apart.  That smile yesterday put a smile on my face but it also reminded me to pass a smile along.  

Proverbs 17: 22: says " A merry heart does good , like medicine. But a broken spirit dries the bones.    We can either be the medicine someone needs or we can quench someone's spirit,  choose the medicine It's good for the soul!!!

Blessings 

Month of Gratitude - Day 4-7

Funny how technology can be good and bad at times.  I had written 3 gratitude posts but they ended up in my draft folder even though I had scheduled them to automatically post.  With that being said I decided to combine in a blog of 4 days of gratitude!!!

Day Four  ~ I am so thankful for my eating healthy.  This journey of weight loss has had me examining how I eat why do I eat what I do? Is it healthy for me or not? Am I eating to fill a void? Am I eating cause I am hungry or just for comfort?  My eating before my weight loss was so focused on satisfying my hurts that I ate e wrong things. Focusing on self care and eating well is such a blessing to me for which I am thankful.

Day Five ~ Thankful today that technology invented text messaging.  For the hearing impaired this is so vital in communicating.  Even now I often will say to my boys that I don't understand what they are saying and to just text me!  That is the best for me and still is. That way I know I heard it right or wrong but have the accuracy in a text.  Again it's the little things we so take for-granted.

Day Six ~. Thankful today for the blessings of hearing the apprehension of upgrading this aid has been stressful wondering how I am going to pay for it all yet knowing that God has it all worked out is called Faith!  Hooking up to my audiologist laptop and being programmed with my New Ears has been wonderful even with a few kinks!  Never take your hearing as something you never lose cause I did.  

Day Seven ~ The Gift Of Friendships is such a blessing having friends who love and support you thru it all.  Never judging you just standing beside you in the good times and the bad times they are their to get you through the storms of life.  Friendships are valuable and should never be taken  for-granted.  So many times friendships come and go sometimes they were only meant for a season, yet for me they never leave my heart or my prayers.  Tell a friend today for how much they mean to you. You will be surprised at how much you mean to them too,

Blessings 

Cathie 

 

Month of Gratitude - Day Three

We for that matter I often take things for granted, I assume all will be ok.  And for the most part it usually works out that way. Yet, is it always a good thing to assume we will get a second chance?  A Re-do?  We get our hair dyed and it is not the right color we can run to the store and get a new color and most likely  change the results.  But is that how it always is to be?  Is their always a quick fix? 

I feel the past three years has been a year of second chances, to restart that journey I started so long ago but to look at things differently, to see people differently, to help those in need more to think of others before myself. I have been stretched, grown and in ways changed.  What has truly changed is living by Faith.  The Faith to make these necessary second chances.  Is life easier?  Not sure on that, but I know that I know that God is with me every step of this journey. And thankful that I have a second chance to make things right as long as I keep surrendering.  So today, I am truly thankful for this second chance that I have been given.  It's an amazing journey. 

Lamentations 3:21-23                    
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Grace and Blessings

Cathie

Month of Gratitude - Day Two

 

Day Two on this month of Gratitude and I am finding that it is endless what I am thankful for.  We have so much to really be thankful for and often we take things for granted. So this month  I am trying to focus on just that, find the things we take for granted so that I can appreciate those things in a fresh new way.

Last night I got home late after an evening at church, only to have my 19 year old son tell me something is wrong with the light in the laundry room.  Being the head of the household now has made me think and act in ways I never did before because I had a husband to take care of those issues.  But I went to check out the fuse box, and all was ok. I then proceeded to the laundry room and found that all the light would not come on.  So then I thought, wonder if it is just something as simple as a light bulb being blown out. And so I took out that light bulb and put in a fresh new one and instantly we had light.  I think my 19 year old felt a little silly not thinking of that yet, it reminded me of how we are  truly lost with out that light shining so brightly. 

 In Psalms 119:105 it says "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path"  God is not the physical light as we need for everyday living,  yet God is the light that leads us on a path that he has designed for us.  The opposite of light is darkness and often times when storms come our way we tend to run and find those candles, Often we have forgotten where we put them.  At least in my household that often is the case.  Yet God is our light and we only have to reach out to him to light the way and he will direct our paths. 

Next time you need some extra light, it may not be the physical light that we so desire but the spiritual light that only our heavenly father can give us.  Rest assured God's light will never dim.  It will be the same yesterday as it will be tomorrow. And it will shine until eternity. So thank you God for lightening our way, and for showing us the path to take.  It maybe a path filled with hardships and ups and downs, but I know you will light the way. 

Blessings and Grace

Cathie 

Month of Gratitude - Day One

 



November 1st means Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and many are already thinking of that scrumptious turkey dinner. Yet taking a "day" to be thankful for me is not enough.  So this year I have been challenged to write a set of things I am most thankful for.  I am not sure I can think of 28 things to talk about between now and that scrumptious turkey meal, but I am going to try each day to make a go of this.  It's not to late to join me if you want or post a comment about something YOU are thankful for.  So Here I go.

What am I thankful for today?  I would have to say Laughter so often when times get difficult the one thing we seem to drop from our life is to be happy and laugh at life and even at times at your self for your mistakes.  I didn't realize how much I missed laughing until one day someone said something to me, and I didn't understand them correctly and I started to laugh and the funny thing was it was not really that funny, yet I could not stop the laughter from escaping my mouth.  I realized at that moment how good it felt to laugh again.  It made me feel alive and that I had a life worth living.  It might sound like a simple thing but for some life is hard and they can't imagine being able to laugh.  I know that no matter what happens on the journey I know God wants us to be laugh and have joy deep down in our hearts.  So take it from me a hearty dose of laugher is the best medicine to a fragile heart !!

Grace and Blessings
Cathie