Contentment Explored

Spiritual Freedom Countdown: 5 days

I love Fall, I really do. That's a change for me. There was a time I didn't, because Winter never brought me much joy. Don't ski, can't skate, and for me, sledding is just another opportunity for snow to get into places it doesn't belong. Places that are hard to warm up again. And I'm hardly ever warm as it is! Being financially challenged, it's not like we have trips to South Florida planned every February to break up the doldrums. And we lost Dave's Dad in the Fall of 1990, and I lost my Dad in February of 75, so reflections, generally accompanied by regrets, came calling pretty regularly around these times.

Spiritual Freedom brought about a change in me that has affected my outlook on Fall. Once I got rid of the Regrets within my Reflections (through issuing forgiveness of all things!), I could enjoy this season without my usual mental baggage. The colors are beautiful and the weather has been amazing this year, at least up here... and this winter's dire forecasts will not be fodder for my mind's tendency to "be realistic". It's going to be sooo cold. We'll never see any of our kids. We'll be flat broke trying to pay for fuel! Ahhhh! Enough! The truth is, God has always provided everything we needed, anyway. "All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided..." we sang it yesterday in church (we hit the hymns pretty regularly for a Pentecostal church, I must say). So why would this winter be any different?

As if the weather and fuel price predictions weren't bad enough, four of my children left for college this fall. Now I only have two kids at home. A lot of my identity is wrapped up in that number 6. Yes, I'm working on that issue next. But it's not like they really left. Truth be known, they come and they go, but they also take us with them by letting us interact in their new exciting adventures daily (see the blogs lists on the right), and they act like what waits back here for them is valuable to them. Go Figure! All this time I thought our treasure was coming sometime in the future, but really it was always right here. And still is. And I am truly blessed.

Know you are loved,

Mom

Every Minute
by Sara Groves
Album: All Right Here
[Buy " All Right Here " CD]

I am long on staying. I am slow to leave,
Especially when it comes to you my friend.
You have taught me to slow down, and to prop up my feet.
It's the fine art of being who I am.
And I can't figure out why you want me around.
I'm not the smartest person I have ever met.
But somehow that doesn't matter, no it really never mattered to you at all.

And at the risk of wearing out my welcome,at the risk of self-discovery,
I'll take every moment, and every minute that you give me.

And I can think of a time when families all lived together,
Four generations in one house.
And the table was filled with good food, and friends and neighbors.
That's not how we like it now.
'Cause if you sit at home you're a loser,
Couldn't you find anything better to do?
Well, no, I couldn't think of one thing
I would rather waste my time on than sitting here with you.

And at the risk of wearing out my welcome.
At the risk of self-discovery,
I'll take every moment, And every minute that you give me.

And I wish all the people I love the most could gather in one place,
And know each other and love each other well.
And I wish we could all go camping, and lay beneath the stars,
And have nothing to do and stories to tell.
We'd sit around the campfire and we'd make each other laugh,
Remembering when...
And you're the first one I'm inviting.
Always know that you're invited, my friend.

And at the risk of wearing out my welcome.
At the risk of self-discovery,
I'll take every moment, and every minute that you give me.
Every moment, and every minute that you give me.
Every moment, and every minute that you give me. Every minute...