THINGS

THINGS I CANNOT Do

• Sing on key
• Jump
• Walk on water
• Be quiet
• Remember phone numbers
• Stop at one more puzzle piece before going to bed

THINGS I CAN DO

• Write
• Balance the checkbook
• Listen
• Organize
• Read a map
• Deliver a calf

THINGS I DIDN’T DO

• Ride a motorcycle
• Go to college
• Drive a combine
• Go to all the grandkids ball games
• Say no to a piece of cheesecake
• Live in a big city

THINGS I SHOULD HAVE DONE

• Worked in advertising
• Been physically active 
• Talked with my dad more
• Skydived
• Written a book
• Had self-confidence

Making these lists was fun and not so fun.  I am okay with everything on my can do list  and cannot do list.  BUT then comes the didn’t do list and should have done list.  There I see “regrets” and “it is too late now.”  

Oh, I still could ride a motorcycle or write a book.  I see no reason to turn down cheesecake. I did not sit through games, but I did many other things with the grandkids.  I don’t think I would have made a good college student.  No professor would put up with all my questions.  I do think I would have been good in advertising.  I watch a commercial and think, “If that is the best they can do, they need a new advertising agent.”  My common sense and imagination would have been valuable assists to any company that would hire a small town girl with no degree.

My biggest regret is not talking to my dad more.  He was a trucker and drove a semi before power steering and CB Radios.  He did not have a dedicated route, so we never knew when he would be home.  Dad was hard to talk to.  He knew how to be a dad.  We played board games, croquet, and did a crazy Saturday night TV watching.  We would watch the end of a movie on one of the three channels.  Then we would watch the end of another movie.  Finally, the end of the last one before they put the test pattern on.  (You have to be old to understand a test pattern.) We did not know what any of the movies were about, but we were with dad.  That was fun,  but he didn’t know how to be a Father.  

When he was home, he sat at the kitchen table reading the newspapers, drinking coffee, and smoking. There were four of us kids and he never asked how we were or how we were getting along in school.  He looked at the report card and said we could do better.  He never told us three girls that we were pretty/looked nice or came to the pool to watch us swim.  

I never heard him pray and I never heard him say he loved me.  (Everyone says that men didn’t say “I love you” back then.)  BUT I still regret that dad and I never talked.  Maybe then, I could have understood him better.  Maybe then, I would have found a Father.

 BRIDGE OUT

The sign is big and very easy to see.  BRIDGE OUT.  And yet, car after car goes around the sign ….. a car pulling a boat goes around the sign ….. a semi goes around the sign ….. a pickup pulling a camper goes around the sign ….. then ….. they all turn around or back up.  My gosh.  The bridge is really out.

We have all done that.  We have gone around the road closed sign because we know there will be a side road we can get on.   Not this time.  No side road and they mean bridge out. 

THE LAST TOMATO

Hubby likes to garden and his garden is much, much smaller than usual.  Today, he gave me three tomatoes and said, “That is the last of the tomatoes.”  I don’t like those words.  Green peppers.  Red tomatoes.  Sweet corn.  Always sad when the fresh vegetables end.  Our last hope is turnips.  

The end of the garden.  It looks so … so empty.  

HARVEST AND FALLING LEAVES

Around here, soybean harvest has started.  When harvest starts, the landscape changes.  Then comes corn harvest.  The landscape really changes then.  No tall corn to block your view.

And those falling leaves?  The leaves are turning to red and yellow and brown.  It looks like it will be a pretty fall, but falling leaves means leaves on the front porch and the patio.  

SUMMER TO FALL

I love fall.  It is cooler and the leaves are pretty and the outdoor furniture needs to be stored for the winter.  The flowers need a final trimming.  And the ice cream freezer did not get used.

But the hamburger on the grill tastes extra good and the memory, of a cup of coffee, on a chilly morning, while wearing warm pjs and watching the sun come up, will last all winter.

NOT THE NORMAL BLOG

Have you realized this is not the normal blog?  Sorry but I had no idea what to write this week.  Then it hit me.  How often do we overlook something fun like watching cars turn around or the gift of the last tomato or how our world changes when harvest opens up our view or the leaves crunching under our feet or the season changes or a cup of coffee starts our morning.  Way too often we forget that life is made up of everyday happenings.  The normal things.  The small, routine things.  

Now what?  Look around.  What normal thing has been a blessing this week?  Was it a smile?  Was it having all the laundry done at once?  Was it making it through your morning routine without interruption? 

Celebrate each day and give thanks for the normal things.  

I belong to a Memoir Writing group and our topic was A FAVORITE QUOTE.  I had also written my blog, STATISTICS.  I thought, “These sorta go together.”  This week you have two writings for the price of one.

Memoir Writing:  A FAVORITE QUOTE

ONE DROP OF INK

A DROP OF INK MAY MAKE A MILLION THINK.

George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron), English poet (1788-1824)

These words made my imagination take off.  Vision after vision popped into my head.

