Category: reminders

Sunday Reflection – A Season to Give

It is 2025. This garden picture was taken by me in my garden in 2010. It looks nothing like this today. Now I have family priorities that take most of my time.

I look back and I am thankful that at one time I had the luxury of playing in my garden for hours upon hours. I am thankful that I took enough pictures to look back at and be grateful for that time. I am grateful that my family allowed me this time.

This coming Tuesday 12/02/2025 is Giving Tuesday. Some of you, including myself, have already given to organizations or missions that speak to the heart. Though it is nice to have a day set aside to make sure in this season of giving that you remember others, especially those organizations that serve people who need help.

Count your blessings, and be grateful by giving to others that need your help.

The Mustard Seed as a Simile

I received a mustard seed necklace from my grandmother Florence when I was a young girl. I was reminded of this today when I saw a modern version of it for sale. The mustard seed can hold powerful symbolism depending on one’s faith. Jesus uses the mustard seed to represent how the smallest grain of faith can grow and grow into something big and powerful.

I cannot say that I have always been faithful. However a small seed was planted in me long ago when I was a young girl. It was pushed into the back of my mind as I grew. As an adult and a mother my faith has been remembered and nurtured again. I cannot say that I am the most pious person, however, I have never sought to harm others. I try to live by a creed of kindness, and by acceptance of others different from myself. During the past decade my faith has come to my rescue many times as I struggled with depression and the illness of family.

Seeing the mustard seed necklace recently reminded me how this symbol can be a great gift for someone. It serves as a reminder to them that through faith they can thrive, and become a force for good. Life can be long and tiresome at times, but faith will hold your hand, and God’s love is unconditional.

This is the AI image generator’s version of a mustard seed necklace. It made me laugh, however, I like the idea of showing some growth. The common version is simply a lone seed.

 

 

Have Faith

This is another AI generated image. This one was prompted with the words “sea witch”.

This summer I have read books about dragons and witches. I discovered the writing of Ursula K. Le Guin and her EarthSea books. Most recently I finished reading her book, Lavinia. I revisited the writing of Kelly Barnhill. A few years ago, I read her book, The Girl Who Drank the Moon. Since this is “the year of the dragon”, I had to read her book, When Women Were Dragons.

I have come a long way since I started writing for therapy. I used to read mostly nonfiction. Now I read mostly fiction. Historical fiction is good, but to truly escape reality you need to read fantasy.

Once I set the books down the reality of my life always comes back to me. The themes in my real life are persistence and resilience. My real life requires me to have faith. Having faith that the sun will rise and set each day is an easy faith. Having faith that humans can work together for a better world requires a stronger and more active faith.

I start back to work tomorrow. I need to have faith that I can make a positive impact on the lives of middle-schoolers by helping them to grow stronger and smarter, and to have faith that we can all work together for a better world for all of us.

My Married Name in Elements

The heart necklace in my last post was purchased at the Etsy website. I was surprised to find that I still had an account with them from way back in 2015. I had forgotten my password.
I was able to change it so that I can now access it.
I decided I should support the small entrepreneurs that create a variety of things to sell on Etsy.

Since I work in a school, I thought maybe I could find a fun T-shirt to make students think.
I found a vendor located in my state that creates T-shirts using the periodic table of chemical elements.

The T-shirt came today. It is a standard crew neck, so I just pictured the important message on it. It makes me think since I am not trained in chemistry, though I have read a book or two on the subject. I have worked in 8th grade science in the past, so I do know a little about chemistry, at least enough to support the students. I got an A in high school chemistry way back when I was in high school. I took no chemistry classes in college.

The three elements of Potassium, Rhenium, and Indium are useful together only to spell out my last (married) name.
And of course I noticed the numbers, and it made me laugh!


The Spin is All that Matters

I ran across a bag of wooden spools the other day. They were in a box of odds and ends that had made it into our garage when we were cleaning out my mother in law’s house of forty years. She has been gone for many years now, and yet her memory is still alive in various things we still have around.

The wooden spools are all bare now. All the thread was used up in antique wares. I’m sure they were saved in hopes of being made into future crafts. They could be used since their simple beauty was still apparent. The wooden spools had been made from dead biological life, and thus they still had value.

Long before the wood was cut and shaped, it pulsed with life and color, and with a continuous exchange of gases from within and without. These spools are cylindrical in shape with a hole that runs from end to end. They can be linked together to form a chain. They can be made into decorations, and strung around a living tree, still breathing and growing. They can be assembled with other materials to make a vehicle since all spools can roll.

There is a big hand in all of this, coordinating, designing, and engineering all of it. A mind is needed to oversee it all. I call this mind, God, and I like to sit and contemplate his intentions. I think God is the original, the first and the ultimate one to recycle and reuse. To him the Blue Planet is a woman, and she is still a work in progress for him. His mind has become entangled with hers, and he cannot let go of her, at least not yet. His death will be her death and vice versa.