Disease

Do I really, at my core, believe addiction is a disease or do I hold onto the lie that I might have some control over it? If I believe I have heart disease or diabetes, I pay close attention. Each day-several times a day- I monitor my diet; I exercise; I check my blood sugar; I watch my stress levels. Even if I've been diagnosed with these other diseases for several years, I still pay close, daily attention.

But, so very often, with addictions of alcohol or drugs or gambling or sex or shopping or food, after a while I let my thoughts return to the "good times"--before the addiction took over.

Do I monitor daily that I have no power over the addiction--but I do have power over my decisions? If I do what I have always done, I will get what I always got! Do I reach out for the hand God has extended?
Blessings-Penny

amazing

A couple of days ago I was doing some fall yard cleanup. I took an armload of cutback flowers and stuff to the mulch pile and tossed them in. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something green and white in the dark brown mulch. On further inspection here was a gorgeous Easter lily! It's fall here--we've had snow showers! But to my utter amazement an Easter lily is blooming in my mulch pile. We had a lily plant to celebrate Easter and when it was "done" I had tossed it into the mulch pile. Over the summer it had put down roots and bloomed "where it was planted." A delightful, unexpected surprise.

Am I able to "bloom where I am planted?" Am I able to take root even if the surroundings are not ideal? Can I be an unexpected surprise in some "mulch pile?"

Blessings, Penny

Needs

What makes it so difficult for many women to ask for what they need for themselves? Recently I have heard 2 women framing their problems as stress in their lives. When encouraged to explore that "stress," they were each able to articulate a need that they had difficulty expressing to those involved in their stress issue...a need that once fulfilled would at least decrease the stress. Clinically,they were encouraged to use the well known "I statements" when expressing their need rather than the "you statements"that can come across as accusatory.

And on further exploration they each were able to acknowledge that the stress created by not engaging in the difficult, sometimes scary work, of expressing their needs to someone else, they were setting themselves up for an emptiness. That emptiness, that loneliness felt like a spiritual emptiness at times. They were reminded to pray. To seek an intimacy with God. God knows what our needs are and He wants to be with us in the seeking. He promises to be with us in the seeking.

Do we remember to take the hand He offers us?

Blessings-Penny

reaching out

In this morning's paper is a brief article regarding a local woman's conviction and sentence for a DUI received a few weeks ago. She was convicted of driving with a blood alcohol level of over .3 while having 5 children in her car. Several weeks ago was an article about a nurse from a local nursing home accused of diverting drugs from her clients. Her daughter had recently died of cancer.

I feel an incredible empathy and pain for these women. Truly but for the grace of God, go I. I know that fear and shame. What troubles me this morning is why have I not reached out to these women? I think about doing it. They are in my thoughts and prayers as I go through my days. Yes, it will take some time to find some link or connection-someone who can pass along a thought, a prayer, a copy of "my" book. But isn't that what is meant by "love one another?"

Is there someone you have meant to reach out to? Someone in pain or trouble---someone who needs to know they are not alone. Let's both make that effort.

Blessings to you--Penny

Birthdays with zeros

Recently I celebrated a birthday with a zero. You know the ones that tell us life really is moving along. As I reflected on this past decade and the birthdays with zeros before this one, I was struck by the reality that on each of those days of usually quiet celebration, I had no idea of what would occur in my life in the decade that was lying ahead. Absolutely no idea of successes, of set backs, of vacations, of moves, of goals reached, of illness, of losses, of gains. We all know the future is unknown but the stark reality of what that means caught me by surprise.

Then I thought about today. It's early morning as I sit here and look out my window at the mountains and the brook. I have no idea what today will bring. The unknown future is also in the next few minutes and the next few hours. Will I use this future of now in thanksgiving, in contentment or will I waste it in needless anxiety. Will I "trust in things to come?"

Creation

Fall has come to New England. We've had one light freeze and the trees are beautiful burnished oranges and yellows. The reds aren't quite as brilliant as some years but it is so easy to see God's hand at work. We took a few days and went to Acadia National Park in Maine.Again so easy to see God in the ocean's crash against the pink rocks, in the tides, in the stars over the ocean. And then the drive home was on a misty Maine morning with scenes that looked like calendar images...mystical.

It is easy to see God in nature but sometimes I miss seeing His work in my day to day. But then a friend called in real distress over a family member in trouble. How did she think to come to us, to confide in us? How did she know to trust us? It is an honor we take very seriously. It is God working in our day to day.

Where is God in your life TODAY?