One drop of ink.  Another drop of ink. ……………….

And on and on, until each signer picked up the pen and signed their name.  The Declaration of Independence was written.

A sharp.  A cleft.  A whole.  A half.  A quarter.  Each note working with the note before it and the note after it.  Handel’s Messiah was written.

The sound of jazz and an album needing an illustration caused David Stone Martin to put pen and ink to work.  His art decorated more than 100 album covers.

What started as a drop of ink on a napkin became, overall, the best-selling book series.  The Harry Potter series has sold more than 500 million books worldwide.

Sign and date require a drop of ink.  And, just like that, millions of people are married. They become licensed drivers.  They can have a credit card.  They are dismissed from the hospital.  And they sign papers that they wish would not require their signature. 

Times change.  Today, an almost seventy-nine-year-old, gray-haired woman, in a small rural town, puts fingers to a keyboard and, without one drop of ink, wishes she made a million people think. 

 STATISTICS

I write because I feel the need to put words on paper.  When I started the blog, I said that if my words helped one person, it was worth the effort.  For a long time, I did not check the statistics.  I didn’t want the number of people reading or not reading to influence my writing.  BUT, occasionally, I do check.  I am often amazed and honored by the number of people who view my blog.  During the last 30 days, my blog was viewed 2,420 times.

What really amazes me is where the readers are located.  During the last 30 days, the blog was viewed 2,700 times in the USA, 846 times in Hong Kong, and 595 times in Singapore.  These are all countries you have heard of.  When I went to the bottom of the list, one person from Naura had read my blog.  Naura?  Never fear, Google to the rescue.  Naura is a small island in the southeastern Micronesia, 25 miles south of the Equator.  By land mass, it is the third smallest country in the world.  They can collect rainwater, but, there are no streams, so they have to import water.

How did this one person find my blog?  Were they bored and spent time scrolling?  Did it appear in their feed? (To the one person, from Naura, who reads my blog, how did you find it?  Thank you for reading it.)

Google also said that four-fifths, of the islanders, are Christian.  How did they find out about Jesus? 

(Paul speaking) And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

1 Thessalonians 2:13

Four-fifths of the people are Christian.  Who was their “Paul”?  Who found this tiny island, stepped off the boat, and said, “I want to tell you that God loves you.  I want to tell you about his Son dying on the Cross so your sins are forgiven.  I want to tell you about grace and mercy and joy.” 

Who was your Paul?  Who told you about the sacrifice Jesus made?

 

AN ILLUSION

A long time ago, the entertainment, at a Christmas party, was a magician.  I enjoy magicians because I want to know, “How did you do that?”  I was enjoying the show.  Then he pointed at me.

“I want you to catch this new deck of imaginary cards,” he said.  With that, he threw the deck straight at me.  Of course, I caught it.  “Please take the cards out of the box.”  I did as instructed.  Since it was a new deck, I first took the wrapping off.  Made a big deal about that.  I put the wrapper on the table and tried to open the box.  Had a bit of trouble with the protective tab, but I finally got that peeled back and the cards out of the box.

“Hold up the deck for everyone to see.”  I held it high.  “Now, pick one card.”  I did.  “Show the card to the audience.”  I held the card up and turned it so everyone could see it.  “Now put the card back in the deck and put the deck back in the box.”  I made a really big deal of putting the imaginary cards back into the imaginary box.  I even secured the box with the tab.  “Please toss the deck to me.”  I did.

The magician put the imaginary cards into his pocket and picked up a deck of real cards.  He then asked me some questions.  “Have you and I met?”  No.  “Have I even talked to you before the show?”  No.  “Did you throw back the same deck that I threw to you?”  Yes.

He then took the real cards out of the box and said, “You are the only person who knows what card you picked.  Would you tell us what that card is?”  As I was getting ready to tell him the card, he took a card out of the deck.  I answered, “2 of Diamonds.”  He then turned the card around: a 2 of diamonds.

HOW DID HE DO THAT?  I have no idea.  Maybe, when I showed the card for all to see, he had a way of seeing through the back of the invisible card.  Magic?  An illusion?

Ohhhhhh, Satan is the master of magic and illusion.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 

Genesis 3:1

Satan deceives today and still uses the question, “Did God really say ….” He will turn words around to make sin seem normal.  Acceptable.  And, just like Eve, we listen.  Then we sin.

And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

 

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

 

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:11-13

Also, like Eve, we try to blame others or make excuses:

• Everyone is doing it, so it must be okay.
• It is a small thing.  It didn’t hurt anyone.
• God will forgive me.  I might as well have fun.
• The minister had said, if I pray hard, everything I want will come to me.  Why did I not get the job?  Or win the Powerball?  Or be healed?

Satan will deceive you and he will use whatever illusion works.  Be prepared.  Stand on the Word.  Hold ministers and teachers accountable.  Practice saying, “NO!”